Engineering student project helps Hmong farmers
Members of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) got a preview of their new Brussels sprouts harvester last week. HAFA is a cooperative that owns 150 acres near Rosemount, MN. […]
Insights
You don’t say: editing technical writing
The art of technical writing — or any other writing — isn’t about getting it right the first time. It’s about editing until it’s right. Here are some things I […]
Grout may immobilize radioactive wastes at Hanford
The Tri-City Herald reports that certain radioactive wastes at the Hanford site in Washington State may be treated by mixing them into cement-based grout. The radioactive wastes from the Manhattan […]
Design durable concrete structures
One way to make structures more sustainable is to make them durable. You can design your concrete for durability. You can also design and detail your concrete structure for durability. […]
St. Thomas Engineering Students Will Demonstrate Prototypes May 10
In addition to my work at Beton, I teach the technical writing component of the Senior Design Clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering. The university is […]
NT Build 492 provides data for durable concrete
NT Build 492 is a test that determines the diffusion coefficient of concrete. Diffusion is the movement of a dissolved substance under a concentration gradient. That is, ions in solution […]
Write an informative abstract
In scientific papers and other types of technical reports, the abstract provides a brief summary of the research and findings. If you’re doing a literature search to get the background […]
Write an effective executive summary
For technical writers, the executive summary is one of the most challenging aspects of a report to a client. A good executive summary contains everything the busy executive needs to […]
Can you get a representative sample of concrete?
A representative sample of anything is an unbiased selection from the whole population. It’s a statistical concept that applies to everything from opinion polls to laboratory testing. In principle it […]
Make sure you take good concrete cores
We often receive concrete cores from our clients for petrography or other types of testing. When we haven’t witnessed the coring, we can’t always tell whether a core represents damaged […]