People and Sustainability Among New Professor’s Passions

Mary Nobe is fascinated with the people who make up the construction industry. In fact, she considered going after a psychology degree before deciding on construction education instead. Nobe was hired as an assistant professor in January, after working as a special appointment lecturer in CM while completing her Ph.D. She says her affinity for construction goes back to her early years. “My dad was a mechanic, and I grew up spending a lot of time in his shop. When I looked at buildings, I understood how they went together. I liked the outdoor activities associated with construction, and I liked the people who worked in the industry.” Nobe says her overarching research goal is to develop a greater understanding of the people who make up the construction industry. The thesis Nobe defended last fall focused on how construction students’ values influenced their acceptance of green building and, consequently, their behaviors regarding sustainability.

Over the summer, Nobe developed a proposal for a grant that would enable her to look specifically at construction students’ values toward construction waste recycling. This research builds upon indings from her thesis, which suggested that after students completed their internships, they were less amenable to practicing construction waste recycling than before they went into the internship.

Now she’s asking: “How can we better prepare students to deal with the realities of the construction world? Their values are still very malleable, and teachers, employers, and peers have the ability to in luence them.” While considerable research has been done in the area of sustainable design, little research has been done in sustainable construction, Nobe adds. She plans to look more closely at the contractor’s role in sustainability and how to raise contractors’ awareness and application of sustainable construction practices.

“It calls for making sacri ices in some areas for gains in other areas, which all comes back to values,” Nobe says. “My goals as a teacher are to help my students succeed and to further the success of the construction industry in becoming more sustainable,” she adds.

Nobe lives in Cherokee Park with her husband, Mike, their two young children, Rozie and Kenneth Cole, and several animals. She and her husband are building a new home, incorporating as many sustainable practices as possible.

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New Faces in the IBE

Josie Plaut
Director of Projects

Josie Plaut, who worked in the Institute for the Built Environment (IBE) while completing her graduate work in CM’s sustainable building emphasis, is now IBE’s Director of Projects. Plaut coordinates and is helping to define which projects are the best fit with the IBE’s mission.

“I meet with potential project teams and discuss their goals and aspirations for green building. Then I talk with them about the IBE’s mission and student engagement and see if they are amenable to that,” she says.

Plaut also looks conceptually at what the IBE is interested in doing. She envisions the institute remaining on the cutting edge of sustainable building.

“The IBE will continue to focus on projects in Northern Colorado and help build capacity within the region," says Plaut.

Dale Pettigrew
Director of Outreach Education

“Sustainable building has been a longtime passion of mine,” says Dale Pettigrew, the IBE’s new Director of Outreach Education. In the 1970s, Pettigrew and her husband designed and built a sustainable house. It was the first home in Northern Colorado to co-generate electricity with the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association.

Now Pettigrew’s supervising the IBE’s Green Building Certificate Programs and is helping to develop a new certificate program in residential building.

An active member of the Northern Colorado chapter of the USGBC and an adviser to the Northern Colorado Emerging Green Builders student group, Pettigrew expects to become LEED accredited this fall.

Angela Guggemos
Director of Research

When New Belgium Brewing was disappointed in the performance of an experimental green roof they had installed, the company called upon the Institute for the Built Environment for help. CM Professor Angela Guggemos, who has a strong interest in life cycle environmental impact, said the project intrigued her. She wanted to find out if roofs that are covered with vegetation and soil really are green and environmentally preferable.

She compared a simple green roof to a traditional built-up roof. Looking just at life cycle environmental impact and life cycle costing, she discovered that the built-up roof was less expensive and had fewer environmental impacts.

As the IBE’s Director of Research, Guggemos helps the institute meet the green building needs of industry and the community. “I try to understand what industry needs in terms of research, and I’m working to increase our funded research and publish our findings,” she says.

Lenora Bohren
Associate Director of Research

As director of the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety (NCVECS) in the CM department, Lenora Bohren is well acquainted with project management and field research. She has extensive experience in teaching and conducting social impact research. This background puts her in an ideal position to serve the IBE’s need for an expert in healthy buildings and indoor air quality (IAQ).

Bohren is working with IBE in healthy building research, investigating the importance of green cleaning and healthy indoor air in schools.

Bohren also has international connections that benefit the institute. Her contact with the Costa Rican government led to the IBE recently being invited to visit the University of Costa Rica and work with faculty and students there in the area of sustainable building.

 

New Faculty Member,
MaryEllen Nobe
Education

Ph.D. Construction Management, Colorado State University, 2007

M.S. Land Development, Texas A&M University, 1996

M.S. Construction Science, Texas A&M University, 1996

B.S. Construction Science, Texas A&M University, 1994

Recent Positions
Assistant Professor, Construction Management, Colorado State University, Jan. 2007-present

Faculty Research Associate, Institute for the Built Environment, Colorado State University, 2003- present

Instructor, Construction Management, Colorado State University, 2001-2006

Lecturer, Construction Management, University of Nebraska – Kearney, 1997-2000

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“Building Green” Video Series for Sale

IBE is a partner in the Colorado Green Consortium, which recently produced Building Green in the Rockies, a video series that is an ideal educational tool for construction companies, design irms, and professional organizations.

The three-DVD series may be purchased for $25 from:

The Institute for the Built Environment Department of Construction Management Colorado State University 1584 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, CO 80523-1584 Make checks payable to Colorado State University.