Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer and Associates Inc.

New and Awards

	05.01.2007 \| GAS Recognized as Best in State at 2007 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) was recognized as a Best in State award recipient in the 2007 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. Winners were announced in February 2007 as part of the national Engineers’ Week celebration. Below is a summary of the project’s highlights. GREEN BAY, WI — the centerpiece of the Friendship Trail between the Cities of Manitowoc and Stevens Point is the Little Lake Butte des Morts Trestle/Trail in Menasha. The City and Town of Menasha, with the help of the GAS design team, undertook an adaptive reuse of this community asset. It was recognized early on that factors surrounding this project would significantly complicate the effort, but also create some unique and interesting opportunities. By reusing the old railroad trestle structure, and taking advantage of its local history and interest, a pedestrian and cycling trail with four unique elements was developed. The design team overcame challenges including crossing a navigation lock by designing a charming European-style lift bridge; creating a boardwalk crossing a wetland area, thereby avoiding a still active railway; developing special use platforms housing pavilions and fishing piers to work double-wide trestles into the design; and eliminating an uncomfortable tunneling affect on long, linear trail sections by using an open, yet safety conscience, railing system. The completed trail, the longest (1600 feet) pedestrian trail crossing a body of water in Wisconsin, is maintenance friendly and available for use 24 hours a day seven days a week. Material selection considered maintenance issues, safety lighting, and overall experience enhancements for the users. In August 2005, the dream was realized when completion of the Little Lake butt des Morts Trestle Trail Project culminated with a ribbon cutting ceremony. An estimated 1000 local citizens stood ready to begin using this new community link, and usage counts have demonstrated this support. Weekday totals reach 400 - 600 people during warmer months, and weekend counts average 1000-1500/day. Viewed locally as a glowing success, the project has received significant attention and use. It has received recognition from a number of sources. In many ways, the trail has became much more than “just a trail.” It functions as an expansive recreational resource that is proving to be a great asset to the area communities. Close More...
	05.01.2007 \| GAS Opens Its Doors in Phoenix, Arizona PHOENIX, AZ - Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce the opening of an office in Phoenix, Arizona. LP/GAS Engineering is a partnership between one of Laguna Pacific Companies’ subsidiaries, LP Group, and Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates. It was created to provide services to the Phoenix area and the general southwest, including Arizona, California, and Nevada. Our combined engineering and construction management practice dates back to 1961, and includes the resources of 350 employees in six states. The LP/GAS Engineering practice includes healthcare, communications, industrial and manufacturing, sports and recreation, retail and hospitality, education, infrastructure, government, transportation and bridges, and residential/commercial and master planned community design. LP/GAS Engineering’s ability to provide a full range of services related to the development and construction industry provides clients with a “one-stop-shop” for many of their project needs. Our proven ability to take large, complex projects from the initial concept through successful completion has provided value to hundreds of clients throughout the United States. Close More...
	02.28.2007 \| Charles Kopplin Named Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE) Engineer of the Year Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce that Charles W. Kopplin, P.E., was named AFE Engineer of the Year. A statement from his nomination letter aptly describes the qualities Chuck possesses that make him worthy of this award. “His good judgment and mature outlook ensure a logical and practical approach to his involvement in our AFE endeavors.” Chuck, a Principal and past member of the Board of Directors, has been employed by GAS since 1973 and has worked with such notable clients as Briggs & Stratton, John Deere, A.O Smith, and Harley Davidson. Close More...
	09.25.2006 \| GAS Engineers Serve as Leaders in Guatemala Bridge Building Projects MILWAUKEE, WI - Many places outside the doors of GAS, or any other firm in the United States, are not as fortunate as we are. Marquette University developed a relationship with the Guatemalan nonprofit organization, PAVA, to facilitate design and construction of infrastructure projects in less fortunate areas of that Central American country. Since 2002, seven GAS staff members have traveled to Guatemala to volunteer work on infrastructure projects. Early volunteers included Nick Skiffington, Jacqueline Herington, Shelly Cornelius, and Kendra Hansen. In 2005, three current GAS engineers were involved with building infrastructure and building community. The Rio Grande Motagua Bridge in La Garrucha, Guatemala was the senior design project of Andrew Thorson and three other engineering students. The bridge replaced an aging footbridge with a swing and sway not unlike that seen in many cartoons. The old footbridge limited access to health care and education for people living on both sides of the large river valley. Andrew Thorson and Jackie Martinez were involved with the project and are now full-time engineers at GAS. Kevin Hagen, vice president and principal of the firm, was also a key player on the Motagua bridge team. Through his involvement with Engineers Without Borders, he served as an experienced bridge engineer mentoring the students as they designed and built the bridge. With the help of nearly 100 Guatemalan residents daily, teams of 20 students and a handful of professionals built forms, footings, and trusses. Everything was done with manual labor including transporting and mixing material for concrete, building lengthy bridge trusses, and setting trusses in place on perches 20 feet above a shallow riverbed. The project took four weeks to complete with volunteers sleeping in tents on the riverbanks and working from 6 a.m. until well after dark. Peace Corp volunteers present at the site helped with interpreting to Spanish and local Mayan dialects. The community’s residents, few of whom spoke English, expressed their gratitude with a welcome celebration and good-bye feast. The bridge, dubbed the Friendship Bridge, not only makes crossing the river safer, but it has forged a new bond between local villages, El Quiche‘ and Chimaltenango, whose residents had suffered years of repression during a guerilla war. Please click the link below to see coverage of this program in the Milwaukee Business Journal: http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/09/25/focus1.html?page=1 Close More...
	06.14.2006 \| GAS Recognized as State Finalist in 2006 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) was recognized as a State Finalist in the 2006 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. Winners were announced in February 2006 as part of the national Engineers’ Week celebration. Below is a summary of the project’s highlights. MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) have developed several stormwater management demonstration areas at the MMSD headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The areas demonstrate selected best management practices (BMPs) that are easily adapted into urban areas with already developed infrastructures. The BMPs include constructed wetland treatment areas, structural stormwater treatment units in combination with catch basin inlet filters, and porous pavement in designated parking areas. GAS and MMSD analyzed the area’s topography, storm sizes, and peak flow rates. Following these studies, the BMPs were designed in appropriate site locations. The wetland treatment swales control stormwater flow to controlled outlet areas, providing natural settling and filtration for removal of nutrients and suspended solids. A wetland swale treatment system was sized for frequent, smaller storms and temporarily retains stormwater during brief rainfall events. The stormwater is captured and held in a series of pond shaped swales, allowing for natural saturation into soils. A vortex in-line stormwater treatment unit was sized and installed upstream from the discharge point of a segment of the existing storm sewer system. Drop in catch basin filters were installed in selected inlets to treat stormwater as it entered the existing storm sewers. Finally, porous pavements serve as a filter as stormwater passes through the pavement to the subgrade. As time moves forward, the stormwater management sites can be observed, maintained, and used as innovative, living examples of environmentally friendly urban adaptations. Making a long-time urban area more effective in stormwater treatment does not have to be expensive or complicated. It just takes creativity and innovative thought to use effective “green” design. Close More...
	06.12.2006 \| St. Luke's Hospital wins 2005 ASCE-Wisconsin Project of the Year Award Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce that it was awarded the ASCE-Wisconsin Project of the Year for the St. Luke’s Cardiac Center and Patient Tower. The unique circumstances surrounding the project’s location and the technical hurdles that had to be overcome make this an outstanding example of engineering ingenuity and creativeness. Advances in modern medicine are rapidly changing the design of today’s healthcare facilities. To accommodate the growth of the healthcare industry, hospital owners across the country are seeking to construct facilities designed to support breakthrough technology and progressive treatment options. As a national leader in cardiac care, St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Milwaukee sought an innovative type of design for the addition of its $180 million Cardiac Center and Patient Tower. Satisfying the future demands of cardiac care for St. Luke’s brought a unique set of engineering project challenges. To maintain patient convenience and staff efficiency on an already congested campus, St. Luke’s worked with the design team to evaluate several options, and then chose to build its 12-story facility above an existing 6-story parking structure, located at the heart of the campus. The location proved ideal for the hospital and the Cardiac Center. Once this had been established, project engineers devised unique coordination, design, and problem-solving strategies to accommodate building the structure above the parking garage, while meeting the hospital’s need for both the garage and hospital to remain fully operational throughout the construction process. The Cardiac Center and Patient Tower at St. Luke’s Hospital celebrated the opening of its doors in May of 2004. The new facility now houses the latest high-tech equipment and procedures, including robotic surgery and advanced imaging. It currently includes eight new cardiovascular operating rooms, 78 private intensive care rooms, and 192 additional medical and surgical beds. The design also anticipates future technological and patient care additions. Close More...
	06.12.2006 \| GAS Naples Office Selected as Collier County Best Places to Work Naples, FL --- Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer and Associates, Inc., (GAS) is proudly celebrating the second anniversary of our Naples, Florida office. Having opened our doors on May 3, 2004 with a single engineer manning the office, we have moved to a larger space, transferred two employees from offices elsewhere in the country, and hired two new employees from the Florida marketplace. The Economic Development Council of Collier County recently honored the GAS Naples office in their first annual “Best Place to Work” competition. The firm was recognized as the “Best Place to Work” in the “50 Employees and Under” category. Since our move to Southwest Florida two years ago, the area’s growth and development continue to provide interesting engineering challenges and we are encouraged about our future in the engineering community. Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates, Inc. is an employee owned engineering and scientific consulting firm of more than 290 employees and has been providing professional services to a broad range of clients since 1961. The Naples office staff and the entire Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer team are committed to providing quality solutions to our client’s engineering needs. Close More...

	05.01.2007 \| GAS Recognized as Best in State at 2007 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) was recognized as a Best in State award recipient in the 2007 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. Winners were announced in February 2007 as part of the national Engineers’ Week celebration. Below is a summary of the project’s highlights. GREEN BAY, WI — the centerpiece of the Friendship Trail between the Cities of Manitowoc and Stevens Point is the Little Lake Butte des Morts Trestle/Trail in Menasha. The City and Town of Menasha, with the help of the GAS design team, undertook an adaptive reuse of this community asset. It was recognized early on that factors surrounding this project would significantly complicate the effort, but also create some unique and interesting opportunities. By reusing the old railroad trestle structure, and taking advantage of its local history and interest, a pedestrian and cycling trail with four unique elements was developed. The design team overcame challenges including crossing a navigation lock by designing a charming European-style lift bridge; creating a boardwalk crossing a wetland area, thereby avoiding a still active railway; developing special use platforms housing pavilions and fishing piers to work double-wide trestles into the design; and eliminating an uncomfortable tunneling affect on long, linear trail sections by using an open, yet safety conscience, railing system. The completed trail, the longest (1600 feet) pedestrian trail crossing a body of water in Wisconsin, is maintenance friendly and available for use 24 hours a day seven days a week. Material selection considered maintenance issues, safety lighting, and overall experience enhancements for the users. In August 2005, the dream was realized when completion of the Little Lake butt des Morts Trestle Trail Project culminated with a ribbon cutting ceremony. An estimated 1000 local citizens stood ready to begin using this new community link, and usage counts have demonstrated this support. Weekday totals reach 400 - 600 people during warmer months, and weekend counts average 1000-1500/day. Viewed locally as a glowing success, the project has received significant attention and use. It has received recognition from a number of sources. In many ways, the trail has became much more than “just a trail.” It functions as an expansive recreational resource that is proving to be a great asset to the area communities. Close More...
	05.01.2007 \| GAS Opens Its Doors in Phoenix, Arizona PHOENIX, AZ - Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce the opening of an office in Phoenix, Arizona. LP/GAS Engineering is a partnership between one of Laguna Pacific Companies’ subsidiaries, LP Group, and Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates. It was created to provide services to the Phoenix area and the general southwest, including Arizona, California, and Nevada. Our combined engineering and construction management practice dates back to 1961, and includes the resources of 350 employees in six states. The LP/GAS Engineering practice includes healthcare, communications, industrial and manufacturing, sports and recreation, retail and hospitality, education, infrastructure, government, transportation and bridges, and residential/commercial and master planned community design. LP/GAS Engineering’s ability to provide a full range of services related to the development and construction industry provides clients with a “one-stop-shop” for many of their project needs. Our proven ability to take large, complex projects from the initial concept through successful completion has provided value to hundreds of clients throughout the United States. Close More...
	02.28.2007 \| Charles Kopplin Named Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE) Engineer of the Year Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce that Charles W. Kopplin, P.E., was named AFE Engineer of the Year. A statement from his nomination letter aptly describes the qualities Chuck possesses that make him worthy of this award. “His good judgment and mature outlook ensure a logical and practical approach to his involvement in our AFE endeavors.” Chuck, a Principal and past member of the Board of Directors, has been employed by GAS since 1973 and has worked with such notable clients as Briggs & Stratton, John Deere, A.O Smith, and Harley Davidson. Close More...
	09.25.2006 \| GAS Engineers Serve as Leaders in Guatemala Bridge Building Projects MILWAUKEE, WI - Many places outside the doors of GAS, or any other firm in the United States, are not as fortunate as we are. Marquette University developed a relationship with the Guatemalan nonprofit organization, PAVA, to facilitate design and construction of infrastructure projects in less fortunate areas of that Central American country. Since 2002, seven GAS staff members have traveled to Guatemala to volunteer work on infrastructure projects. Early volunteers included Nick Skiffington, Jacqueline Herington, Shelly Cornelius, and Kendra Hansen. In 2005, three current GAS engineers were involved with building infrastructure and building community. The Rio Grande Motagua Bridge in La Garrucha, Guatemala was the senior design project of Andrew Thorson and three other engineering students. The bridge replaced an aging footbridge with a swing and sway not unlike that seen in many cartoons. The old footbridge limited access to health care and education for people living on both sides of the large river valley. Andrew Thorson and Jackie Martinez were involved with the project and are now full-time engineers at GAS. Kevin Hagen, vice president and principal of the firm, was also a key player on the Motagua bridge team. Through his involvement with Engineers Without Borders, he served as an experienced bridge engineer mentoring the students as they designed and built the bridge. With the help of nearly 100 Guatemalan residents daily, teams of 20 students and a handful of professionals built forms, footings, and trusses. Everything was done with manual labor including transporting and mixing material for concrete, building lengthy bridge trusses, and setting trusses in place on perches 20 feet above a shallow riverbed. The project took four weeks to complete with volunteers sleeping in tents on the riverbanks and working from 6 a.m. until well after dark. Peace Corp volunteers present at the site helped with interpreting to Spanish and local Mayan dialects. The community’s residents, few of whom spoke English, expressed their gratitude with a welcome celebration and good-bye feast. The bridge, dubbed the Friendship Bridge, not only makes crossing the river safer, but it has forged a new bond between local villages, El Quiche‘ and Chimaltenango, whose residents had suffered years of repression during a guerilla war. Please click the link below to see coverage of this program in the Milwaukee Business Journal: http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/09/25/focus1.html?page=1 Close More...
	06.14.2006 \| GAS Recognized as State Finalist in 2006 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) was recognized as a State Finalist in the 2006 ACEC-WI Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. Winners were announced in February 2006 as part of the national Engineers’ Week celebration. Below is a summary of the project’s highlights. MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) have developed several stormwater management demonstration areas at the MMSD headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The areas demonstrate selected best management practices (BMPs) that are easily adapted into urban areas with already developed infrastructures. The BMPs include constructed wetland treatment areas, structural stormwater treatment units in combination with catch basin inlet filters, and porous pavement in designated parking areas. GAS and MMSD analyzed the area’s topography, storm sizes, and peak flow rates. Following these studies, the BMPs were designed in appropriate site locations. The wetland treatment swales control stormwater flow to controlled outlet areas, providing natural settling and filtration for removal of nutrients and suspended solids. A wetland swale treatment system was sized for frequent, smaller storms and temporarily retains stormwater during brief rainfall events. The stormwater is captured and held in a series of pond shaped swales, allowing for natural saturation into soils. A vortex in-line stormwater treatment unit was sized and installed upstream from the discharge point of a segment of the existing storm sewer system. Drop in catch basin filters were installed in selected inlets to treat stormwater as it entered the existing storm sewers. Finally, porous pavements serve as a filter as stormwater passes through the pavement to the subgrade. As time moves forward, the stormwater management sites can be observed, maintained, and used as innovative, living examples of environmentally friendly urban adaptations. Making a long-time urban area more effective in stormwater treatment does not have to be expensive or complicated. It just takes creativity and innovative thought to use effective “green” design. Close More...
	06.12.2006 \| St. Luke's Hospital wins 2005 ASCE-Wisconsin Project of the Year Award Graef Anhalt Schloemer & Associates, Inc. (GAS) is pleased to announce that it was awarded the ASCE-Wisconsin Project of the Year for the St. Luke’s Cardiac Center and Patient Tower. The unique circumstances surrounding the project’s location and the technical hurdles that had to be overcome make this an outstanding example of engineering ingenuity and creativeness. Advances in modern medicine are rapidly changing the design of today’s healthcare facilities. To accommodate the growth of the healthcare industry, hospital owners across the country are seeking to construct facilities designed to support breakthrough technology and progressive treatment options. As a national leader in cardiac care, St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Milwaukee sought an innovative type of design for the addition of its $180 million Cardiac Center and Patient Tower. Satisfying the future demands of cardiac care for St. Luke’s brought a unique set of engineering project challenges. To maintain patient convenience and staff efficiency on an already congested campus, St. Luke’s worked with the design team to evaluate several options, and then chose to build its 12-story facility above an existing 6-story parking structure, located at the heart of the campus. The location proved ideal for the hospital and the Cardiac Center. Once this had been established, project engineers devised unique coordination, design, and problem-solving strategies to accommodate building the structure above the parking garage, while meeting the hospital’s need for both the garage and hospital to remain fully operational throughout the construction process. The Cardiac Center and Patient Tower at St. Luke’s Hospital celebrated the opening of its doors in May of 2004. The new facility now houses the latest high-tech equipment and procedures, including robotic surgery and advanced imaging. It currently includes eight new cardiovascular operating rooms, 78 private intensive care rooms, and 192 additional medical and surgical beds. The design also anticipates future technological and patient care additions. Close More...
	06.12.2006 \| GAS Naples Office Selected as Collier County Best Places to Work Naples, FL --- Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer and Associates, Inc., (GAS) is proudly celebrating the second anniversary of our Naples, Florida office. Having opened our doors on May 3, 2004 with a single engineer manning the office, we have moved to a larger space, transferred two employees from offices elsewhere in the country, and hired two new employees from the Florida marketplace. The Economic Development Council of Collier County recently honored the GAS Naples office in their first annual “Best Place to Work” competition. The firm was recognized as the “Best Place to Work” in the “50 Employees and Under” category. Since our move to Southwest Florida two years ago, the area’s growth and development continue to provide interesting engineering challenges and we are encouraged about our future in the engineering community. Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates, Inc. is an employee owned engineering and scientific consulting firm of more than 290 employees and has been providing professional services to a broad range of clients since 1961. The Naples office staff and the entire Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer team are committed to providing quality solutions to our client’s engineering needs. Close More...