Bechtel Corp. recently presented its Innovation of the Year award to Bowen Laboratory at Purdue University for its contributions to a large-scale government project. The award recognizes proven innovations that have delivered unprecedented results within the company’s execution model.
“Our partnership with Purdue helped us develop a new approach to a construction challenge on a project with U.S. national security implications,” said Keith Churchill, chief innovation officer at Bechtel and a Purdue alum. “Partnerships with research institutions like this are valuable to the industry, bringing new ideas and scientific rigor to innovations that improve our processes.”
The project that the Bowen Laboratory team supported required robust concrete construction of multiple underground facilities. The facilities have stringent requirements for safety and constructability at scale. To meet these goals, Bechtel leveraged the company’s relationship with Amit Varma, director of large-scale civil engineering research at Bowen Laboratory. The request entailed producing experimental data based on a proposed design incorporating a steel-plate composite.