2005 director's message

 

Welcome to Iowa State University

Rich Tribolet and I are excited to be hosting the 16th annual National Collegiate CADD Conference. Iowa State University was at the very first conference at Ohio State in 1990 and has been represented at 13 of the 15 previous conferences. We are pleased to welcome all of you to Iowa State University.

Located in the heart of the Midwest and Iowa, Ames is home to the “Cyclones” and Iowa State University (ISU). With a charming small town atmosphere and the amenities of a big city, Ames is a vibrant circle of community, opportunity, and university. Unique shopping districts, a diverse variety of dining options, family-oriented events, internationally renowned artists and performances, Big 12 sporting events, top-ranked educational systems, and much, much more all combine to make Ames the Right Place for Great Times!

The Tuesday evening welcome reception will be held at Reiman Gardens. This 14-acre educational garden is located at the south edge of campus and creates a striking entrance to the university. The facility includes 11 distinct gardens, a conservatory, a butterfly wing, and butterfly emergence cases.

Wednesday morning will feature our keynote speaker, Michael Beall, owner of Computer Aided Management & Planning. Mr. Beall provides professional, onsite, customized, hands-on, application-specific training on all versions of the AutoCAD 2000 platform, including AutoCAD 2005. Michael has been presenting CAD training seminars to the A&D community, corporate facility departments, and the contract furniture industry since 1982. He has been training systems furniture dealers on CAP since 1987 and AutoCAD since 1990. He was selected to present a Technology Track “AutoCAD Toolbelt” session at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in 2003 and 2004. In addition, our keynote speaker will conduct a pre-conference training lab titled AutoCAD 2006 Power Tools. The workshop will cover the top features and the power tools of AutoCAD 2006. There will be a limit of 20 seats in this lab, so sign up early.

The conference theme is “Going Beyond CADD.” In keeping with that theme, we will have sessions on how Iowa State University has incorporated FAMIS for computerized facilities management. We will also have sessions on how ISU is using ActiveProject as a web-based interactive project management/collaboration tool. All ISU capital projects are managed on the AcitveProject website and hosted on servers maintained by the ISU Administrative Technical Services (ATS), and all project information is stored there for use by project team members. The system allows sharing of a multitude of information by the “project team.” The project team includes staff within FP&M (as the “owner”), the customer (who is getting the building), the design team (architects and engineers), and the construction team (construction contractors and subcontractors). Everyone who “touches” the project is given access. Currently, there are just fewer than 1,000 users within our ActiveProject system. The information shared includes drawings, meeting minutes, specifications, design feedback, and business transactions such as payments and submittals. All types of communications from Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, AutoCAD drawings, and E-mail messages can be included in the project file. And the beauty of the system is that all the information is readily available to everyone involved with a particular project.

This conference, like those in the past, will provide attendees with many opportunities to share information and experience with others who have similar job responsibilities. Networking with our peers remains one of the main opportunities at the National Collegiate CADD Conference. We will offer eight time slots with three concurrent sessions. Sessions will discuss methods of using CAD, GIS, and other technologies to manage University Facilities. We will also include sessions on archival/retrieval and scanning documents. Our vendors will provide attendees with a look at hardware and software that is relevant to our mission.

On Wednesday, we will be treated to a program presented by the ISU Virtual Reality Application Center. Research at this center focuses on developing computer interfaces that integrate virtual environments, wireless networking, pervasive computing, and third-generation user interface devices to amplify the creativity and productivity of people.

We have scheduled this year’s conference so you can experience one of Iowa’s treasures, the Iowa State Fair – it was named the #2 Fun Place in America in the May 16, 2004 issue of USA Weekend magazine. Additionally, the Fair has been featured in the New York Times best-selling travel book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Thursday night, we will take buses down to Des Moines so we can all enjoy the first day of the 2005 Iowa State Fair. There is entertainment for everyone, including four stages with free entertainment, photography and art displays, 4-H project exhibits, farm machinery, animal barns, the butter cow, a heritage village, a midway, and a whole lot more. Oh, and did I mention food? There are pork chops on a stick, turkey drumsticks, fried twinkies, lamb burgers, guinea grinders, and corn dogs, just to name a few items to choose from.

Parking is very limited on our campus, so I encourage you to take the transportation we provide from the hotel to the conference site. We will have a courtesy vehicle available for transportation. If you do need to drive onto campus, the easiest parking would be in the Memorial Union Parking Ramp, and then you can "hike" to the Hoover-Howe engineering complex.

If you have any subject that you would be willing to speak on, facilitate a round-table or conduct a training session, or have a particular topic you would like to see included in the conference, please let us know.

Rich and I look forward to seeing you at Iowa State University.

Lola Van Wyk
2005 Conference Director
515-294-8313