Thought Leaders from Caltrans and WSP USA at Geo Week 2023

On this week's guest list, for Season 3, Episode 16, we are delighted to welcome to the show Kourosh Langari, Project Engineer at Caltrans, and Douglas Dunrud, Vice President and Technical Principal at the WSP USA (26-minute episode). The insightful discussions between Mark, Kourosh, and Douglas covered several topics, ranging from how Caltrans integrates technology and their challenges for the next few years, to WSP utilizing BIM in infrastructure projects and how they approach training with the adoption of new technology.

About Kourosh Langari
Kourosh Langari has 30 years of experience in A&E infrastructure Planning, Design & Construction Management with focus on integration of engineering/survey/GIS software applications (i.e. Autodesk, Bentley & ESRI) to establish industry’s best practices and increase efficiencies in workflow of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process. Kourosh has been and is working as Civil Engineer/ BIM Manager Transportation Surveyor at public sector (California Department of Transportation) and has worked as senior project engineer in private sector for AECOM (formerly URS) for the past decade.

About Douglas Dunrud
Mr. Doug Dunrud is a BIM Engineering Specialist with 34 years of experience as a bridge engineer in the highway transportation sector. He joined WSP in 2018 following his previous position as Branch Chief in Structure Design for Caltrans. During his time at Caltrans, he implemented the “Civil 3D Best Practices” in his branch and developed a BIM Implementation Plan for the Division of Engineering Services. Mr. Dunrud is a pioneer in the development of BIM for bridges and structures and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) which promises to improve quality, accelerate project schedules and increase value to clients on transportation infrastructure projects.

Throughout the interviews, Kourosh and Douglas discussed numerous topics with our host Mark Oden, including:

• How Caltrans integrates technology into the performance of their service
• Some of the major challenges for Caltrans over the next few years
• Use cases for BIM in infrastructure projects, and Douglas' experience influencing tools and technologies for the market
• How Douglas approaches the training component when adopting new technologies

SHOW NOTES

0:12  - Mark Oden introduces Kourosh Langari, Project Engineer at Caltrans.

2:21  - Mark: "Speaking of topologies and different climates, here at Geo Week, it's a big focus on topology, LIDAR scanning and BIM. So, how does Caltrans integrate technology into the performance of their service?"

7:26  - Mark: "What do you see as some of the major challenges for Caltrans over the next few years?" 

11:59  - Mark Oden introduces Douglas Dunrud, Vice President and Technical Principal at WSP USA.

15:13  - Mark: "So can you drive into some of the use cases, especially how you're using the model and component of BIM into your infrastructure projects? Could you also share a little bit about your experience and how you help influence the tools and technologies that the market sees?"

19:39  - Mark: "So moving on to speak a little bit about Bentley and the agnostic approach that WSP is taking with software, I'm curious how you approach the training component when you're moving from Civil 3D to Bentley, for example?"

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