#7: Collaboration & New Ways of Working in the Construction Industry from Stanford University’s PBL Lab

As the construction industry prioritizes productivity and process growth and innovation, it’s critical to engage the next great minds of the industry – students – to share their thoughts on what the future looks like. The Project Based Learning (PBL) Lab at the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) at Stanford University is doing just that by giving students the opportunity to experience, practice and innovate construction methodologies, practices and processes through real-world experiences. This program, started by Dr. Renate Fruchter, enables student teams with mentors from the construction space to push the envelope via a project-based learning course that allows them to use their skill set in a practical manner, arming them for their future. 

In this episode, Collaboration & New Ways of Working in the Construction Industry from Stanford University’s PBL Lab, Justin Schwaiger, Director of Customer Success at Manufacton, and Dr. Fruchter, founding director of the PBL Lab, lecturer in the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Sr. Research Engineer thrust leader of “Collaboration Technologies” at CIFE at Stanford, discuss this program, its benefits, and what the industry at large can learn from it. 

To learn more about the course, please visit PBL Lab’s website. To explore some of the projects discussed in the episode, please visit PBL Lab’s Project Page. The video detailing the Atlantic2020 Project Evolution Story is on YouTube here.