Rebuilding New Orleans

Calendar Icon Apr 27, 2007      Person Bust Icon By Ashley Washburn | UComm     RSS Feed  RSS Submit a Story

Right to Left: Professor George Morcous, Student Mike Wiesniewski, Student Jesse Wilke, Professor James Goedert, Professor Yong K. Cho, Professor Avery Schwer, Student Brandon Krelling, Professor Bill Holmes
Right to Left: Professor George Morcous, Student Mike Wiesniewski, Student Jesse Wilke, Professor James Goedert, Professor Yong K. Cho, Professor Avery Schwer, Student Brandon Krelling, Professor Bill Holmes

Brandon Kreiling admits that as a Midwesterner, he initially found it hard to comprehend why the city of New Orleans wanted to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Now that he's visited The Big Easy three times and witnessed the devastation Katrina left behind, he understands.

Computer renderings of finished homes
Computer renderings of finished homes.

Kreiling, a graduate assistant, and 11 other faculty and students in the Department of Construction Systems have spent the past year designing floor plans and writing construction manuals that builders will use to build or renovate homes in New Orleans' Esplanade Ridge neighborhood.

In early 2006 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a $293,660 grant to participate in the Universities Rebuilding America Partnership. The program is a partnership between the Charles W. Durham School of Architectural Engineering & Construction, HUD and the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. Fifteen other schools also are participating.

Kreiling, a 2000 graduate, was working for HearthStone Homes in Omaha when Professor James Goedert recruited him for the project. Kreiling said his first trip to New Orleans confirmed that returning to school was the right decision. Hearing New Orleanians' stories also convinced him it was necessary to rebuild the once-majestic city.

Click here to read the full article in the lastest edition of Engineering at Nebraska.



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