Rick Johnson
What project(s) are you currently working on?
Currently, I am working on a Risk Analysis for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) on the State Road 528 Expressway to Cape Canaveral and the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) project in Albuquerque, NM for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Also, in the preparation stage to facilitate a Value Engineering (VE) study for the Volpe Center project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
What are some of your career highlights?
Having facilitated a VE Study for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and then two Risk Mitigation and Value Management workshops for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center to mitigate costs and recover schedule for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center program.
What is something new/innovative happening in your industry?
The application of the Value Engineering Methodology to organization/agency processes is relatively new to FDOT. In the past they have done process mapping with a flow diagram and the assignment of responsibilities, but District 4 is trying a new and different approach. Francisco Cruz and I have been assisting FDOT District 4 with several of their internal processes. Each one is different and presents its own challenge but methodology helps the team to think about the function of each step within the process and how it affects or may affect other steps within the process.
What was a transformative project or challenge that you did at PMA?
Facilitating the I-95 Express VE workshop that consisted of 30+ people from two different FDOT Districts that have a history of not necessarily working well with each other.
Do you get to do something at work every day that you love? If so, what is it?
I get to the office (when in town) every day at 6:00 – 6:15 am, have a couple of cups of coffee and review my schedule for the day or the coming days and catch up on email. There are very few interruptions at that time of day.
From which university did you graduate?
I graduated with a BSE & MSE in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Central Florida (UFC) (the 18th ranked undefeated UCF Knights)
What is your favorite local establishment/feature (restaurant, museum, stadium, etc.)?
My wife, Nien, and I enjoy going to football and basketball games at UCF and on at least one day of the weekend we try and play golf at Orange Tree Golf Club.
Provide a fun fact about yourself?
I can pull an engine out of any air-cooled Volkswagen in 10 minutes or less. I can then completely disassemble the engine and rebuild it from the crankshaft up. (That takes more than 10 minutes)