Dive Brief:
- Virginia Tech and AEC firm Procon Consulting have come together to establish the Procon Innovation Center, a new facility for construction students at the university, Procon announced in an Oct. 3 news release.
- Located inside the newly built Hitt Hall on the school’s main campus in Blacksburg, the center is an advanced facility designed to support large-scale, student-led projects and experiential learning, according to the release. The lab is equipped with cutting-edge resources, such as robotics and 3D concrete printers.
- Students in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at the university will partner with the AEC industry in the development of new tech-driven solutions and approaches, per the release.
Dive Insight:
Mark Ilich and Kyu Jung, who graduated from Virginia Tech before forming the tech-focused construction management consulting firm based in McLean, Virginia, spearheaded the effort. Procon will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025.
Ilich and Jung got their start via a contract with the General Services Administration to get web-based project management tools off the ground. Both founders want to provide those same chances to students, per the announcement.
“Repurposing a business plan we created in a graduate class as our foundation, we saw an opportunity to solve industry challenges with emerging technology,” Jung said in the release. “We want students to have those same opportunities for innovation and disruption in the industry and champion construction tech for the future.”
Procon and Virginia Tech established the center as the school continues to build and expand its construction education and research opportunities — in September, the university announced its new construction safety leadership program, a bachelor’s in science program.
Additionally, researchers at Virginia Tech’s helmet lab will rate and study construction helmets, in an effort to protect workers’ heads on construction jobsites.
