Thought Leaders from Skanska USA and USGS at Geo Week 2023

By Luke Lightning

August 4, 2023

Summer is approaching, and our special Geo Week 2023 series is heating up! Featuring our guest host, Mark Oden (CEO of BIM Designs, Inc) and several keynote speakers we met during the conference, we're exploring the future of construction and it's evolving digital landscape!

Click to listen to our interview on Apple, Spotify, or Google, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

This week, for Season 3, Episode 16, we are thrilled to welcome to the show Kara Fragola, Field Engineer at Skanska USA, and Jason Stoker, a Physical Scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (24-minute episode). The naturally flowing conversations between Mark, Kara, and Johnny took a deep dive into numerous topics, from our guests' career origin stories and how Skanska USA and USGS are involved in the future of construction, to their specific participation in presentations at Geo Week and key takeaways from the conference.

About Kara Fragola
Kara Fragola is a field engineer at Skanska USA Civil, working primarily in the northeast region. During her time at Skanska, she has worked on numerous noteworthy projects such as LaGuardia Airport Redevelopment, Hunt’s Point Interstate Access Improvement Contract 1, and Harmon Shop Replacement.

Kara holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Columbia University. She is a Part 107 FAA Certified Commercial Drone Pilot and leads Skanska Civil’s drone program for the northeast region. She is currently leveraging this technology at the $1.6 billion Portal North Bridge project in Kearny/Secaucus, NJ, as well as helping to train and support other Skanska employees as they embark on their journey to receiving a drone pilot license. The drone and technology work Kara is doing will help keep Skanska at the forefront of innovation.

About Jason Stoker
Dr. Jason Stoker is a US Geological Survey Physical Scientist for the National Geospatial Program. Jason is currently the Elevation Science and Applications Lead for the National Geospatial Program. Jason oversees strategic planning, development and coordination of the 3D Elevation Program and related data, tools, and services. Jason provides technical expertise, prepares roadmaps and plans for elevation products and services, and helps determine the long-term vision for 3DEP products and services. Prior to this position, for over twelve years he led the lidar research and development activities at USGS EROS Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was the founder of CLICK: the USGS Center for Lidar Information Coordination and Knowledge. Jason is the former Director of the Lidar Division of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Past President of ASPRS and is the FGDC National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Data Manager for 4 National Elevation Theme Datasets

Throughout the interviews, Kara and Jason discussed numerous topics with our host Mark Oden, including:

- What is important and of paramount focus for Skanska this year
- Some of Skanska's best practices when it comes to information sharing
- How the ROI from USGS collected data is being returned to the community
- Jason's findings from a survey he presented at Geo Week

Skanska is one of the largest, most financially sound construction and development companies in the U.S., serving a broad range of clients, including those in transportation, power, industrial, water/wastewater, healthcare, education, sports, data centers, government, aviation, and commercial. Skanska is an industry-leading innovator in both safety and project execution and offers competitive solutions for both traditional and complex assignments to help build a more sustainable future for our customers and communities.

Created by an act of Congress in 1879, the USGS provides science for a changing world, which reflects and responds to society’s continuously evolving needs. As the science arm of the Department of the Interior, the USGS brings an array of earth, water, biological, and mapping data and expertise to bear in support of decision-making on environmental, resource, and public safety issues. The USGS monitors, analyzes, and predicts current and evolving Earth-system interactions and delivers actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision makers.

Click to listen to our interview on Apple, Spotify, or Google, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

SHOW NOTES

0:12  Mark Oden introduces Kara Fragola, Field Engineer at Skanska USA.

3:37  Mark: "Can you tell us a little bit about Skanska, itself, the organization at scale? And what is of key importance to Skanska this year?"

7:26  Mark: "What are some best practices that Skanska has when it comes to share information with other colleagues?" 

10:48  Mark Oden introduces Jason Stoker, Physical Scientist at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

17:46  Mark: "Could you share some use cases on where data [that USGS has collected] has been consumed and used, and the ROI that you're seeing is being returned back to the community?"

20:10  Mark: "So you recently participated in a study that you'll be presenting at Geo Week. Would you like to give us a synopsis of your findings and what you studied?" 

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