Text us with feedback, questions, and guest suggestions.
The Florida Engineering Society's new incoming President, Ron Colas, PE, SI, has a lot of important information for professionals interested in Florida's railroads, highways, ports, and airports. Colas recently sat down with Engineering Florida Podcast host Sam Yates, to discuss these important topics and the challenge of attracting students to the world of engineering.
For intermodal transportation's future, an underlying theme is Florida's power grid. For the next generation of engineering students the theme is STEM and awareness of the value of Engineers in our everyday lives.
The Florida Engineering Society, Engineering Florida podcast, is produced by Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing. Contact Sam Yates, Sam@Yatespro.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Sam Yates (00:01):
Engineers are ingenious professionals.
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
(00:21):
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
engineering Florida podcast, SamYates, with today's guest.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida B (00:36):
it's only been about a year ago that
I was sitting here and we beganthe interview process with the
Florida Engineering Societychatting with some of the the
key people who really make thatorganization what it is. And
over the course of a year, Iknow that we've touched on many,
(00:59):
many topics. And today, we'retouching on the topic of a new
president for the FloridaEngineering Society.
The bar is constantly beingraised by the leadership of the
Florida engineering society bythe leadership at the top and
one of those leaders, Ron Cola,he is the leader of the Florida
(01:20):
Engineering Society, some of thekey people behind him have some
awesome things to say, becauseI've talked with him over the
past couple of weeks. And theygave me some some topics to make
sure that we touched uponbecause they know these are
important to you. But Mr. Colas,welcome to the program today.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (01:39):
Glad to be here. Dan, thanks for the
opportunity to talk with you. Ilook forward to our discussions.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (01:45):
I always start every program with
getting to know the guest alittle bit better. And I know
that you and I had theopportunity a few months back to
chat in great detail about yourbackground, but let's share some
of that with our audience.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (02:01):
So by way of hearing my accent, you
probably thought thanks forthinking that I am not. I wasn't
born in the United States. ButI've been living here for quite
a long time. Originally from theCaribbean, more specifically
Haiti. And I come from a familyof entrepreneurs. My father was
an engineer out to the bordersin the engineering field. My mom
(02:23):
was a nurse, and midwife and Ihave in other words, I have like
five former siblings, and it wassitting right in the middle. So
I was always told that I was atroublemaker but good trouble.
And I've been in the US for over40 plus years. Went to school in
the Midwest, St. LouisUniversity and universal misery
(02:45):
well I know called miseryscience and technology. Great
school, we like to call it theMIT of the Midwest. And
graduated study my masters atWashU. But went to work for
Caltrans in the west coast as ajunior engineer, and then a
geotechnical engineer andhighway engineer, and then move
(03:06):
back to the eSports here. Coronasmall firm and then into went
into the Nationals scene scene,we have corporate America, if
you will, working with nationalfirms in different aspects of
the business. So that's a quicksummary of who I am.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (03:27):
And I always have to go wow, you
know that you touched on just afew of the topics, licensed
engineer in seven states.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (03:36):
Yes, one of the one that I keep very
dearly is California because youknow, it's one of the hardest
states because of the seismicanother thing so make sure that
I keep that license to quite upto date. But yes, I've been
making sure that I am. I quitopportunities for businesses,
not only for myself, but thefrom our present in some of the
(03:58):
key states where infrastructureis really important for a, you
know, some kind of an economy onthe state. So California,
Florida, somebody made UnitedStates, more or less like the
central United States, Maryland,Mississippi and Alabama, and
(04:21):
also in the Caribbean of theVirgin Islands.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (04:23):
Having spent majority of my adult life
in the Midwest in the greatstate of Ohio, we sort of think
of Ohio is the crossroads ofAmerica. I happen to be assigned
not only aviation, aerospace,but the transportation sector
because into intermodaltransportation literally does
make the world go round. Andwe're going to talk about some
(04:45):
of that, but I know that you aregoing to be giving regular
updates to your fellow engineersthrough the FES and I have to
pause and say one of the firstthings that jumped out at me was
that The glass family and thetremendous outpouring that shows
(05:05):
the Florida Engineering Societyhas more than just a heart, it
has a huge heart.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (05:12):
Yeah, as you could see, the glass
familiar was with us at ourannual conference. And within a
week of the conference ending,we were hit by this horrible
news with Meredith and a family.
So I'm very proud of our membersand colleagues that really
poured their heart to supportthat family with young children,
(05:34):
as you can imagine. So it was noone expected that it's a young
couple. And, you know, we wantedto make sure this families had
all the, I guess,infrastructure, if you will, on
the financial side, but really,more than financial, if you
will, to support the family. Youknow, the team at FES is very
(05:58):
due to our membership and alsoto the leadership on the board.
We've been working for a longtime. And it's almost a small
family. So I I'm very proud of,you know, the effort that came
through in a heartbeat, frankly,that was very fast. And in fact,
the results are that we'veexceeded the goal.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (06:24):
And I have to say that, you know, to
start your your position as thepresident and achieve that it
speaks, it speaks volumes ofwhat you personally feel about
the organization. And I thinkyou hit it right on the head. It
is family. So I want to commendyou for that.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (06:41):
Thank you, thank you very much.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (06:43):
Let's talk some of the areas that I
know are very important to you.
rail transportation in Florida.
I'm sitting here in my office inStuart, Florida, I look out the
window. And during our ourconversation, we may hear
quietly, the train go by brightline, because this week, as
(07:06):
we're recording this, Floridabegan a Miami to Orlando, quote,
high speed rail, it will getfaster, but quite an
accomplishment from a railstandpoint, your perspective.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (07:19):
So, you know, back in the days, you
thought, right, transportationis just highway bridges, right?
People didn't think there wereother modes of transportation.
And as you see this mass transitsystem, whether it's a bus or
rail, for that matter, peopleare becoming more open to the
idea if you look at Europe forthat, for that matter, which is
(07:42):
somewhat very much connectedbecause of in terms of different
countries, but they have afabulous system that is
interconnected on all particularmode. So I commend breadline for
really pushing the initiative toreally connect communities. And
if you will, they're also fromFDT. Leadership, they are very,
that's one of their keyattributes, they want to make
(08:04):
sure communities are connectedor reconnected for that matter.
So really is important for manyways, for many reasons, not only
from a mobility standpoint, andalso it creates a larger
communities, there will betransit development, orientated
facility, people perhaps will beable to leave a little bit
further but still be able tocommunicate. And then the other
(08:27):
thing that produces a bit of anetzero, if you will, will be
able to reduce our carbonfootprint. And, and I think the
other thing that's important tome, our younger generation
really don't want to drivebrand, that's another subject
there. So having another way ofcreating mobility for them is
(08:48):
important. So I think this iscoming in real time. As we look
forward in the future to reallydevelop well, of course, the
technologies is going to besmarter will probably will have
faster training in the future,but I think it's a good start.
And it needs to connect the restof the state if I were to look
at crystal ball, I hear thingsthat bright light is gonna go to
(09:11):
Tampa, but if you wanted to lookin the future, I would
definitely draw draw a trianglefrom the Miami Orlando Tampa, go
back to Miami. You know, thoseare different alignments that
will probably be coming in thefuture. And also let alone the
other areas that are the indeveloper wonder North Florida
as well. Jacksonville, it'sanother area so I could see, you
(09:33):
know, legs of well beingdeveloped, where you know, more
transportation is provided forpeople.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (09:41):
Well, I'm gonna keep my fingers
crossed that because right nowwe're steel on steel on track.
Europe and the other countries.
big proponent maglev. I know theNortheast Corridor at one point
now I'm dating myself because Iactually worked on the
communications plan for avariation of a maglev have
committed our transportationsystem for the Northeast
(10:02):
quarter. It didn't happen. Butthat's a different engineering
technology altogether, though.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, (10:08):
Absolutely, absolutely. And also the
maintenance of him too. So whenyou start having those kind of
systems, we got to think about,well, how are you going to build
more facilities to maintain thistrail? How is it to where the
parts are coming from? So Ithink the Maglev yet it's not
necessarily taking ground in theUnited States. But I would say
(10:30):
it's not too far in any future.
Sam Yates, Host, Florid (10:33):
Looking at it from from my background,
one of the things that we alwaysdid in the news business was to
do a comparison to build a mileof infrastructure being highway
or being interstate andcomparing that cost to a mile of
rail, there is no comparison,it's, it's a no brainer, build
(10:55):
rail, and we will be savingmoney for the citizens of
Florida ultimately,
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (11:01):
well, and then the other thing you
need to look at, well, Florida,in a sense, going to be
landlocked, right? You're notgoing to be able to build any
more highways in the future. SoI think the agencies that are in
this business will look atmaintain what we have and think
about different modes, in Floyd,also various environmental
sensitive areas as well. Youknow, so there's some sudden, I
(11:26):
was the infrastructureconstruction that will disrupt
scenario. So one needs to bemindful of that. So well, and
other modes are providing thealternate, if you will, or
mobility or volume.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (11:40):
For there are some naysayers there.
But recently, I spoke with thethe mayor of Palm Beach County.
And he relayed the story of howin the construction of the
bright line station in PalmBeach County, that led to the
creation of more than a millionsquare feet of space used for
(12:02):
some retail, but there was amillion square feet in there of
residential housing and theinteresting part, and you hit
upon it, no requirement forthose housing projects, part of
the bright line complex for onstreet parking, because today's
generation doesn't want to drythey want to come from their
house, get into the train, andgo where they need to go.
(12:25):
interest.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (12:26):
And you said it, right. So it
creates it creates businessopportunities for business
owners in all those one ofgetting scenarios, the
businesses, and then also itallows residents that are into
mixed use facilities to almostplay and work and, and get on
and get in the system and comeback. Can you imagine, if you
(12:50):
were driving on a three hourdrive, you probably focus on the
road, right. But if you take abright line or rail system for
that, you should still do catchon work. Because you have all
the other tools at yourdisposal. And it's a smooth
ride. If you do your emails, youdo whatever you need to do for
work. But and you're moreconnected than than you would
have been if you're driving.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (13:11):
switch gears a bit to another type of
transportation and one that Ialso have a notice here there's
a pattern, Sam is askingquestions about things that he's
interested in. But it's alsoengineering too. But that is
flight. I'm following veryclosely Joby aviation out of
(13:31):
Dayton, Ohio, that's going to bemanufacturing in the
neighborhood of 600. Electrictaxis, they will either be
autonomous, or they will besingle pilot. And I know that
the Florida engineers totallyare preparing for this type of
transportation because theyhelped develop a plan for a
(13:52):
verta port. Tell us what thatis.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (13:55):
Well, so this is an interesting topic.
And it's still growing. Whilethere are a lot of researches
that are taking this around theglobe, and also in the United
States. So there's evil thatpeople like to talk about, but
suddenly, I think it's coming.
And it reminds me of theJetsons. I've always wondered,
Is it true perhaps you know,things thought ideas start to be
(14:19):
developing from the cartoon andthen becomes reality later. But
if you think about it, it it issomething that's going to
provide more opportunities to bemore mobile. I think the
struggle is from the FAA side isAdi regulate these these flying
vehicles, whether it'sautonomous or single pilot, so
(14:43):
that in an airspace that's notreally compromising the larger
pool of aircrafts that areflying there. So that's one
aspect. The second aspect is Ifthey're going to be electric
vehicles, where do you charge?
And how do you charge them? Doyou have enough of a power grid
(15:05):
to make sure that you canservice those? And how do you
maintain them? So there are alot of other questions that are
coming behind that. Butcertainly I think the technology
is there. It's it's coming, Iwould say the next 10 years.
After they go through thepilots, pilot programs, and
they've talked to the FAA, theyhave certain regulations, put in
(15:27):
place at least a certain ceilingfloor, I think believe I believe
from the auto, whether you callit the AMA, which is the
American I wanted to call teamsthere, there's a 500 foot
ceiling for autonomous aircraft.
And I happen to be one of thepilots that fly the electric
helicopters and passionate aboutthat. But it there's that
(15:52):
ceiling, but there will be onlybe a higher ceiling for other
vehicles, as well. So I thinkthere's a lot to come that needs
to be regulated, and then toavoid compromises. But it is a
acknowledges that there are someit's coming we can't. The
question is how far can one gowith a single charge.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida B (16:16):
This is true. I also fly drones for
different purposes. And that'salways a concern. When the
warning light comes on lowbattery, low battery, it's like
oh my gosh, I hope I got intopower to get back home. So you
know, that's not a, that's not aluxury option to have if you're
flying people or cargo. Sothat's certainly something that
we'll have to watch. But I'mlooking at it carefully because
(16:38):
I know a lot of our majorairports have feeder airports
nearby that could accommodatethese. So Florida is pretty wide
open. I am hoping to see that.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (16:49):
One more thing I mentioned. So you
know, when we talk abouttransportation in Florida, we
also talking about Air Mobility,right? So we talk on the
different modes. So the AirMobility side is key important.
We have you know, we'relaunching spacecraft from
Florida. Certainly Florida iswell positioned to really have a
(17:13):
become a pioneer in this kind ofindustry.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (17:16):
I hope so I look forward to to
having you back on in the futureand talking about the progress
that the engineers have helpedto make here in Florida, when it
comes also to progress on thehighways autonomous vehicle. I
know, the Florida TurnpikeAuthority in all of its new
planning for new segments ofTurnpike, if you look at the
(17:39):
plans, you will see every 500feet a light pole, except it's
not technically it istechnically a light pole, but it
is also a 5g retransmissiontower, because right now, that's
about the range of autonomoussignal pass through. And I think
(17:59):
even today, we have alreadyautonomous semis on the
Turnpike, is that something thatis really going to be ushered in
with all the developments we'reseeing?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (18:10):
Well, you know, I think they've been
talking about autonomous vehiclemore like a private vehicle and
so forth. And as I was talkingto some other colleagues, then
the whole thing is, well, theywill be autonomous. But how do
you create? How do you weenergize vehicles? Right? So and
I think that's the key questionthere. So do you have enough
(18:30):
power on the you could do a testpilot project, say less than a
mile on a highway and where youcould provide some filters to
charge the batteries? What doesthat look like if you're driving
a truck, right? And it's noteven a semi yet some kind of a
four wheel drive this thing onmuch higher? So are you going to
(18:51):
get the same amperage to chargeyour batteries? And then when
you get to the semi? What doesthat look like again? So I think
from an autonomous vehicle interms of what Google has been
doing, and other key folks theyare, it's proven that the
vehicle can self drive itself.
With some management, I thinkthe bigger parties are do
maintain energy into vehicles sothat you can get more for your
(19:16):
miles. And recently I drove one,I just happen to be renting and
they give me one vehicle. And itwas not a Tesla, you will some
other brands. And I had a hardtime finding a super charging
station. So I panicked. I had a200 miles, you know capacity.
But after what the heck am Igoing to charge the vehicle so I
(19:38):
had to drive outside at 10%battery? Can you imagine? Well,
then I told myself Well, thething happened, I'll just leave
it on the side of the road. Butbut the point is the point the
point is, we as we aredeveloping these new
technologies from our formerself driving vehicle, we also
need to think about the energysources right though is the
(19:58):
greed, strong enough to provideministrations? Right. And then
another thing too? How do youtransition the combustion engine
into the vehicle? So are yougoing to have notice stations
that will have perhaps providegasoline or diesel and at the
(20:19):
same time, they also provideelectric? So there are a lot
more questions, but I think it'scoming. The idea is, is doing
research, how to really make thehighways a little bit smarter.
And smarter means just thevehicles or communicating with
some other devices, but at thesame time charging, right?
Sam Yates, Host, Flori (20:39):
touching upon all the the avenues,
shoreline, Florida is rich inShoreline, I would not be doing
my job if I didn't ask aboutengineering ports. And what can
we see from Europe? Notice I'malso asking you to project some
vision here to what's up withthe ports.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (21:01):
So most of our, well, Florida is
ready to get with an artistoffline. But Florida is good
with the Caribbean and LatinAmerica. Yes, there are a lot of
ships that are coming throughour shores, and important, you
know, or exporting goods. Andalso, it's allowed Florida to
really be a major player in theglobal economy because of trade.
(21:25):
So ships and ports are allowedallowing trades to be a little
bit more enhanced in Florida.
With that said, the major portsare also looking at upgrading
the infrastructure is becausethe the manufacturers of the
chips are making their chips,much smaller, much, much much
(21:46):
smarter. And we talked aboutenergy a while ago. So, you
know, there's also a thinking,well, will the ships have liquid
nitrogen fuel? Right. So LNG issomething that's very much being
discussed, I think South Africahas the largest hub for LNG. So
I could see those ships visitingthe ports in Florida thinking
(22:10):
about that way. But one of theareas that they've been looking
at is really shore power, to thepoint where when a ship comes
in, plug in right away, youknow, power to the ships without
really impeding the power grid.
So I see that being done in, inSouth Florida, put in South
Florida, Jacksonville is lookingat that Tampa is doing it that
(22:34):
is also looking at that. So theyou know, from a technology
point of view, I think that'swhat the maritime world is
looking at. The other part I seegoing on is how do you protect
this footprint from a resiliencyside, I think we would not do
(22:55):
our service, too, if we didn'ttouch that part of it on the
port side, because Florida iswell located, you know, always
under threat of hurricane andsea level rise, etc. So there
are ways that the ports ofthinking is to retrofit their
footprint against, you know,those challenges that come with
resiliency. And the ships aregonna keep on being smaller and
(23:23):
smaller. So from thatinvestment, I think the port
facilities will have to continueupgrading their their
infrastructure, you know, ushaving mega ships now that are
bringing more cargo in, you haveto perhaps we can add having
better and smarter cranes fromfrom a cruise line, people are
(23:43):
taking the cruise and the cruiseships are getting bigger as
well. So there are a lot ofareas where I believe that ports
will will continue to improvetheir facility. And we're
talking about inland ports to,you know, for example, soft
border port Miami PortEverglades, what a waste point
they'll have, they'll have,they'll need capacity. So if you
(24:04):
want to trade more, where do youstore those goods? More to come
on.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bus (24:11):
In each of the areas that we have
touched upon. There are so manyengineering tentacles that reach
out in so many different areas.
Do we have enough engineers todo what needs to be done? And if
not, how do we get morestudents, more professionals
into the engineering world?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (24:35):
So I've touched on this. That's a
great question, Sam. And alsothat question is tied to
workforce development, right?
Which is something thateverybody's noticing that
there's a need for so I wouldtake that question and add to it
with what will future engineerslook like? You know, in my days,
we had to take all theprerequisites, take the car
(24:58):
ballistic, did the differentialequation and everything else to
become an engineer. And then howmuch am I using that today? You
know, so I think the newengineers they would have, and
that's working with theacademia, working with others as
well. And the new genius willhave to be able to be educated
in the ways that they cancompete with the new
(25:22):
technologies, and be fully readyto address those challenges.
And, you know, AI is is a bigelement of it. So I know that
some a lot of universities aretalking about how to introduce
that into their curriculum. Butto your call the call your
questions, do we need more? Yes.
(25:42):
And it starts with the the STEMprogram, you know, on early
education, that we need to keeppromoting the studies of
mathematics, science, to, youknow, to encourage more younger
students to get into the fieldof engineers, engineering. It's
(26:05):
a phenomenon, field, if youwill. It's not something very
understood. It's not sexy,compared to architecture that
they get to see. But it's reallythe backbone of everything that
we see whether it'sinfrastructure with buildings,
or just energy, I think that itneeds to be talked by the
(26:29):
leadership of society'sprofessional societies, owners,
the private sector, the publicsector, we need more engineers.
And when and then also, perhaps,like I said, briefly, is
modifying their code theircurriculum for for the study of
engineers, if you look at othercountries, China, actually, when
(26:51):
I used to work in Caltrans, inthe West Coast, there are a wave
of engineers coming fromVietnam, you know, China and
those other places. So a lot ofAsian engineers were coming,
because there was still meethaving that challenge. There
were not enough people. So weneed to encourage our youngest
students to study engineering.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (27:13):
We've covered a lot of material today.
And, you know, frankly, I wantedto say that for our audience,
you're going to be spared,because otherwise, Ron and I
would be sitting here foranother couple of hours just
carrying on conversations aboutdifferent topics here. But is
there anything that we have nottouched upon that you wanted to
make sure that we covered today?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (27:35):
That was awkward to talk about a lot
of of the things that are reallykeeping a lot of people awake? I
think transportation of all is akey element of, of development,
if you will. And I know theChamber of Commerce, the Florida
Chamber of Commerce is veryconcerned about upgrading,
improving floor infrastructurefor that, for that can become at
(27:58):
least the 10th global economy inthe world, currently 14. And
it's just not transportation,but overall, you know, workforce
development, education, and anincreasing trade trade
development. I think we'vecovered a number of things. But
one of the things I would say,looking ahead is how engineers
(28:22):
are giving back to ourcommunities as well. We need to
wait, that's an importantelement of it. So we need to be
part of our communities toprovide support and stay
connected.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (28:35):
I'm going to save that for a
standalone topic for when wehave you back on and that leads
to the question, will you comeback for another episode?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (28:43):
I'd love to I think this topic is
exciting. And because we don'tknow what it will look like, but
suddenly, we could shape it asengineers and other business
owners and educators. We canshape the future. So I look
forward to an invitation.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (28:59):
I will make that invitation
looking forward to it myself.
Ron Cola, president of theFlorida Engineering Society.
Welcome aboard. I want to saythat because I don't know if I
said that to begin with at thebeginning of the program. I'm
proud to be part of the effortthat the Florida Engineering
Society does to help educate ourpublic, our legislative leaders
and our fellow engineers. Sothank you for being here.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President, (29:25):
I thank you. And I think I'm very
humbled to be leading the thisgreat group of people and you
know, on the roadmap here, so Ican do with with with without
the support of our staff. So I'dlike to kind of echo that and
say that the stuff that we haveadded here, and also our
(29:47):
colleagues in the ACC side hasbeen very tremendous. So thank
you for the opportunity.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bus (29:53):
My pleasure. I'm Sam Yates, your
host until our next episode,have a great day everybody.
Sam Yates (30:05):
Thanks for listening to another informative episode
of the engineering Floridapodcast. Our goal is to help
educate and inform everyone wholistens to our podcast about our
members and topics of interestto the Florida Engineering
Society. On behalf of theFlorida Engineering Society, and
(30:26):
the engineering Florida podcast,have a great day everybody
Engineers are ingenious professionals.
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
(00:21):
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
engineering Florida podcast, SamYates, with today's guest.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida B (00:36):
it's only been about a year ago that
I was sitting here and we beganthe interview process with the
Florida Engineering Societychatting with some of the the
key people who really make thatorganization what it is. And
over the course of a year, Iknow that we've touched on many,
(00:59):
many topics. And today, we'retouching on the topic of a new
president for the FloridaEngineering Society.
The bar is constantly beingraised by the leadership of the
Florida engineering society bythe leadership at the top and
one of those leaders, Ron Cola,he is the leader of the Florida
(01:20):
Engineering Society, some of thekey people behind him have some
awesome things to say, becauseI've talked with him over the
past couple of weeks. And theygave me some some topics to make
sure that we touched uponbecause they know these are
important to you. But Mr. Colas,welcome to the program today.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (01:39):
Glad to be here. Dan, thanks for the
opportunity to talk with you. Ilook forward to our discussions.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (01:45):
I always start every program with
getting to know the guest alittle bit better. And I know
that you and I had theopportunity a few months back to
chat in great detail about yourbackground, but let's share some
of that with our audience.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (02:01):
So by way of hearing my accent, you
probably thought thanks forthinking that I am not. I wasn't
born in the United States. ButI've been living here for quite
a long time. Originally from theCaribbean, more specifically
Haiti. And I come from a familyof entrepreneurs. My father was
an engineer out to the bordersin the engineering field. My mom
(02:23):
was a nurse, and midwife and Ihave in other words, I have like
five former siblings, and it wassitting right in the middle. So
I was always told that I was atroublemaker but good trouble.
And I've been in the US for over40 plus years. Went to school in
the Midwest, St. LouisUniversity and universal misery
(02:45):
well I know called miseryscience and technology. Great
school, we like to call it theMIT of the Midwest. And
graduated study my masters atWashU. But went to work for
Caltrans in the west coast as ajunior engineer, and then a
geotechnical engineer andhighway engineer, and then move
(03:06):
back to the eSports here. Coronasmall firm and then into went
into the Nationals scene scene,we have corporate America, if
you will, working with nationalfirms in different aspects of
the business. So that's a quicksummary of who I am.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (03:27):
And I always have to go wow, you
know that you touched on just afew of the topics, licensed
engineer in seven states.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (03:36):
Yes, one of the one that I keep very
dearly is California because youknow, it's one of the hardest
states because of the seismicanother thing so make sure that
I keep that license to quite upto date. But yes, I've been
making sure that I am. I quitopportunities for businesses,
not only for myself, but thefrom our present in some of the
(03:58):
key states where infrastructureis really important for a, you
know, some kind of an economy onthe state. So California,
Florida, somebody made UnitedStates, more or less like the
central United States, Maryland,Mississippi and Alabama, and
(04:21):
also in the Caribbean of theVirgin Islands.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (04:23):
Having spent majority of my adult life
in the Midwest in the greatstate of Ohio, we sort of think
of Ohio is the crossroads ofAmerica. I happen to be assigned
not only aviation, aerospace,but the transportation sector
because into intermodaltransportation literally does
make the world go round. Andwe're going to talk about some
(04:45):
of that, but I know that you aregoing to be giving regular
updates to your fellow engineersthrough the FES and I have to
pause and say one of the firstthings that jumped out at me was
that The glass family and thetremendous outpouring that shows
(05:05):
the Florida Engineering Societyhas more than just a heart, it
has a huge heart.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (05:12):
Yeah, as you could see, the glass
familiar was with us at ourannual conference. And within a
week of the conference ending,we were hit by this horrible
news with Meredith and a family.
So I'm very proud of our membersand colleagues that really
poured their heart to supportthat family with young children,
(05:34):
as you can imagine. So it was noone expected that it's a young
couple. And, you know, we wantedto make sure this families had
all the, I guess,infrastructure, if you will, on
the financial side, but really,more than financial, if you
will, to support the family. Youknow, the team at FES is very
(05:58):
due to our membership and alsoto the leadership on the board.
We've been working for a longtime. And it's almost a small
family. So I I'm very proud of,you know, the effort that came
through in a heartbeat, frankly,that was very fast. And in fact,
the results are that we'veexceeded the goal.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (06:24):
And I have to say that, you know, to
start your your position as thepresident and achieve that it
speaks, it speaks volumes ofwhat you personally feel about
the organization. And I thinkyou hit it right on the head. It
is family. So I want to commendyou for that.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (06:41):
Thank you, thank you very much.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (06:43):
Let's talk some of the areas that I
know are very important to you.
rail transportation in Florida.
I'm sitting here in my office inStuart, Florida, I look out the
window. And during our ourconversation, we may hear
quietly, the train go by brightline, because this week, as
(07:06):
we're recording this, Floridabegan a Miami to Orlando, quote,
high speed rail, it will getfaster, but quite an
accomplishment from a railstandpoint, your perspective.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (07:19):
So, you know, back in the days, you
thought, right, transportationis just highway bridges, right?
People didn't think there wereother modes of transportation.
And as you see this mass transitsystem, whether it's a bus or
rail, for that matter, peopleare becoming more open to the
idea if you look at Europe forthat, for that matter, which is
(07:42):
somewhat very much connectedbecause of in terms of different
countries, but they have afabulous system that is
interconnected on all particularmode. So I commend breadline for
really pushing the initiative toreally connect communities. And
if you will, they're also fromFDT. Leadership, they are very,
that's one of their keyattributes, they want to make
(08:04):
sure communities are connectedor reconnected for that matter.
So really is important for manyways, for many reasons, not only
from a mobility standpoint, andalso it creates a larger
communities, there will betransit development, orientated
facility, people perhaps will beable to leave a little bit
further but still be able tocommunicate. And then the other
(08:27):
thing that produces a bit of anetzero, if you will, will be
able to reduce our carbonfootprint. And, and I think the
other thing that's important tome, our younger generation
really don't want to drivebrand, that's another subject
there. So having another way ofcreating mobility for them is
(08:48):
important. So I think this iscoming in real time. As we look
forward in the future to reallydevelop well, of course, the
technologies is going to besmarter will probably will have
faster training in the future,but I think it's a good start.
And it needs to connect the restof the state if I were to look
at crystal ball, I hear thingsthat bright light is gonna go to
(09:11):
Tampa, but if you wanted to lookin the future, I would
definitely draw draw a trianglefrom the Miami Orlando Tampa, go
back to Miami. You know, thoseare different alignments that
will probably be coming in thefuture. And also let alone the
other areas that are the indeveloper wonder North Florida
as well. Jacksonville, it'sanother area so I could see, you
(09:33):
know, legs of well beingdeveloped, where you know, more
transportation is provided forpeople.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (09:41):
Well, I'm gonna keep my fingers
crossed that because right nowwe're steel on steel on track.
Europe and the other countries.
big proponent maglev. I know theNortheast Corridor at one point
now I'm dating myself because Iactually worked on the
communications plan for avariation of a maglev have
committed our transportationsystem for the Northeast
(10:02):
quarter. It didn't happen. Butthat's a different engineering
technology altogether, though.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, (10:08):
Absolutely, absolutely. And also the
maintenance of him too. So whenyou start having those kind of
systems, we got to think about,well, how are you going to build
more facilities to maintain thistrail? How is it to where the
parts are coming from? So Ithink the Maglev yet it's not
necessarily taking ground in theUnited States. But I would say
(10:30):
it's not too far in any future.
Sam Yates, Host, Florid (10:33):
Looking at it from from my background,
one of the things that we alwaysdid in the news business was to
do a comparison to build a mileof infrastructure being highway
or being interstate andcomparing that cost to a mile of
rail, there is no comparison,it's, it's a no brainer, build
(10:55):
rail, and we will be savingmoney for the citizens of
Florida ultimately,
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (11:01):
well, and then the other thing you
need to look at, well, Florida,in a sense, going to be
landlocked, right? You're notgoing to be able to build any
more highways in the future. SoI think the agencies that are in
this business will look atmaintain what we have and think
about different modes, in Floyd,also various environmental
sensitive areas as well. Youknow, so there's some sudden, I
(11:26):
was the infrastructureconstruction that will disrupt
scenario. So one needs to bemindful of that. So well, and
other modes are providing thealternate, if you will, or
mobility or volume.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (11:40):
For there are some naysayers there.
But recently, I spoke with thethe mayor of Palm Beach County.
And he relayed the story of howin the construction of the
bright line station in PalmBeach County, that led to the
creation of more than a millionsquare feet of space used for
(12:02):
some retail, but there was amillion square feet in there of
residential housing and theinteresting part, and you hit
upon it, no requirement forthose housing projects, part of
the bright line complex for onstreet parking, because today's
generation doesn't want to drythey want to come from their
house, get into the train, andgo where they need to go.
(12:25):
interest.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (12:26):
And you said it, right. So it
creates it creates businessopportunities for business
owners in all those one ofgetting scenarios, the
businesses, and then also itallows residents that are into
mixed use facilities to almostplay and work and, and get on
and get in the system and comeback. Can you imagine, if you
(12:50):
were driving on a three hourdrive, you probably focus on the
road, right. But if you take abright line or rail system for
that, you should still do catchon work. Because you have all
the other tools at yourdisposal. And it's a smooth
ride. If you do your emails, youdo whatever you need to do for
work. But and you're moreconnected than than you would
have been if you're driving.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (13:11):
switch gears a bit to another type of
transportation and one that Ialso have a notice here there's
a pattern, Sam is askingquestions about things that he's
interested in. But it's alsoengineering too. But that is
flight. I'm following veryclosely Joby aviation out of
(13:31):
Dayton, Ohio, that's going to bemanufacturing in the
neighborhood of 600. Electrictaxis, they will either be
autonomous, or they will besingle pilot. And I know that
the Florida engineers totallyare preparing for this type of
transportation because theyhelped develop a plan for a
(13:52):
verta port. Tell us what thatis.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (13:55):
Well, so this is an interesting topic.
And it's still growing. Whilethere are a lot of researches
that are taking this around theglobe, and also in the United
States. So there's evil thatpeople like to talk about, but
suddenly, I think it's coming.
And it reminds me of theJetsons. I've always wondered,
Is it true perhaps you know,things thought ideas start to be
(14:19):
developing from the cartoon andthen becomes reality later. But
if you think about it, it it issomething that's going to
provide more opportunities to bemore mobile. I think the
struggle is from the FAA side isAdi regulate these these flying
vehicles, whether it'sautonomous or single pilot, so
(14:43):
that in an airspace that's notreally compromising the larger
pool of aircrafts that areflying there. So that's one
aspect. The second aspect is Ifthey're going to be electric
vehicles, where do you charge?
And how do you charge them? Doyou have enough of a power grid
(15:05):
to make sure that you canservice those? And how do you
maintain them? So there are alot of other questions that are
coming behind that. Butcertainly I think the technology
is there. It's it's coming, Iwould say the next 10 years.
After they go through thepilots, pilot programs, and
they've talked to the FAA, theyhave certain regulations, put in
(15:27):
place at least a certain ceilingfloor, I think believe I believe
from the auto, whether you callit the AMA, which is the
American I wanted to call teamsthere, there's a 500 foot
ceiling for autonomous aircraft.
And I happen to be one of thepilots that fly the electric
helicopters and passionate aboutthat. But it there's that
(15:52):
ceiling, but there will be onlybe a higher ceiling for other
vehicles, as well. So I thinkthere's a lot to come that needs
to be regulated, and then toavoid compromises. But it is a
acknowledges that there are someit's coming we can't. The
question is how far can one gowith a single charge.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida B (16:16):
This is true. I also fly drones for
different purposes. And that'salways a concern. When the
warning light comes on lowbattery, low battery, it's like
oh my gosh, I hope I got intopower to get back home. So you
know, that's not a, that's not aluxury option to have if you're
flying people or cargo. Sothat's certainly something that
we'll have to watch. But I'mlooking at it carefully because
(16:38):
I know a lot of our majorairports have feeder airports
nearby that could accommodatethese. So Florida is pretty wide
open. I am hoping to see that.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (16:49):
One more thing I mentioned. So you
know, when we talk abouttransportation in Florida, we
also talking about Air Mobility,right? So we talk on the
different modes. So the AirMobility side is key important.
We have you know, we'relaunching spacecraft from
Florida. Certainly Florida iswell positioned to really have a
(17:13):
become a pioneer in this kind ofindustry.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (17:16):
I hope so I look forward to to
having you back on in the futureand talking about the progress
that the engineers have helpedto make here in Florida, when it
comes also to progress on thehighways autonomous vehicle. I
know, the Florida TurnpikeAuthority in all of its new
planning for new segments ofTurnpike, if you look at the
(17:39):
plans, you will see every 500feet a light pole, except it's
not technically it istechnically a light pole, but it
is also a 5g retransmissiontower, because right now, that's
about the range of autonomoussignal pass through. And I think
(17:59):
even today, we have alreadyautonomous semis on the
Turnpike, is that something thatis really going to be ushered in
with all the developments we'reseeing?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presid (18:10):
Well, you know, I think they've been
talking about autonomous vehiclemore like a private vehicle and
so forth. And as I was talkingto some other colleagues, then
the whole thing is, well, theywill be autonomous. But how do
you create? How do you weenergize vehicles? Right? So and
I think that's the key questionthere. So do you have enough
(18:30):
power on the you could do a testpilot project, say less than a
mile on a highway and where youcould provide some filters to
charge the batteries? What doesthat look like if you're driving
a truck, right? And it's noteven a semi yet some kind of a
four wheel drive this thing onmuch higher? So are you going to
(18:51):
get the same amperage to chargeyour batteries? And then when
you get to the semi? What doesthat look like again? So I think
from an autonomous vehicle interms of what Google has been
doing, and other key folks theyare, it's proven that the
vehicle can self drive itself.
With some management, I thinkthe bigger parties are do
maintain energy into vehicles sothat you can get more for your
(19:16):
miles. And recently I drove one,I just happen to be renting and
they give me one vehicle. And itwas not a Tesla, you will some
other brands. And I had a hardtime finding a super charging
station. So I panicked. I had a200 miles, you know capacity.
But after what the heck am Igoing to charge the vehicle so I
(19:38):
had to drive outside at 10%battery? Can you imagine? Well,
then I told myself Well, thething happened, I'll just leave
it on the side of the road. Butbut the point is the point the
point is, we as we aredeveloping these new
technologies from our formerself driving vehicle, we also
need to think about the energysources right though is the
(19:58):
greed, strong enough to provideministrations? Right. And then
another thing too? How do youtransition the combustion engine
into the vehicle? So are yougoing to have notice stations
that will have perhaps providegasoline or diesel and at the
(20:19):
same time, they also provideelectric? So there are a lot
more questions, but I think it'scoming. The idea is, is doing
research, how to really make thehighways a little bit smarter.
And smarter means just thevehicles or communicating with
some other devices, but at thesame time charging, right?
Sam Yates, Host, Flori (20:39):
touching upon all the the avenues,
shoreline, Florida is rich inShoreline, I would not be doing
my job if I didn't ask aboutengineering ports. And what can
we see from Europe? Notice I'malso asking you to project some
vision here to what's up withthe ports.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (21:01):
So most of our, well, Florida is
ready to get with an artistoffline. But Florida is good
with the Caribbean and LatinAmerica. Yes, there are a lot of
ships that are coming throughour shores, and important, you
know, or exporting goods. Andalso, it's allowed Florida to
really be a major player in theglobal economy because of trade.
(21:25):
So ships and ports are allowedallowing trades to be a little
bit more enhanced in Florida.
With that said, the major portsare also looking at upgrading
the infrastructure is becausethe the manufacturers of the
chips are making their chips,much smaller, much, much much
(21:46):
smarter. And we talked aboutenergy a while ago. So, you
know, there's also a thinking,well, will the ships have liquid
nitrogen fuel? Right. So LNG issomething that's very much being
discussed, I think South Africahas the largest hub for LNG. So
I could see those ships visitingthe ports in Florida thinking
(22:10):
about that way. But one of theareas that they've been looking
at is really shore power, to thepoint where when a ship comes
in, plug in right away, youknow, power to the ships without
really impeding the power grid.
So I see that being done in, inSouth Florida, put in South
Florida, Jacksonville is lookingat that Tampa is doing it that
(22:34):
is also looking at that. So theyou know, from a technology
point of view, I think that'swhat the maritime world is
looking at. The other part I seegoing on is how do you protect
this footprint from a resiliencyside, I think we would not do
(22:55):
our service, too, if we didn'ttouch that part of it on the
port side, because Florida iswell located, you know, always
under threat of hurricane andsea level rise, etc. So there
are ways that the ports ofthinking is to retrofit their
footprint against, you know,those challenges that come with
resiliency. And the ships aregonna keep on being smaller and
(23:23):
smaller. So from thatinvestment, I think the port
facilities will have to continueupgrading their their
infrastructure, you know, ushaving mega ships now that are
bringing more cargo in, you haveto perhaps we can add having
better and smarter cranes fromfrom a cruise line, people are
(23:43):
taking the cruise and the cruiseships are getting bigger as
well. So there are a lot ofareas where I believe that ports
will will continue to improvetheir facility. And we're
talking about inland ports to,you know, for example, soft
border port Miami PortEverglades, what a waste point
they'll have, they'll have,they'll need capacity. So if you
(24:04):
want to trade more, where do youstore those goods? More to come
on.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bus (24:11):
In each of the areas that we have
touched upon. There are so manyengineering tentacles that reach
out in so many different areas.
Do we have enough engineers todo what needs to be done? And if
not, how do we get morestudents, more professionals
into the engineering world?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President (24:35):
So I've touched on this. That's a
great question, Sam. And alsothat question is tied to
workforce development, right?
Which is something thateverybody's noticing that
there's a need for so I wouldtake that question and add to it
with what will future engineerslook like? You know, in my days,
we had to take all theprerequisites, take the car
(24:58):
ballistic, did the differentialequation and everything else to
become an engineer. And then howmuch am I using that today? You
know, so I think the newengineers they would have, and
that's working with theacademia, working with others as
well. And the new genius willhave to be able to be educated
in the ways that they cancompete with the new
(25:22):
technologies, and be fully readyto address those challenges.
And, you know, AI is is a bigelement of it. So I know that
some a lot of universities aretalking about how to introduce
that into their curriculum. Butto your call the call your
questions, do we need more? Yes.
(25:42):
And it starts with the the STEMprogram, you know, on early
education, that we need to keeppromoting the studies of
mathematics, science, to, youknow, to encourage more younger
students to get into the fieldof engineers, engineering. It's
(26:05):
a phenomenon, field, if youwill. It's not something very
understood. It's not sexy,compared to architecture that
they get to see. But it's reallythe backbone of everything that
we see whether it'sinfrastructure with buildings,
or just energy, I think that itneeds to be talked by the
(26:29):
leadership of society'sprofessional societies, owners,
the private sector, the publicsector, we need more engineers.
And when and then also, perhaps,like I said, briefly, is
modifying their code theircurriculum for for the study of
engineers, if you look at othercountries, China, actually, when
(26:51):
I used to work in Caltrans, inthe West Coast, there are a wave
of engineers coming fromVietnam, you know, China and
those other places. So a lot ofAsian engineers were coming,
because there was still meethaving that challenge. There
were not enough people. So weneed to encourage our youngest
students to study engineering.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida (27:13):
We've covered a lot of material today.
And, you know, frankly, I wantedto say that for our audience,
you're going to be spared,because otherwise, Ron and I
would be sitting here foranother couple of hours just
carrying on conversations aboutdifferent topics here. But is
there anything that we have nottouched upon that you wanted to
make sure that we covered today?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Preside (27:35):
That was awkward to talk about a lot
of of the things that are reallykeeping a lot of people awake? I
think transportation of all is akey element of, of development,
if you will. And I know theChamber of Commerce, the Florida
Chamber of Commerce is veryconcerned about upgrading,
improving floor infrastructurefor that, for that can become at
(27:58):
least the 10th global economy inthe world, currently 14. And
it's just not transportation,but overall, you know, workforce
development, education, and anincreasing trade trade
development. I think we'vecovered a number of things. But
one of the things I would say,looking ahead is how engineers
(28:22):
are giving back to ourcommunities as well. We need to
wait, that's an importantelement of it. So we need to be
part of our communities toprovide support and stay
connected.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bu (28:35):
I'm going to save that for a
standalone topic for when wehave you back on and that leads
to the question, will you comeback for another episode?
Ron Colas, PE, PI, Presiden (28:43):
I'd love to I think this topic is
exciting. And because we don'tknow what it will look like, but
suddenly, we could shape it asengineers and other business
owners and educators. We canshape the future. So I look
forward to an invitation.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Busi (28:59):
I will make that invitation
looking forward to it myself.
Ron Cola, president of theFlorida Engineering Society.
Welcome aboard. I want to saythat because I don't know if I
said that to begin with at thebeginning of the program. I'm
proud to be part of the effortthat the Florida Engineering
Society does to help educate ourpublic, our legislative leaders
and our fellow engineers. Sothank you for being here.
Ron Colas, PE, PI, President, (29:25):
I thank you. And I think I'm very
humbled to be leading the thisgreat group of people and you
know, on the roadmap here, so Ican do with with with without
the support of our staff. So I'dlike to kind of echo that and
say that the stuff that we haveadded here, and also our
(29:47):
colleagues in the ACC side hasbeen very tremendous. So thank
you for the opportunity.
Sam Yates, Host, Florida Bus (29:53):
My pleasure. I'm Sam Yates, your
host until our next episode,have a great day everybody.
Sam Yates (30:05):
Thanks for listening to another informative episode
of the engineering Floridapodcast. Our goal is to help
educate and inform everyone wholistens to our podcast about our
members and topics of interestto the Florida Engineering
Society. On behalf of theFlorida Engineering Society, and
(30:26):
the engineering Florida podcast,have a great day everybody
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