Following its announcement of a joint research project with the U.S. Green Building Council, the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) announced that it is funding two more research studies in 2008. The first study will be led by Jerry Yudelson (PE, MS, MBA, LEED AP) of Yudelson Associates (Tucson, AZ), a featured speaker at MCAA's recent Catching the Green Wave conference in Milwaukee, WI. The study, New Technologies, Lessons and Opportunities in European Green Building Approaches, will explore and present European green building technologies that are fully developed and available for use in the U.S. MCERF is providing up to $55,000 for this project, which is to be completed by mid-summer 2008. The other project, From Journeymen to Foremen: Identifying Barriers To and Strategies for Motivating & Developing First Line Union Supervisors, is sponsored by a coalition of five building associations under the auspices of the MCA of Chicago. The study will explore the perceptions of apprentices and journeymen, who have been in the trades for less than six years, for the purpose of obtaining more information about this group's perceived barriers and facilitators to taking on supervisory positions. The study will also interview contractors to assess the role that management plays in motivating or demotivating supervisory candidates. MCERF will provide up to $20,000 for this study and it is also due to be completed in mid-summer 2008.

For more information about MCERF, contact Dennis Langley at dlangley@mcaa.org.