By Stefanie Farrell and Kim Chaney-Bay STEM Scouts is a national program aimed at helping students in grades 3-12 grow in character and skills as they explore their curiosity about STEM fields.  STEM Scouts meet weekly or bi-weekly in groups called “labs”.

By Stefanie Farrell Fire department employees around the nation are very cognizant of what “ISO ratings” can mean to a community.  As they know, these ratings come from the Insurance Services Office (ISO), and classify a community’s ability to suppress fires through a grade or “rating” of 1 to 10.

By Stefanie Farrell According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 1 in 5 Americans has a disability, which can include difficulties with hearing, vision, cognitive ability, mobility, self-care, and independent living. As of the 2010 Census, 15% of Tennessee’s population was living with some kind disability.

By Riley McMillan Future City is a program for middle school students that encourages and fosters application of math, science, writing, teamwork skills, and critical thinking, to real-world issues. Each year Future City publishes a universal problem facing cities today, and asks Future City participants to solve it in the best way possible.

By Stephanie Livingston, EI In the pursuit of economic development, companies and individuals alike choosing to live, work, and play in areas with better quality of place over those with tax breaks and subsidies. So, what key resource can promote this type of live, work, and play environment? The answer is surprisingly simple—streets. Streets that promote economic development are accessible, … Read More

By Lee Gentry, PE On June 18, 2015, the University of Tennessee SMART Center and TDEC conducted the inaugural design training course. The course was for the new Stormwater Runoff Reduction Assessment Tool (RRAT). I was excited to participate in the course held in Knoxville, Tennessee. The class was coordinated by Mr. Tim Gangaware, and was taught by Dr. Andrea … Read More

By Jason Foster, PE To bring attention to the topic of Green Infrastructure, LDA is doing a blog series about GI with topics including proposed GI stormwater regulations in the State of Tennessee, GI applications in stormwater and wastewater, specific GI controls such as pervious pavement and bio-retention, and GI funding. The term Green Infrastructure has been used interchangeably with … Read More

By Jim Albert Recently I gave a series of presentations to local east Tennessee schools, learning centers, and a Veterans outreach program. The purpose of these presentations was to give an introduction to Geographic Information System (GIS) and to show how GIS is used across a wide variety of careers.

By Mark Harrison The word of the week in Chattanooga during the first week of May was “Infiltration”. If you have been following stormwater news for the Chattanooga/Hamilton County area for the past few months, you know that the word infiltration has been a hot topic for a while. However, during this week in particular, I heard a lot about … Read More

By Mitzy Collins LDA is committed to giving back and investing in the communities where we live and work. For the third year in a row, LDA is proud to be a main event sponsor for Oak Ridge’s Secret City Festival. The importance and history of the festival to the citizens of Oak Ridge made this a great opportunity for … Read More