MCAA’s student chapter program is dedicated to helping students prepare for careers in the mechanical construction and service industry. When a student joins a chapter, MCAA, MCAA’s local affiliate and the college or university commit to providing that student every opportunity to develop professional skills, knowledge and experiences. MCAA’s Career Development Committee has created new resources to help student chapter members manage the overall operations, recruitment and successes of a chapter.

The MCAA Student Chapter Competition received 33 submissions from chapters. This year’s project details were generously provided by Fresh Meadow Mechanical Corporation of Fresh Meadows, New York. The students have been tasked with developing a proposal to be the prime contractor on a chiller and cooling tower replacement project in the Penn South building in New York City. The Final Four will be announced by Friday, January 17. The Final Four teams will compete at MCAA2020 on Monday, March 16 from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Odds are that you or someone you work with uses Alden Mills’ inventions. He is a former Navy SEAL who has been awarded more than 40 patents, which have sold over 10 million products (and counting) worldwide. He’s created five No. 1 ranked infomercials and is the author of Be Unstoppable: The 8 Essential Actions to Succeed at Anything and Build Unstoppable Teams. The company he co-founded and led, Perfect Fitness (e.g. Perfect Pushup, Perfect Ab-Carver, etc.), gained national acclaim through Inc. Magazine as the fastest-growing consumer products business from 2007 to 2009, with an astounding 12,000-plus percent growth-rate, going from $500K to over $63M in just three years. Tested and proven, he has been called the modern-day Zig Zigler because of his magnetic presence, riveting story-telling and innovative teaching methodologies. His simple and effective frameworks help organizations build high-functioning team players and leaders. For Mills, it is all about enabling his audiences to achieve more than what they originally thought was possible. MCAA thanks Trimble for sponsoring this speaker. Learn more about Mills and find out more about MCAA2020 on our convention website.

Don’t miss out on our industry’s best opportunity for world class education on the safety and health topics and issues that are currently affecting mechanical construction and service businesses. Registrations for MCAA’s 17th annual Safety Directors’ Conference are on pace to result in a 17th consecutive year of record attendance. There are already more than 170 attendees registered for the conference. The conference will be presented January 21-23, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas. Pre and post conference courses will also be presented. Our room block at the Westin on the River Walk in San Antonio expires on January 3rd, so please be sure to register before then to guarantee the best possible overnight room rate.

Each month we will introduce an MCAA/MSCA woman leader, faculty advisor or student involved in our Women in the Mechanical Industry Initiative. These one minute videos will help you learn a little more about them, their careers, how they got into the industry and why WiMI is so valuable to them.

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

In response to numerous requests, MCAA is extending the application deadline for the MILWAUKEE TOOL/MCAA Safety Professional of the Year award to December 20, 2019. The award is presented annually to a mechanical industry safety and health professional who has led his or her company to achieving an exceptionally high degree of safety excellence.

Leah Gutmann, owner of First Forward Consulting, LLC, will uncover the findings from the 2019 MSCA Benchmark Survey. The webinar will be held January 16 at 1 PM ET.

The MCAA/CNA Safety Excellence Awards Program is now accepting applications for 2019.

Just two years after implementing STRATUS software from GTP Services, University Mechanical Contractors, Inc. (UMC) saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in packaging, spooling, and cutting costs and eliminated its cumbersome paper processes. UMC credits STRATUS with increasing efficiency, multiplying output volume, and enhancing its modeling capabilities.

The WiMI mentoring program provides a unique opportunity for young professional women in our industry to connect with a seasoned executive who can help foster mentee career development and leadership growth. The mentor will serve as an advisor and role model for the mentee.

MCAA is partnering with Dodge Data & Analytics to study the value of BIM for mechanical construction, HVAC, and plumbing contractors. This is the first of a larger, ongoing series of BIM studies to focus specifically on our industry. It will shed light on the opportunities and challenges of using BIM and VDC for your work. Your participation is vital to the study’s success, even if you have no experience with BIM.