WASHINGTON — A city of the future, SIDRA-XIV — engineered by students from Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning in Houston — has won the grand prize at the 29th year of the international 2021 Future City® Competition. The students, Mansha Ali, Mariyam Fatima, Hani Mirza, Dayyem Raza, Fatima Razzak, Mahdi Rizvi, Mohammad Ali Rizvi, Zainab Rizvi, and Sukaina Salim, teamed with educator Syeda Batool as well as volunteer mentor Syed Rizvi to earn this year’s top honors.

Since last fall, middle school students in 37 U.S. regions as well as teams from China, Canada, and Nigeria have imagined, designed, and built cities for DiscoverE’s 2020-2021 Future City Competition. This year’s theme, “Living on the Moon,” challenges students to design life on the moon at least 100 years from now, when lunar habitats have already progressed through multiple levels of development.

AUSTIN, Texas — SAM Companies, a North American provider of geospatial and construction services, acquired R&S Digital Services Inc., a geographic information system (GIS) consulting firm located in Great Bend, Kansas.

Established in 1986, R&S was among the first fully digital mapping companies in Kansas, specializing in GIS services for parcel mapping and 911 data sets for numerous governmental entities nationwide. It is also a provider of hosted, web-based GIS solutions available to clients through cloud services.

R&S’s expertise is expected to complement and expand SAM’s GIS capabilities, particularly with regard to hosted GIS client services across multiple markets, as well as contribute to SAM’s ability to deliver solutions for its public sector clients.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Charles Bertuch, P.E., principal, energy conservation, at national architecture, engineering, and planning firm Bergmann, has been elected as a regional members council representative (RMCR) for ASHRAE Region I. Region I encompasses the Northeast (from Maine to New Jersey) and is the organization’s largest region with more than 5,000 members.

With more than 30 years of experience, Bertuch’s expertise includes design of energy conservation projects, renewable energy analysis and design, and LEED consulting. He has been a member of ASHRAE since 1988 and has served on the Central New York (CNY) chapter board of governors for more than a decade, operating as chapter president before being invited to join the regional leadership. During his time with the CNY chapter, Bertuch has led several initiatives that include updating a home for developmentally disabled individuals with new HVAC, lighting, and efficient fixtures; donating refrigeration training equipment to the local BOCES HVAC tech program; and annual sponsorship of a Syracuse University senior design project.

BOSTON — Vanderweil Engineers, a national engineering and sustainability firm, announced its headquarters at 274 Summer St. in Boston has achieved Fitwel® certification.

Fitwel is a global certification system committed to building health. Operated by the Center for Active Design (CfAD), Fitwel is a third-party healthy-building certification system that sets the standard for evidence-based strategies to promote positive health outcomes for building occupants and communities.

The facility is the first in Boston to achieve Built Certification under the Fitwel Single-Tenant v2.1 scorecard. Vanderweil Engineers’ Fitwel Certification demonstrates the firm’s commitment to advancing its employees, clients, and surrounding community’s well-being by implementing health-promoting design and operational strategies.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jannet Walker-Ford, a leader with more than two decades of experience in mobility and transportation systems, has been named the national transit and rail leader for WSP USA, an engineering and professional services consultancy.

In her new role as a senior vice president, Walker-Ford will be responsible for growing the firm’s business in the transit and rail markets; developing client relationships within state and local transit agencies, consultants, industry associations, railroads and contractors; and establishing strategies that will position WSP for major advisory, planning, design, program management, and construction management assignments. She will participate in strategic pursuits and serve as principal-in-charge or project director on select projects.