USC’s Construction Management Association of America holds 27th annual symposium

Chatter quickly filled the courtyard outside Town and Gown as industry professionals and students trickled into USC’s Construction Management Association of America annual symposium Monday night. With talks ranging from the meaning of the 21st-century construction industry to advice for upcoming graduating seniors, over 20 companies and a hundred students were in attendance. 

This year marked the 27th anniversary of the symposium, which provided students the opportunity to network and hear from industry professionals in the fields of construction, architecture, engineering and more. The theme for the night — Imaginative Innovation — centered around the presentation of Los Angeles’s upcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is scheduled to open in 2025 and showcase the power of visual storytelling.

The symposium began with a dinner and cocktail hour, then moved into a panel and question-and-answer session with professionals involved in the museum project, including keynote speakers Angelo Garcia, president of Lucas Real Estate Holdings, and Principal at Stantec Michael Siegel, who each shared their respective roles and the development of the museum.

Yannis Yortsos, dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering, gave one of the opening remarks for the event, sharing his appreciation for the symposium and its continuing legacy.

“This event is unique among all our other disciplines,” Yortsos said in his opening speech. “It’s the only department/event that has this ability to pull together engineers in a way that they network with each other and celebrate achievement innovation.” 

The symposium was completely student-run and hosted by USC’s CMAA branch, an organization aimed at providing career preparation resources for students interested in pursuing careers in the construction management field. This year’s symposium was co-chaired by Nina Zanghi, a senior majoring in environmental engineering, and Katherine Moir, a senior majoring in civil engineering with an emphasis in building science, who were part of the executive board tasked with organizing and planning the event. 

For Zanghi, the goal of CMAA and the event is to create community and provide students with career-building opportunities. 

“Our whole job [as part of CMAA] is to focus on civil engineering students or other students interested in construction, building or project management,” Zanghi said. “We take them [in] and give them opportunities such as information sessions, talk[ing] one on one with recruiters … This event is all about networking and giving out scholarships to a lot of these kids.”  

The symposium, Viterbi’s largest event, marked the first time the Lucas Museum was presented to the public and included an in-depth discussion of how the project came to be, including its location across the street from USC. 

“We really loved the Lucas Museum and we’ve seen it go up. It’s been in construction for a very long time, and we were very excited about it. We were really hoping to get [the museum] and are happy we were able to convince them to present it here tonight,” Zanghi said. “[The museum] is so close to USC, and George Lucas is such a big part of [the University’s history]. We thought it would be really cool to bring it all together.”  

Zanghi’s biggest hope for the night is that it helped students learn a new perspective around the construction industry.

“Some people think construction is just boring and not anything exciting, but it is, and our goal is helping students understand that and make connections,” she said. “We want to help people build their own careers and hopefully continue with our club and become leaders in it later on.”

The event also brought together alumni and industry professionals from throughout the L.A. area, many choosing to participate due to their past experiences with the association. 

“Coming to the events when I was younger in college was really helpful to recognize names of contractors and to hear presentations about the field,” said Junco Nelson, one of the industry professionals attending the event. “I remember when I was a sophomore, [the symposium] was about the redevelopment of Exposition Park, and I learned a lot about the actual neighborhood of USC, which was really helpful.”

Getting the chance to talk to and learn more about the construction industry is exactly what has kept Jacqueline Chen, a senior majoring in civil engineering, coming back to the symposium over the last two years.

“I think my favorite part is just casually and informally talking with the industry representatives sitting around me, along with listening to the speakers of the event talking about a project that they themselves are involved in and passionate about,” Chen said. “Just them talking about what they’re involved in gives me insight on what the contract industry is like, and what I can do in the future.”

The night ended in joy for many CMAA members. The event annually distributes scholarships to distinguished students of the organization, with this year’s awards reaching over $25,000 worth. Among the winners was Elleanna Biller, a sophomore majoring in business administration, who won the USC CMAA Lower Classman Scholarship. 

Biller said she was truly grateful to be able to be a part of CMAA and receive the award. 

“I’m so excited. I first heard of CMAA earlier this semester when they came into my class for real estate development. I want to go into affordable housing and that construction is a big part of that,” Biller said. “I wrote about that in my application.” 

The event awarded six scholarships in total, including to Zanghi and CMAA’s president, Natalie Le, a senior majoring in civil engineering. 

“The larger payoff is nights like tonight … when I see students making connections, and old friends in the industry catching up all because of the hard work that our symposium co-chairs and the rest of our executive board put in all year,” Le said at the close of the event. “There’s no other event that feels as special as the symposium is, and I hope we can all come together to further explore and celebrate the industry that connects us all.”