Stevens executive students win PMI first prize for their study of the World Trade Center construction project

After the most terrible terror attack in US history, a group of executive students and their professor at Stevens Institute of Technology went out on a research journey to find out about the World Trade Center as a project management experience. What they found was an example of project management at its best - a well-managed project, under outstanding leadership and a greatly motivated and inspired team.

"The lesson of this project will serve generations of project management students and practitioners, and be seen as a tribute to the American spirit of entrepreneurship and to the World Trade Center memory," said the students in a personal statement. Their research paper won the first prize award in the 2002 best student paper contest of the Project Management Institute (PMI), New Jersey Chapter. They were also presented a special award by the president of Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Harold J. Raveche.

The students are Daniel Marionni, Mark Martinez, Don Olson, Steve Szalanczi, Xiang Yu, and Randall Vendetti. They are part of the Executive Masters Degree in Technology Management in the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management. Their work was done during their studies in the course Project Management and Leadership, taught by Professor Aaron J. Shenhar. The program director is Professor Donald N. Merino.

"In studying this project," the students said, "we turned to many sources - books, documents, and interviews. However, meeting and interviewing Mr. Guy Tozzoli, who was the WTC project manager, was a special privilege. Tozzoli, who is in his late 70s, provided an inspiring look and his memories and lessons, which we recounted, sound fresh and relevant today, as they were thirty years ago, when the project was completed."

"Achievement not only provides us with the end itself, but also provides us with a part of our identity," the students continued in their statement.

"Born of the vision of revitalizing lower Manhattan and promoting world trade, the World Trade Center became the symbolic gateway to the City of New York and the inspiration for future construction projects in lower Manhattan. Guy Tozzoli viewed the WTC as the first of many World Trade Centers that would dot the globe. These centers would promote world peace by connecting us physically with all nations and making us mutually dependent upon each other's economies. Heavy is the irony that the WTC was built to promote international trade, understanding and peace, yet fell victim to international terrorism.

"The World Trade Center construction project was an example of project management excellence," the students said in conclusion, "and set a standard in project management for many years to come. It seems appropriate today to study this exceptional project as a lesson for future generations and as a tribute to the American spirit of freedom and entrepreneurship."

Established in 1969 and headquartered outside Philadelphia, the Project Management Institute is the world's leading not-for-profit project management professional association, with more than 95,000 members worldwide.

PMI is project management's leading global professional association. It administers a globally accepted and recognized, rigorous, examination-based, professional certification program of the highest caliber. The PMI Certification Program maintains ISO 9001 certification in Quality Management Systems as evidence of its commitment to professional excellence.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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