Winning Writer

ECU’s Chloe Kildea explores AI in construction in national essay contest

East Carolina University construction management student Chloe Kildea knows where the industry has been.

“The internships I’ve had have all been with people who still like to do things by hand,” Kildea said. “They’ll have thousands of sticky notes around their offices, and they’ll be like from two years ago. One had an old iPod he used.”

But she also knows where the industry is going, thanks to ECU’s construction management program and an essay she wrote to win the national James L. Allhands Student Essay Competition through the Associated General Contractors (AGC) Education and Research Foundation.

Senior construction management student Chloe Kildea works on a group project in class. She is vice president of ECU’s student chapter of AGC and will attend its national conference as the winner of the organization’s essay contest.

The contest prompted participants to write about how artificial intelligence will change construction in the next five years and to address the pros and cons of its effects on the industry and its workers.

“The prompt was really good. I’m not going to lie,” Kildea said. “There were a lot of ideas that came flooding into my mind. It was a great idea to have it as the contest. I found a lot of interesting facts when I was researching it. I didn’t realize how much it really was changing the industry. I was so fascinated by how much construction companies are using AI for estimating and equipment things, just the many ways that they’re incorporating it.”

She described the moment she received notification that she had won the contest as “absolute shock.” She said she confirmed the news with Ron Chance, teaching instructor in the Department of Construction Management.

“I saw it and thought, ‘There’s no way.’ At first, I thought it was a scam, but then Mr. Chance emailed it to me too, and he said, ‘Congratulations. This is incredible.’ It was very much a shock. I still can’t really believe it,” Kildea said.

Originally from Michigan, Kildea’s family moved to King, near Winston-Salem, in 2010. With her mother working for the N.C. Department of Transportation, she began working first for a private company and later with NCDOT to help build the Interstate 74 beltway in Winston-Salem.

“I really loved going out there and seeing how you can manipulate the land to put a road in,” she said. “It was really rewarding to see how the woods can go to a 70 mph highway and all the work and the strength and the knowledge that went into that. You don’t just take down a couple of trees and put in some asphalt. There was so much that went into it and is still going into it that intrigues me.”

Despite her fascination with road construction, Kildea wants to explore all options in the industry before she graduates in December and decides on a career.

“I wanted to try commercial construction before I graduated, so I’ll be working with Blum this summer for an internship in Winston-Salem,” she said. “I’ve always been intrigued by the roadway, so we’ll see after this summer.”

She appreciates that ECU’s construction management program — the first to be accredited in North Carolina and one of the largest in the Southeast — provides students a quality education and many options for careers.

“Everyone that I ever worked with that has their construction management degree came to ECU, and they all told me that if I was going to go get that degree that I needed to go to ECU,” she said. “People who are two times my age and three times my age all said it was great and that it’s still great.”

For winning the contest, Kildea will receive $1,000 and attend the AGC national conference April 8-10 in Columbus, Ohio.

“There’s going to be something new every day. I’m looking forward to it,” she said.

As the vice president of ECU’s AGC chapter, Kildea encourages all students to find connections through a student organization.

“I just really love how everyone can come together and work on the upcoming projects that we have,” she said. “I thought it was really important to just get out there when I first got here to ECU and meet people, and I’m glad I found AGC to have all the connections that they have. I think it’s really important for students to get involved in clubs and organizations, whether that’s AGC or any other kind of club. I think it’s really important to have those relationships for the future.”