New England ranks lowest of any US region for retaining college students after graduation, according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Fay, Spofford & Thorndike Inc. said it has acquired DeLuca Hoffman Associates Inc., a 22-person civil and environmental engineering company based in South Portland, Maine. Headquartered in Burlington, Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, or FST, is a civil engineering, transportation planning, and environmental consulting company. FST’s press release did not include financial details of the transaction. “The acquisition strengthens FST’s core civil engineering, planning, and environmental consulting services, while helping to bolster its existing portfolio in municipal, commercial, institutional, and certain transportation markets,” the FST release said. “The addition of DHAI (DeLuca Hoffman Associates Inc.) also builds upon FST’s fast-growing presence in Northern New England, as FST will merge its Maine operations into the DHAI office in South Portland.” DHAI will immediately begin operating under the FST brand. The average price of gas in Massachusetts was $3.50 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, down 1 cent from the average in the previous week’s survey, AAA Southern New England said Monday. Prices in Massachusetts are up 8 cents over the past month, AAA Southern New England added. The current national average is $3.62 a gallon. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average price was $3.56. The range in prices in the latest AAA survey is 43 cents, from a low of $3.36 to a high of $3.79. AAA’s weekly surveys examine prices for self-serve, regular unleaded gas. Wellesley College has unveiled a major global initiative to educate the next generation of women leaders around the world. Wellesley’s initiative, called Women World Partners, or WWP, represents the school’s most wide-reaching effort to date to educate women for leadership and to invest in women’s leadership on a global scale, the college said in a press release. The initiative has an inaugural partnership with Peking University. To start the partnership, 20 Wellesley students will travel to Beijing to participate in an intensive 10-day academic program with 20 female students from Peking University. Supported by faculty from both institutions, these 40 young women will work together to examine a number of issues connected to worldwide urbanization. McGraw-Hill Education, which currently has no presence in Boston, said Monday that it plans to open an office in the city’s Innovation District that will employ 60 people by the end of the year. With more than a century of educational heritage, McGraw-Hill Education now describes itself as a digital learning company. Its major offices are in New York City and Columbus, Ohio. McGraw-Hill Education’s Boston office is part of the company’s latest initiative to “develop and integrate cutting-edge technologies that meet today’s education challenges and attract the best tech talent in the business,” the company said in a press release. Among the company’s offerings: SmartBook, an adaptive e-book; ALEKS, an artificially-intelligent adaptive learning program; and 3D multiplayer learning games. Aldebaran, a French robotics company that recently opened a local office, is now marketing a humanoid robot specifically programmed to be a teaching tool for autistic children. Aldebaran said its autism team was created in Boston in February mainly because the US is a front runner in the search to improve the lives of those with special needs and help them reach autonomy. Including the 15-person Boston office, the company employs about 300 people worldwide. For several years, Aldebaran has marketed a robot called NAO, which is described as a “programmable, autonomous humanoid robot able to run educational, entertaining, and daily life assistance applications.” That robot has now been customized to help autistic children. The new model is dubbed ASK NAO --- ASK stands for Autism Solution for Kids. Love where you work? Now you have even more time to tell us all about it. We are extending the nomination deadline until June 28 for The Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work survey, our annual ranking of the most progressive employers in the state. We’ve had tremendous response so far but are extending the deadline so more organizations can participate. All kinds of employers are eligible, from public and private companies to nonprofits. They have to be operating in Massachusetts and employ more than 50 people. If your organization is nominated and agrees to participate, employees will be surveyed by our partner, WorkPlaceDynamics LLC. Employers will be measured on six factors including leadership and opportunities for training. |
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