June 2014

Great outreach event or other activity? Let the whole Region know! If you’re a local ASCE leader and your Section, Branch, Younger Member Group, or Student Chapter has staged any special events, engaged in outreach from grade-school kids to lawmakers, done charity work, fund raising or anything of the sort, let ASCEnews Weekly know and we may include it in next month’s Region report. You may already have written about it and posted pictures in your newsletter, website, or social media. Share the details and any photos at asce.org/localnews. Got questions? Write to submissions@asce.org. See the other Region reports for June If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for June, click on each to view them:   Region 1   Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section, Buffalo Section, Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers Section, Ithaca Section, Maine Section, Metropolitan Section, Mohawk-Hudson Section, New Hampshire Section, New Jersey Section, Puerto Rico Section, Rhode Island Section, Rochester Section, Syracuse Section, Vermont Section Region 2   Central Pennsylvania Section, Delaware Section, Lehigh Valley Section, Maryland Section, National Capital Section, Philadelphia Section, Pittsburgh Section Region 3   Akron-Canton Section, Central Illinois Section, Central Ohio Section, Cincinnati Section, Cleveland Section, Dayton Section, Duluth Section, Illinois Section, Michigan Section, Minnesota Section, North Dakota Section, Quad Cities Section, Toledo Section, Wisconsin Section Region 4   Arkansas Section, Indiana Section, Kentucky Section, North Carolina Section, South Carolina Section, Tennessee Section, Virginia Section, West Virginia Section Region 5   Alabama Section, Florida Section, Georgia Section, Louisiana Section, Mississippi Section   Region 6   New Mexico Section, Oklahoma Section, Texas Section Region 7   Colorado Section, Iowa Section, Kansas City Section, Kansas Section, Nebraska Section, South Dakota Section, St. Louis Section, Wyoming Section Region 8   Alaska Section, Arizona Section, Columbia Section, Hawaii Section, Inland Empire Section, Montana Section, Nevada Section, Oregon Section, Seattle Section, Southern Idaho Section, Tacoma-Olympia Section, Utah Section Region 9   Los Angeles Section, Sacramento Section, San Diego Section, San Francisco Section Region 10   All international Sections, Branches, and Groups Missed last month's Region 7 update? See the May edition of  News Around Region 7  Share this page via social media and email:

KANSAS SECTION At Concrete Canoe finals, University of Kansas exemplifies the ‘Spirit of the Competition’ Ed Rieker/AP Images for ASCE The University of Kansas’ student team overcame a number of challenges, including a car accident, just to make it to ASCE’s 27th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition last weekend , held at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Pennsylvania. For its tenacity and perseverance, the team won the Spirit of the Competition award. See the final results. The name and theme of their canoe was coincidentally appropriate – “Ad Astra,” short for Ad Astra per Aspera, To the Stars With Difficulty – the state motto of Kansas. Visit the team’s page on Facebook.  See more photos of the Kansas canoe in action, plus those of every team at ASCE’s Concrete Canoe photo gallery on Facebook. Funding provided by the ASCE Foundation makes ASCE’s National Concrete Canoe Competition possible.

COLORADO SECTION Colorado State civil engineering professor elected ASCE Fellow John W. van de Lindt, Ph.D., F.ASCE, a distinguished professor in Infrastructure in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University, has been elected to ASCE Fellow status by the Society’s Board of Direction. His research program has focused on making structures and structural systems more resilient through the development of performance-based engineering approaches and testbed applications of building systems for earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and floods, with a focus on woodframe buildings. Learn more about what made van de Lindt worthy of becoming an ASCE Fellow in ASCE News.

IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE Construction disputes take less time, more money, new report finds The global average construction dispute rose by $400,000—to $32.1 million—between 2012 and 2013, but the time it took to settle the average dispute dropped from 12.8 months to slightly less than one year, according to a new report released by ARCADIS, the multidiscipline consulting firm based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Explore the report’s findings in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

STEM index reveals education/job disconnect The proportion of U.S. jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math fields is growing – but the proportion of students interested in STEM professions is not, according to the new U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index. Delve into the clash of demand and lack of interest in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine..