Your Region 10 Director, Himansu "Ron" Banerjee, Ph.D., CPEng, F.ASCE, is a consulting structural engineer based in Newcastle, Australia, who with the assistance of many devoted ASCE members there, founded the Australia Section.

• Through a presentation by a distinguished speaker—active ASCE member Steve Ressler, Ph.D, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, Professor Emeritus from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point—the Board looked at the big picture of how professions stake out their identity, and how they remain strong over time. Board members came away with a fuller picture of civil engineering’s responsibilities and challenges.
  
  
• The Board took a fresh look at ASCE’s policy statements on engineering licensure and concluded that the Society needs to be more explicit on its stand on a number of key questions. Given licensure-related legislation poised to come up in the states, the Board called on the Public Policy Committee for an expedited review of the issues. Board members asked for a special focus on positions related to early taking of the PE exam (before completing four years of experience) and the specifics of continuing education requirements for licensed engineers. 
  

• In a forward-looking discussion with the Committee on America’s Infrastructure, Board members discussed how ASCE can further leverage the tremendous success of both the national ASCE Report Card on America’s Infrastructure and the numerous state report cards in advocating for increased investment and showcasing success stories. Members shared experiences related to state report cards in their region and discussed recruitment of report card leaders. How the report card process might be adapted to create even more movement locally also received attention.
  
  
• Board engagement with the Public Policy Committee centered on how to encourage greater legislative and policy involvement on the local level, how best to get public policy tools to sections and branch leaders, and how to identify members for active involvement. A special emphasis will be on finding Section legislative affairs “captains” to take the lead in coordinating local public policy activities. An issue that has required attention in many states is how to address local infrastructure improvements through modifications in the state gas tax.
  
  
• The Member Communities Committee is charged to address member needs through the full member continuum—from students, to younger members, and on through Life Member. In a broad discussion, the Board gave input on such questions as how to fill the apparent gap in ASCE engagement for graduate students and the ongoing opportunities for local technical institute chapters. Fostering even higher rates of transition from Student to Associate Member remains a priority, as do efforts to explore how Life Members can be engaged to provide their guidance and energy in various arenas.
  

For more on the actions taken by the Board, see the story in ASCE News .