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March 2014 REGION DIRECTOR'S REPORT Board considers L.A. Section proposal to form group to expand public policy activities; Community Engineering Corps created  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.Ron represented you at the January 21, 2014, ASCE Board of Direction meeting, which was held via conference call, and participated in a Board webinar held on February 20 to further explore a Los Angeles Section proposal. He and fellow Board members dealt with a variety of issues, including the following:
REGION 10, AUSTRALIA SECTION, NEW ZEALAND GROUP Australia and New Zealand host ASCE president, executive director ASCE’s 2014 President Randy Over and Executive Director Pat Natale traveled “down under” in February to strengthen bonds with fellow Society members and other civil engineering peers in Australia and New Zealand. The visitors from the U.S. and their hosts found that they shared many of the same concerns about adequate infrastructure investment and implementing sustainability, and are eager to develop and share innovative solutions. Managing their mission was Meggan Maughan-Brown, ASCE director of International Relations. At a Region 10 Board of Governors meeting in Sydney chaired by Director Himansu “Ron” Banerjee, the ASCE leaders were distinguished guests and participants in good discussions on facilitating International Student Groups, forming Younger Member Groups within Region 10, and helping international Sections enhance member service. Members of the Australia Section also met with Over and Natale, including Section President Brett Phillips, Ph.D., M.ASCE and ASCE Distinguished Members Harry G. Poulos, DSCENG, Dist.M.ASCE and Mark A. Bradford, D.SC., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE. Over and Natale also met their counterparts at Engineers Australia, and explored areas of cooperation including training, education, and conferences. With momentum building there toward public-private partnerships, Over and Natale met the CEO of the country’s largest effort, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia. A representative of Australia’s Department of Trade extended the ASCE leaders an invitation to visit their offices in Washington, DC. New Zealand and the city of Christchurch, epicenter of the devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011, was the next destination. Leaders and other members from ASCE sister society the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand took Over and Natale on a tour of the region, still recovering three years later, and the city hosted a reception where the mayor praised civil engineers’ role in helping to lead the city’s recovery. Over also spoke about how essential civil engineers are to communities working to bounce back from terrible disasters that cripple critical infrastructure. The New Zealand mission came just two months after an ASCE-sponsored team of engineers had been there to study the quake’s long-term consequences and gather technical specifics that will be included in a pair of monographs on lessons learned. Their trip was covered in ASCE News; a report on the latest trip is forthcoming. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GROUPS Kuwait student chapter maintains active social media presence  Photo: ASCE Kuwait Student Chapter Instagram page The active ASCE international student group at Kuwait University’s College of Engineering has fully embraced social media, sharing its activity readily and frequently via the photo-friendly Instagram, and via Twitter tweets. Track their busy schedule of activities including student outreach, technical tours, honors and awards and more. Note that much is in Arabic. If you know of a university’s civil engineering school that does not currently have an ASCE International Student Group and would benefit from one, write to Narecita Ibanez, senior coordinator of ASCE International Relations, at nibanez@asce.org. IN CIVIL ENGINEERING MAGAZINE ONLINE Investment in ‘clean’ energy rising around the world The investment in “clean” energy technologies is on the rise in emerging economies across the globe, according to a recent U.S. National Science Board study. Find out more in ASCE’s online Civil Engineering magazine. Read story>> Museum for Mayan artifacts designed to draw tourists Guatemala City hopes to draw both expatriated artifacts and tourists who want to view them with a new museum that will reflect the imagery of ancient Mayan temples. See the designs in ASCE’s online Civil Engineering magazine. Read story>> Angled facade boosts energy efficiency The Federation of Korean Industries building, in Seoul, South Korea, features a high-performance curtain-wall system that deflects sunlight and generates energy. Learn how it works in ASCE’s online Civil Engineering magazine. Read story>> GLOBAL LINK CALENDAR Click on event titles for details APRIL 2 Australia Section Brisbane Summer Lecture MAY 16-18 International Conference on Sustainable Development of Critical Infrastructure, Shanghai, China OCTOBER 7-11 ASCE/EWB-USA Global Engineering Conference, Panama City, Panama 17-18 International Conference on Sustainable Civil Infrastructure, Hyderabad, India Outreach event? Concrete Canoe? Let us know and we'll announce it here! Spring is around the corner (in much of the world), and we're moving into a very busy time of year. 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, ramped up for Concrete Canoe regionals, 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. Missed last month's Global Link? See the February edition of News Around Region 10 - Global Link Share this page via social media and email: 
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