Global Link – International Activities
Fall 2025
In Seattle, international presence dominates ASCE 2025 Convention
Region 10 Distinguished Service Medal honorees (details here) and younger members from around the world gather at the ASCE 2025 Global Reception.
From around the world, a major international contingent of members and guests traveled to the Pacific Northwest and the city of Seattle for ASCE’s 2025 Convention. The event saw the Society strengthen bonds with more than 10 sister engineering societies, including five that joined 2025 President Feniosky Peña-Mora to sign renewed agreements of cooperation. They were:
• Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE)
• Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE)
• Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE)
• Order of Engineers Portugal (OEP)
• Spanish Association of Civil Engineers Asociación Caminos (AICCP)
The Triennial Conference leaders of ASCE, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and Britain’s Institution of Civil Engineers assemble for a group photo.
Staged concurrently with the convention, the ASCE-CSCE-ICE Triennial Conference bolstered the international presence. Held every three years with the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and Britain’s Institution of Civil Engineers, ASCE was this year’s host, and the focus was on encouraging and adopting greater sustainability and resilience. Along those lines, Peña-Mora, CSCE President Jeff Rankin, and ICE President Jim Hall signed a joint declaration committing to transform how infrastructure responds to climate challenges, urging all connected worldwide to take urgent, bold action, including embracing new design principles, advancing education, and reimagining infrastructure. Read the declaration.
5 young international engineers travel to Seattle thanks to Foundation donor
Grants from the ASCE Foundation’s Younger Members Global Activities Fund allowed five younger members to attend the ASCE 2025 Convention in person. Made possible by a donation from member Ethan Grossman, who met the recipients in Seattle, the fund supports convention attendance for Region 10 members under 36. This year, they are:
• Gaelle Ghanem, M.ASCE, from Lebanon
• Meng-Ze Lyu, EMI institute member, from China
• Nikiforos Repousis, C.Eng, M.ASCE, from Greece
• Katherine Shayne Yee, R.Eng, M.ASCE, from the Philippines
• Sumeet Kumar Sinha, Ph.D., EIT, M.ASCE, from India
Lander steps down, new Region 10 leadership sworn in
Emmanuel A. Adeyemo has succeeded April Lander as Region 10 director, sworn in at ASCE’s Annual Membership Meeting to serve through 2028. The founder and first president of the Nigeria Section will represent all international members on the ASCE Board of Direction. Lander will continue as the past director on the Region 10 Board of Governors, also through 2028. While not present at the meeting, Chao Li, Region 10 governor from Hong Kong and a longtime leader of the Greater China Section, was sworn in to a new three-year term. Here's more on the ASCE leadership transition.
2020 ASCE president Gunalan to lead WFEO, expanding ASCE global presence
K.N. “Guna” Gunalan speaks to the Committee on Women in Engineering at the WFEO Global Engineering Congress in Shanghai.
K.N. “Guna” Gunalan, ASCE’s 2020 president, will elevate his commitment to serving the profession to a global scale as the next president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, which represents over 30 million engineers worldwide. Gunalan was elected during WFEO’s General Assembly and Global Engineering Conference in Shanghai and will serve a two-year term as president following two years as president-elect. The organization representing engineering societies worldwide is growing in stature and influence. Record conference attendance included representatives from 47 countries, relevant UN agencies, engineering academies from 17 countries, and leaders of 23 engineering organizations. Read what Gunalan had to say to ASCE about what he hopes to achieve.
ASCE president attends 10th conference of Asian engineering societies
What are the implications of Sustainable Management and Resilient Technology, or SMaRT, on the infrastructure of Pacific Rim nations? The members of the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council discussed the possibilities at the 10th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region, known as CECAR10, hosted by the Korean Society of Civil Engineers.
Marsha Anderson Bomar, ASCE 2026 president, led a Society contingent including ASCE Representative to ACECC April Lander to Jeju, South Korea, for the gathering held every three years with rotating hosting duties; ASCE, a founding member of the ACECC, last hosted in 2016. While there, Bomar met with and signed an ASCE agreement of cooperation with the Nepal Engineers’ Association.
Following the conclusion of CECAR, Bomar stayed in Seoul, where she met with officers of the Korean Society of Civil Engineers, including President Dong-Ho Choi. ASCE and KSCE have a cooperation agreement, and Bomar learned about their technical journals and other contributions to advancing the profession.
Ethics ‘compliance’ reinforced in second joint webinar of ASCE UK and ICE
There was no dodging the tough questions during a second session of the ethics webinar series hosted by ASCE’s United Kingdom Section and Britain’s Institute of Civil Engineers. A pair of panel discussions examined the role of ethical leadership in engineering and shared real-world ethical dilemmas professionals faced in both the UK and the U.S. Among those sharing ideas were ASCE President-Elect Marsha Anderson Bomar, members of the ICE Ethics Committee, and keynote speaker Trevor Waldock, a leadership coach and acclaimed author. Here’s more about the event.
ASCE reinforces profile in Lebanon, celebrating university’s expansion
In Beirut, past Region 10 Director Elias Boutros Sayah represented ASCE to celebrate the launch of a planned major expansion of the Lebanese American University campus. Devoted to teaching and research, the Rafic Hariri Complex for the Advancement of Human Learning will add 183,000 square feet to LAU’s campus, including innovation hubs and expanded startup incubators. In meetings with Lebanon’s Minister of Education and Higher Education Rima Karami and LAU University President Chaouki Abdallah. Sayeh emphasized ASCE’s role in advancing engineering education and professional development.
Legend in Colombian higher education and former ASCE section leader dies
Carlos Angulo Galvis, P.E., F.ASCE, an ASCE life member and once an ASCE Colombia Section board member who is considered a pivotal figure in Colombia for building higher education as a rector for the Universidad de los Andes, has died at 87. Galvis launched a faculty development program that allowed dozens of professors to earn doctoral degrees abroad, creating an academic culture and reputation that still thrives. He was known as a generous teacher who inspired students to dream big and build with rigor. Read more about Galvis.
A big event seeks your big ideas – ASCE2027: The Infrastructure and Engineering Experience
Prepare for an event well worth traveling in March 2027 to Philadelphia. ASCE2027: The Infrastructure and Engineering Experience promises to be unlike any past ASCE flagship gatherings, bringing together the specialties of ASCE’s institutes under one roof, as well as a variety of future-focused activities that put together the minds of leaders from engineering to finance. The call for content is open, seeking your big ideas. Offer your solution to today’s and tomorrow’s infrastructure challenges. Get details and submit your abstract.
UPCOMING EVENTS
3rd International Conference on Sustainability (ICSDI 2026)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Feb. 8-12, 2026
Gulf Engineering Forum 27
Investment, Sustainability Challenges, and Innovative Solutions in Smart Infrastructure Projects Conference (SCONF26)
Kuwait
Feb. 3-4, 2026
ASCE2027: The Infrastructure and Engineering Experience
Philadelphia
March 1-5, 2027
Submit your item for a future Global Link
Do you have news or an announcement for ASCE international members that might be worthy of an item in Global Link? Submit it to Civil Engineering Source associate editor John Marston at jmarston@asce.org.