October 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 October
If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for October, 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


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REGION DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Highlights of October’s ASCE Board of Direction Meeting

Constantine Memos, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is your Region 10 Director.

Constantine represented you at the October 5-6 Board meeting in Panama City, Panama, held in conjunction with ASCE’s Global Engineering Conference 2014. The conference helped commemorate the 100th anniversary of one of civil engineering’s greatest achievements—the Panama Canal. Seeing the massive effort underway to expand the canal, and collaborating on the conference with ASCE’s partner Engineers Without Borders–USA, gave additional meaning to the Board members’ role of guiding the important work of ASCE and the profession.

Also participating in this meeting as observers were ASCE’s incoming officers, who were formally installed during the annual business meeting later in the week.

Among the issues the board addressed are the following:

  • In response to the Board’s examination of ASCE’s policy statements on engineering licensure at the July meeting, the Board approved revisions to a number of policies and adopted new policies on the purpose of the Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination, Flood Risk Management, and Performance-Based Ownership of Infrastructure. Read more on that in ASCE News.

  • The ASCE Committee on Technical Advancement presented its annual report to the Board. CTA covers all technical areas not within the domain of one of the 8 ASCE Institutes. Many of CTA’s efforts involve cross-cutting areas such as forensics, cold-regions engineering, and critical infrastructure. Among its activities this past year, CTA deployed a team to the Philippines to study the effects of Typhoon Haiyan, issued three new standards and nine new publications, and organized the successful Shale Energy Conference.

    CTA also reported that with a focus on improving infrastructure resiliency, CTA will establish a new division in early 2015, melding three existing technical groups. The new Infrastructure Resilience Division will encompass the Council on Disaster Risk Management, the Committee on Critical Infrastructure, and the Technical Council on Lifelines Earthquake Engineering.

    In addition, CTA sought the Board’s input on a proposal to establish a new institute on utilities infrastructure systems. The institute would bring together work presently being done within the Pipelines Division, as well as covering utilities and geomatics. As it finalizes its proposal for review by the board in March 2015, CTA was asked to consider whether this new division might cover the full range of technical work done by civil engineers in the utility and power industries.. 
  • Amendments to the bylaws to allow for electronic-only elections and additional changes to the election procedures were approved. Declarations to run for the office of president-elect and technical region director are now due November 1, and the election will take place from May 1 to June 1.

  • Finally, executive director Pat Natale presented his final report to the board as he prepares to retire on December 31. He shared not just this year’s achievements, but reflected on the advances ASCE as an organization has made in the 12 years of his tenure. Pat received a standing ovation as a display of the Board’s appreciation and affection. He will be missed, but the Society is looking forward to working with his successor, Tom Smith, as ASCE moves into a new chapter for the Society’s leadership.

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

Board members are interested in your views on the issues they are considering. To share your views, or other ideas on how ASCE can better serve its members and the profession, please email Constantine. 
PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP
Pakistan university courts freshmen to join budding ASCE student group


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Courtesy National University of Sciences and Technology

With the start of the fall semester at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan, a group of eager civil engineering students and faculty renewed their campaign to become an official ASCE International Student Group by hosting an awareness-raising orientation to the group for the university’s freshmen. A near-capacity audience of about 300 students attended the session held in a NUST civil engineering lecture hall, led by faculty advisor and associate professor Wasim Khaliq, Ph.D. Freshmen were introduced to ASCE as a professional platform for civil engineers from around the world, its role in the sharing of technical knowledge across the profession, and its function in the development of careers and leadership skills required of future engineers.
REGION 10 EVENTS
Global expert in cone penetrometer technology earns ASCE’s Seed Medal

Peter K. Robertson, Ph.D., P.Eng., M.ASCE, technical director at Gregg Drilling & Testing Inc. and professor emeritus of geotechnical engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada, is the recipient of ASCE’s H. Bolton Seed Medal for 2014. Robertson’s contributions to geotechnical earthquake engineering, notably use of in-situ tests related to soil liquefaction potential, and the development of CPT for evaluation of flow and cyclic liquefaction as well as seismic ground hazards, has earned him international acclaim. Robertson is among the world’s experts in cone penetrometer technology and the evaluation of soil liquefaction potential. Through his leading research, he has provided insight into the properties and behavior of soils and subsurface materials. Discover more about what made Robertson worthy of this distinguished honor in ASCE News.
AUSTRALIA SECTION
Wollongong structural engineering professor elected an ASCE Fellow

Muhammad Najib Hadi, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, associate professor of structural engineering at the School of Civil, Mining, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong, has been elevated to ASCE Fellow status by the Society’s Board of Direction. His research interests are in structural engineering, concrete structures, FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic), progressive collapse of buildings, and optimization. Hadi, who has attracted more than $500,000 of research funding at the University of Wollongong, has 2 patents, one in confining concrete and one in preventing progressive collapse of buildings. Discover more about what made Hadi worthy of election as an ASCE Fellow in ASCE News.
IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE
Report rates global best bets for infrastructure investment

Hot markets in Asia and the Middle East are still leading the way, and the United States climbs back into the top 10 on a list of the world’s best places to invest in infrastructure compiled by ARCADIS. Explore the ratings in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.
Scottish researchers develop energy harvester to generate power from traffic

The prototype of an energy harvester that uses the traffic-induced vibrations of a bridge to generate electricity is about to be tested on a bridge in Scotland. Explore the potential breakthrough in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine. 
Dramatic national memorial honors U.S. disabled veterans

The United States’ newest memorial is not only a tribute to its disabled veterans but also a triumph of design and engineering teamwork. The Disabled Veterans’ Life Memorial Foundation selected a design by Washington, DC-based Michael Vergason Landscape Architects in 2003 from among 20 submissions in an invitational design competition.  Discover how it came together in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

New structure is part of its own Australian sustainability project

A new sustainability center in Australia was designed so researchers can plug new technologies into the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Explore the workings of the novel facility.