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 3 update? See the May edition of  News Around Region 3  Share this page via social media and email:

AKRON-CANTON SECTION, MICHIGAN SECTION, WISCONSIN SECTION Region 3 is best-represented ASCE Region at National Concrete Canoe finals Ed Rieker/AP Images for ASCE Ed Rieker/AP Images for ASCE With four universities among the 23 that made it to ASCE’s 27th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition last weekend at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Pennsylvania, Region 3 had more teams competing than any other ASCE Region. Of the four, the University of Wisconsin – Madison team and its canoe, Laurentide, had the strongest performance, coming in fifth overall, including third place for its oral presentation, and a dominating first place in the women’s slalom-endurance race, contributing to an overall third place finish in the canoe races. As seen above, Michigan Technological University had one of the most beautiful canoes in the competition, the Japanese-themed Katsuo Maru. It finished in eighth overall. Ed Rieker/AP Images for ASCE  Ed Rieker/AP Images for ASCE Aboard the Cassin, named for a World War II ship, the University of Akron rode to 11th place overall, receiving seventh place from the judges for its final product, and coming in 10th by points in the canoe races. For techniques in the construction of its canoe, Crossroad, the University of Wisconsin – Platteville team received the competition’s Innovation Award. See the final results. See more photos of each team’s canoes 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.

CENTRAL OHIO SECTION Section mourns sudden passing of active member, a former Section president The state of Ohio, the Central Ohio Section, and Ohio State University lost one of its most dedicated civil engineers when, suddenly and tragically, Carolyn J. Merry, Ph.D., M.ASCE, died in a traffic accident earlier this month at the age of 63. President of the Section in 2002-03, Dr. Merry remained one of the most active Section members. She served on the faculty of Ohio State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science for 25 years, advancing to become department chair in 2005. “More important than her direct contributions to our profession, we lost a truly good person,” wrote 2014 ASCE President Randy Over, who knew her personally, in a special entry to his President’s Perspective blog. .

MICHIGAN SECTION Section co sponsors infrastructure conference to consider funding solutions “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Chuck Hookham, ASCE’s at-large director elect and vice president of Ann Arbor-based engineering consulting firm HDR Inc., at an infrastructure conference held recently in Lansing co-sponsored by the Michigan Section.  “We need bold leadership and a compelling vision … and collaboration with more innovative ways to fund our infrastructure systems,” Hookham went on to say at the Urban Land Institute of Michigan event, as reported by MiBiz.com. Among those ideas are new models of public-private partnerships on projects such as public transit.  Read about the conference>>   Section website>>