December 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 December If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for December, 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 7 update? See the November edition of News Around Region 7  Share this page via social media and email:

KANSAS CITY SECTION Kansas City younger member named a 2015 New Face of Civil Engineering As a geotechnical engineer for design-build projects with Terracon, Ozzy Bravo, P.E., M.ASCE, has worked on numerous infrastructure projects, including 35Express, the 28-mile, $1.4 billion first phase designed to relieve the heavy rush hour congestion along the east corridor from U.S. Highway 380 in Denton County to I-635 in Dallas County, Texas. Such early achievements made Bravo worthy of selection as one of ASCE’s 2015 New Faces of Civil Engineering. Growing up in Lima, Peru, it was during a family trip to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in 1999, that Bravo became captivated by the details and logistics it took to originally construct the bridge. So when the time came to apply for college and pick a career, he had only one objective: study civil engineering. “Coming to the U.S. to pursue my degree and become a civil engineering was a dream of mine,” says Bravo, who has authored a publication for next year’s 15th Pan American Conference on Soil Mechanics in Argentina and is preparing another publication for ASCE’s next Geo-Congress. Vice president and treasurer for the Kansas City Younger Member Group, Bravo has also presented Terracon’s innovative design on mechanically stabilized earth MSE walls to the local ASCE Sections as part of their professional development seminars. “Being a New Face of Civil Engineering motivates me to continue to better myself and motivate others to work together to improve the practice of civil engineering and potentially contribute as much as we can to ASCE,” says Bravo, who received his bachelor’s degree civil engineering at the University of Kansas.  Section website>>

KANSAS SECTION University of Kansas opens structural test facility A massive reaction wall and floor system highlights the new building, which expands the scope of structural research that can be conducted at the KU School of Engineering. Discover what it will enable in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

IN ASCE’S CIVIL ENGINEERING MAGAZINE ONLINE Pay trends indicate construction market changes Research reveals the emphasis that engineering and construction firms are placing on securing new business in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Explore a consulting firm’s results in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

IN ASCE’S CIVIL ENGINEERING MAGAZINE ONLINE Corps ‘embracing uncertainty’ in its project planning In adapting to climate change, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now models both historical and theoretical storms and consults a sea-level rise tool that it developed to gauge site vulnerability. Discover the Corps’ new approaches in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine..