January 2015

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 January If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for January, 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 5 update? See the December edition of News Around Region 5 Share this page via social media and email:

REGION DIRECTOR'S REPORT Highlights of January’s ASCE Board of Direction Meeting Melissa Wheeler, EIT, M.ASCE, your Region 5 Director, is a member of the Georgia Section and the Transmission Project Management organization at Georgia Power Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Your newly installed board member, Melissa represented you at the ASCE Board of Direction meeting on January 8 in Miami, held in conjunction with the first of three Multi-Region Leadership Conferences. These conferences bring together Section, Branch and Region leaders, along with leaders from student chapters and Younger Member Groups. Vibrant, sunny Miami proved to be an ideal location for the MRLC, which offered sessions aimed at improving management of ASCE entities and on developing leadership skills for all career phases. Board members appreciated the opportunity to hear firsthand about challenges, concerns and aspirations from so many different ASCE members, and found the conference environment to be energizing. After welcoming its newest board members, installed at the ASCE business meeting in October, and its new executive director, Tom Smith, the board worked through an agenda that included both business actions and strategic discussions. Among the business conducted, the board: Was notified by the Nominating Committee that two official nominees were selected for the upcoming election for the office of ASCE president-elect:  Norma Jean Mattei, PhD, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE, and Thomas R. Walther, P.E., F.ASCEE  Approved two new Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Approved the establishment of two new ASCE awards honoring achievement in the fields of risk analysis and management and failure and damage prevention Approved rules to establish a new technical division on infrastructure resilience A substantial portion of the board’s agendas have been devoted to strategic discussions with Society Committees. During this meeting, the board heard from the chair of the Committee on Education, Norman D.  Dennis, PhD, P.E., F.ASCE, who identified a number of issues related to the future of engineering education. Most significant were proposed changes to ABET governance that, if approved, could greatly diminish ASCE’s influence on civil engineering program criteria in the future. The board will conduct a more extensive discussion of this issue at an upcoming meeting. The board also spent some time developing and discussing a set of core values that would guide its interaction as a board. Civil engineering is a profession grounded in ethical practice and professionalism, and ASCE is well-served by its Code of Ethics, vision, and mission. A set of core values would complement these by establishing a common understanding of how the board pledges to function in its work together and with constituents throughout the Society to cultivate a climate of excellence, teamwork and integrity. Based on the positive discussion at this meeting, the board expects to adopt a set of core values at a future meeting. 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 Melissa.

IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE EPA pilot program explores risks to water utilities from climate change Twenty communities facing a wide range of potential climate-change effects are participating in a $600,000 pilot program conducted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to identify these risks and develop adaptation plans. Explore the program’s benefits in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE Engineering executives’ compensation dips since recession The total compensation package for executives in engineering and construction professions has declined since 2008, in part because of suffering corporate profits. Discover who’s faring better in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

GEORGIA SECTION ASCE Civil Engineering Club in Marietta awarded $1,000 for project to aid Haitians An ASCE high school Civil Engineering Club's project could go a long way toward helping Haiti as it still struggles to recover five years after being battered by a magnitude 7 earthquake. Eager students and their advisers at Georgia's Marietta High School are developing ways to adapt cargo containers into a variety of sustainable facilities for residents. The club's impressive effort thus far has earned it a $1,000 grant from the DiscoverE foundation.  Meet the club and its project in ASCE News. Learn how your Section or Branch can team up with a local high school to launch a Civil Engineering Club.  Section website>> .

LOUISIANA SECTION Active Region 5 leader, University of New Orleans professor a nominee for 2016 ASCE President-elect Norma Jean Mattei, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE,  professor and past chair at the University of New Orleans Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is one of two Society members who are nominees for 2016 ASCE President-elect, to advance to ASCE President in 2017. Thomas R. Walther, P.E., F.ASCE, a utilities coordination engineer with Ayres Associates in Eau Claire, WI, is the other nominee. Mattei has been an active member of ASCE at the national, local, and state level since 1997. She was director of Region 5 from 2009-11 and president of the Louisiana Section after serving in various roles as an officer in each. Learn more about Mattei and Walther in ASCE News.  Make sure you are eligible to vote in the ASCE election – get details. .

LOUISIANA SECTION ASCE names Bonnet Carré Spillway a national civil engineering landmark The Bonnet Carré Spillway just west of New Orleans and the Gladesville Bridge in Sydney, Australia, are the latest works to be designated by ASCE as historic civil engineering landmarks, approved by the Board of Direction. Completed in 1931, the spillway represented a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approach to flood control. The bridge was the world's longest with a concrete arch for 16 years following its 1964 opening. Learn more about the new landmarks in ASCE News. .