February 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 February If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for February, 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 1 update? See the January edition of News Around Region 1 Share this page via social media and email:

VERMONT SECTION Section leader writes op-ed article urging state to act on deficient dams “In 2013, 35 percent of the dams inspected by the state of Vermont were found to be in poor condition. The state only has two dam safety inspectors so many dams go without investigation. To evaluate the condition of the state's dams regularly, there simply is not enough human power,” writes the Vermont Section’s current President-Elect, Jessica Clark Louisos, in an op-ed article that appeared recently in the Burlington Free Press.  “During the 2015 legislative session lawmakers have an opportunity to authorize the funding of a third dam safety inspector and to establish a dam registry to help fill this knowledge void.”  Read Louisos’ op-ed in full.   Section website>>

BOSTON SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS SECTION Celebrated engineers and researchers earn ASCE’s Horner Award Steven C. Chapra, Ph.D., F.ASCE; Kyle F. Flynn, Aff.M.ASCE; and J. Christopher Rutherford are the recipients of the Wesley W. Horner Award for the paper “Parsimonious Model for Assessing Nutrient Impacts on Periphyton-Dominated Streams,” published in the June 2014 issue of  ASCE’s Journal of Environmental Engineering. The Wesley W. Horner Award recognizes papers that have contributed to the areas of hydrology, urban drainage, or sewerage. Steven C. Chapra is professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Louis Berger Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University. Discover more about their nominated work in ASCE News. .

IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE Study for Corps of Engineers urges national effort to reduce coastal risks A report conducted by the National Research Council and sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers calls for a united, national vision for coastal risk management. Consider the call to action in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

IN ASCE’s CIVIL ENGINEERING ONLINE MAGAZINE Global engineering firm evaluates 50 most sustainable cities A new report by ARCADIS examines how 50 of the largest cities in the world balance social, environmental, and business interests. See which cities rank highest in ASCE’s online edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

MAINE SECTION Section, Student Chapter engage in 63rd Maine Transportation Conference Courtesy Maine Section ASCE’s Maine Section and the University of Maine’s Student Chapter had high-profile presences at the 63rd Maine Transportation Conference in December. Section President and former Region 1 Governor Lauren Swett led an awards ceremony highlighted by a presentation from York, Maine, resident and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy.  UMaine ASCE Student Chapter President Emily Tynes moderated an evening session that included a look at Panama Canal expansion. Above, UMaine students meet astronaut Cassidy.  Section website>>

SYRACUSE SECTION Distinguished Member, director of Cornell’s civil and environmental engineering school, elected to NAE Philip Li-Fan Liu, Ph.D., Dist.M.ASCE, Class of 1912 Professor in Engineering and director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University, was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering for his coastal engineering research, education, computer modeling, and leadership for tsunami and wave damage. Liu is an internationally recognized, frontline researcher in the fields of water wave theory, tsunami dynamics, wave-breaking processes, sediment transport, and the interaction of waves with structures. Since the 1990s, he has pioneered the development of a unified mathematical model of wave behavior that covers a wide range of nonlinearity and frequency dispersion. Discover more about what made Liu worthy of this honor in ASCE News.

SYRACUSE SECTION Environmental engineering researchers win ASCE’s Hering Medal Michael J. Adelman; Monroe L. Weber-Shirk, Ph.D., Aff.M.ASCE; Jeffrey C. Will; Anderson N. Cordero; William J. Maher; and Leonard W. Lion, Ph.D. are the recipients of the Rudolph Hering Medal for their paper “Novel Fluidic Control System for Stacked Rapid Sand Filters,” published in the July 2013 issue of ASCE’s Journal of Environmental Engineering. The Rudolph Hering Medal recognizes outstanding papers that contribute to the advancement of the environmental branch of the engineering profession. Monroe L. Weber-Shirk is a senior lecturer at Cornell University. Discover more about their nominated work in ASCE News.

ROCHESTER SECTION Engineering researchers studying elasticity win Moisseiff Award Dharma T.R. Pasala; Apostolos A. Sarlis, S.M.ASCE; Andrei M. Reinhorn, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE; Satish Nagarajaiah, Ph.D., F.SEI, M.ASCE; Michael Constantinou, Ph.D., M.ASCE; and Douglas P. Taylor, A.M.ASCE are the recipients of the Moisseiff Award for their paper “Simulated Bilinear-Elastic Behavior in a SDOF Elastic Structure Using Negative Stiffness Device:  Experimental and Analytical Study,” which was published in the February 2014 issue of ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering. Sarlis is a  Ph.D. candidate in University at Buffalo’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; Reinhorn is professor emeritus of structural engineering and past director of the University of Buffalo’s Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory; Constantinou is a distinguished professor in the University of Buffalo’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; and Douglas P. Taylor is CEO of Taylor Devices Inc. Discover more about their nominated work in ASCE News.