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 8 update? See the January edition of News Around Region 8     Share this page via social media and email:

MONTANA SECTION Section leaders co-author article urging state to seize momentum on infrastructure funding “There’s been a lot of talk about improving Montana’s infrastructure recently, and that’s good because we can’t wait any more to address our state’s backlog of needed improvements for roads, bridges, drinking water pipes and other infrastructure systems,” writes Montana Section President William W. Wiegand, Jr. and Section Report Card Committee Chair Melissa Matassa-Stone in an op-ed that appeared in the Missoulian. The Section leaders wrote in response to Gov. Steve Bullock’s infrastructure funding ideas laid out in his State of the State address, and in the context of the Section’s release of a new state Report Card last November. “The governor’s proposal lays out a much-needed foundation to improve the state’s infrastructure. … However, the [$380 million in] funding proposed by ‘Build Montana’ is only a fraction of our state’s total needs.” Read the op-ed by Wiegand and Matassa-Stone in full.

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.

ARIZONA SECTION ‘Team Arizona WildCANS’ designs, builds can structures for charity Courtesy Arizona Section Comprised of Arizona Section members and other professionals, “Team Arizona WildCANS” recently took part in a Canstruction charity event in Tuscon staged by the American Institute of Architects Southern Arizona Chapter. Teams compete by designing and building a structure completely out of cans of food, then once the structures are judged, the cans are donated to a community food bank. Above, Team Arizona WildCANS includes ASCE members Kevin Hall, Louis Romero, and Deirdre Brosnihan along with teammates from SWAIM Associates Architects.   Section website>>

OREGON SECTION Researchers evaluating tsunami loads win ASCE’s Raymond C. Reese Prize “For their paper “Evaluation of Tsunami Loads on Wood-Frame Walls at Full Scale,” published in ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering, David Linton; Rakesh Gupta, M.ASCE; Daniel T. Cox, Ph.D.; John van de Lindt, Ph.D., F.ASCE; Mary Elizabeth Oshnack; and Milo Clauson share the Raymond C. Reese Prize for 2015. The Reese Prize is awarded to the author or authors of a paper that describes a notable achievement in research related to structural engineering. Rakesh Gupta is professor of wood engineering and mechanics at Oregon State University. Discover more about their award-winning 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.