July 2007
Volume 32, Issue 7

Last month ASCE sent a letter to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee expressing support for the Transportation Energy Security and Climate Change Mitigation Act of 2007 (H.R. 2701)—legislation that would establish a “21st-century water commission” aimed at working to understand the effects of climate change on U.S. water resources, protect wetlands, and improve public transportation.

“We support . . . creating a Center for Climate Change and Environment in the Department of Transportation,” the letter states, which goes on to voice support for making “capital grants to rehabilitate railroad track . . . establishing requirements for energy efficiency in public buildings and strengthening the use of life-cycle cost analyses . . . establishing a federal program for water resources management and preparedness, including a study of hydropower as a means to reducing the use of fossil fuels . . . [and] requiring [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] to study the potential for climate change to affect natural disaster preparedness.”

According to Policy 360, which was adopted by ASCE’s Board of Direction in 2004, the Society “recommends that policy makers seek the participation of the engineering community during the development and implementation of a national policy and research agenda on global climatic change. Resulting programs should incorporate the principles of engineering and sustainable development.” Moreover, according to Policy 488, which also was adopted in 2004, ASCE “believes that the Congress should adopt a policy that deals sensibly with the threat of climate change resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases.” (All of the ASCE policies cited here may be accessed at www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy.cfm.) Promoting measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources, encouraging the use of energy sources that do not emit greenhouse gases, and supporting research into technologies that entail less pollution are among the recommendations that ASCE supports under this policy. The Society also “supports the development of federal, state, and local policies and programs that balance protection of wetlands and their inherent benefits with other important economic and social needs of the country,” according to Policy 378, another statement adopted in 2004.

The letter to the House committee also made clear that ASCE “supports the establishment of a 21st-century water commission whose aim would be to direct federal efforts toward understanding the impacts of climate change on U.S. water resources, preventing the unwise use of floodplains, and avoiding the destruction of wetlands.” Moreover, the Society backs “protection of natural floodplains and the concept of building disaster-resistant communities” and encourages “governments at all levels to adopt practical floodplain management policies,” states the letter, which goes on to say that ASCE also supports “creative partnering between federal, state, and local governments to fund the design and implementation of floodplain management policies and flood mitigation projects . . . [and] the development of federal, state, and local policies and programs that balance protection of wetlands and their inherent benefits with other important economic and social needs of the country.”

Introduced on June 13 by Representative Jim Oberstar (D-Minnesota) and approved on June 20 by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, H.R. 2701 would authorize the U.S. Department of Transportation to offer grants totaling $1.7 billion in 2008 and 2009 to urban and rural public transit programs to subsidize operations. The local transportation agencies receiving this aid would then be required to reduce their fares.

“Instead of using trucks to move most of our goods, we need to start investing in freight rail and even water transportation to move goods,” Oberstar said in a June 20 press release. The legislation he proposed would provide $250 million for local and regional railroads to improve track and infrastructure and would establish a program to encourage shipping on the Great Lakes and along the U.S. seaboards.
“America needs expanded use of public transportation, including urban mass transit systems and commuter rail systems,” emphasizes ASCE’s letter. “Properly managed public transit systems have demonstrated their value in reducing the dependence upon the automobile as the primary transportation mode in urban areas. Establishing an effective public transportation system improves our ability to control traffic congestion, enhance mobility, lessen pollution and other environmental effects, improve safety, and reduce energy demands.”

As stated in Policy 521, which was adopted last year by ASCE’s Board of Direction, “ASCE supports a strong rail transportation system within this country. A federal rail trust fund should be developed to fund rail improvements, using the 80/20 match formula to encourage state participation. Revenues for this trust fund could come from sources such as a tonnage fee, mileage fee, ticket tax, and/or general Treasury funds. ASCE also encourages the use of innovative financing methods like revenue bonds and tax-exempt financing at the state and local levels, public-private partnerships, and state infrastructure banks.”

H.R. 2701 contains rail access provisions that, under the authority of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), would establish an impartial process for settling issues that commuter railroads, transit systems, and freight railroads could not resolve through negotiations conducted in good faith. Under this legislation, the STB would consider a variety of factors in any adjudication so that freight rail needs related to capacity, compensation, and operating conditions would not be adversely affected. However, before the formal STB adjudication process was initiated, public rail operators would be required to use nonbinding mediation.

ASCE’s letter, however, questions two of the provisions of the bill and asks the committee to reconsider certain language. Under sections 202 and 251, the legislation would increase the cost borne by the federal government for urban area formula grants for public transportation and would increase the federal government’s share for programs designed to mitigate congestion and improve air quality. “ASCE believes that the states need to share in the cost of these important programs to ensure their continued support for vital infrastructure and environmental programs,” maintains the letter.

Another key aspect of the bill calls for making government buildings more energy efficient through such measures as utilizing efficient lightbulbs and solar power. “Our government has to lead by example,” said Oberstar on June 20. “The Transportation [and Infrastructure] Committee has jurisdiction over 367 million square feet of federal office space. Those buildings consume $5.8 billion a year in electricity costs. We can start cutting those costs right now.”

All in all, ASCE applauds the House committee’s approval of H.R. 2701 and will continue to support steps to advance its passage. “ASCE supports the bill’s overall goal of strengthening the nation’s energy security while mitigating the effects of climate change by furthering energy efficiency in transportation and public buildings. We also support efforts to ensure sound management of the nation’s water resources,” the letter concludes.

—Mark Fitzgerald

ASCE has been working with the Society of Afghan Engineers (SAE)—an organization of engineers in North America and Europe committed to the reconstruction of Afghanistan—to develop infrastructure projects that can promote economic growth in that nation. The initiative, which is in keeping with ASCE’s mission to advance professional knowledge and improve the practice of civil engineering, aims to foster technical training and create opportunities for U.S.-based industry members. Funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the effort involves collaboration with Kabul University to provide a pilot round of training, mentor Afghan engineering firms, and develop partnerships that can play a constructive role in Afghanistan’s redevelopment.

“There are some nice opportunities here, such as helping the private sector, the universities, and professional societies evolve,” says Michael Goode, P.E., M.ASCE, the Society’s former director of grants and contracts. “Of course, these are good focal points for any capacity-building project. We hope that an opportunity to create a good consulting practice or a thriving design/build company will begin to attract capable people to help.”

Henry J. “Hank” Hatch, P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and a former commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spent much of his career working on engineering projects abroad. He defines capacity building as “the building of human, institutional, and infrastructure capacity to help societies develop secure, stable, and sustainable economies, governments, and other institutions through mentoring, training, education, physical projects, the infusion of financial and other resources, and, most importantly, the motivation and inspiration of people to improve their lives.”

Goode, who traveled to Afghanistan in April, says the infrastructure in that country, having been poorly maintained for decades, is in deplorable condition. “There was little or no investment during the Russian occupation,” he explains. “So there was a natural deterioration. Roads went backwards; water systems went backwards; electricity supply went backwards. The country was an infrastructure basket case. Engineering consulting and academic capability were eliminated by many years of war, brain drain, and the Soviet system. Even now, I’d say it is about forty to fifty years behind most developed nations.”

During his trip Goode teamed up with Abdul Hadi Rakin, the SAE’s chair, to assess the state of Afghanistan’s design and construction industry and business training programs and establish a common vision of program objectives with Kabul University and other stakeholders. “One of the big problems right now is that the banking system in Afghanistan is only just getting legs under it,” Goode observes. “So you can’t just go to your friendly banker there and ask for a working capital loan for your new business. Working capital in Afghanistan is a major challenge right now. Folks are renting offices, buying computers and furniture, and hiring people, but they’re paying for all of this with their own money or with family money or, as some people have even speculated, with drug money.”

Security issues also present challenges, according to Goode. “Clearly there are problems with the buildup of the Taliban presence and activity,” he points out. “There was certainly a heightened awareness while we were there. We took a low-profile approach and relied on good counsel to know where not to go. We didn’t go outside of Kabul, but we did visit [the U.S. Agency for International Development], which, like the U.S. embassy [building] and other government facilities, is in blast-protected bunkers. There was a little more anxiety when visiting there because the U.S. government folks really are targets. They have to wear camouflage and some body armor when they leave the protected areas. Those who are not civilians have to have an armed soldier with them if they go on a field trip. This obviously provides them with some extra protection, but it also makes them a target.”

Goode and Rakin attended meetings with Afghan contractors and engineers, ministry officials, and representatives of the Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Society of Afghan Architects and Engineers (SAAE)—a fledgling group that is concerned with professional development and with increasing the international support and financial and technical assistance for rebuilding Afghanistan and creating good governance and a regulatory structure. “I believe we can deliver on our relatively short-term infusion of training,” Goode adds. “But the willingness of U.S. firms to focus on the Afghan marketplace is, at the moment, constrained by the fact that the market is so healthy in other places in the world, including the U.S. So, from a practical standpoint, many firms really don’t need to be taking on an assignment this difficult unless, of course, they have some other reason for doing it. Fortunately, there are some folks out there who are simply committed to providing help to those in need.”

ASCE and the SAE are currently in the process of refining a curriculum to be implemented at Kabul University, and they have been discussing the strengths and needs of various trainee candidates with prospective mentors. “Right now there are about ten to twelve U.S. companies that have contracts in Afghanistan,” Goode explains. “Large contracts, mostly: doing work for USAID, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and others. Many of these companies are saying, ‘Sure, we’ll help in whatever way we can.’ They are already mentoring and growing some firms as subcontractors, and I think that university-based, sustainable support will be paramount in this process. ASCE is also hoping that USAID will eventually embrace the project and carry it forward, and they have already indicated that they feel that this is a really good thing to do. So no commitments yet, but we’re exploring that with them.”

Numerous trainee candidates in Afghanistan have expressed interest in participating in this program, and several U.S. engineering firms already working in Afghanistan have indicated that they would benefit from mentoring start-up Afghan firms and would support the project. “ASCE will be hosting a delegation from Afghanistan,” Goode notes. “Kabul University’s president, some professors, including one from the Polytechnical University of Kabul, and two deans there—one from engineering and one from economics—will come and spend some time learning a bit about how professional societies are run here and hopefully [will] establish some networking contacts. We will take them to university-based business training and support centers, or incubators. We also plan—with the help of some supplemental funding from [the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization]—to give the SAAE a boost by offering internships to two of their leaders as unesco fellows.”

ASCE is also coordinating an effort to gather donated technical publications and ship them to Afghanistan. In 2005 the Society sent more than 10,000 copies of civil engineering texts and other publications from its archives to Iraq. The decision to donate and send civil engineering publications overseas arose from an initiative that ASCE launched in 2004 to help engineering communities abroad rebuild and upgrade their technical capabilities. Last year Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., an engineering firm headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, donated an assortment of literature (numerous texts dealing with civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, pumps, water and wastewater treatment, pipeline technologies, disease treatment, water reuse, and desalination) to ASCE to be shipped abroad.

“There will be a big shipment going out soon,” Goode says. “We’ve already committed to sending recent back issues of several ASCE journals. Once we know that the universities have reliable Internet access and electric power, we’ll also be able to get them resources online. We want to be evenhanded but reasonable by starting in Kabul with Kabul University and the Polytechnical University of Kabul and then seeing that other technical universities around the country get support.”

ASCE invites U.S.-based engineering firms and members of their senior staffs to serve as mentors for principals of fledgling private engineering firms in Afghanistan involved in the reconstruction efforts. For additional information or to contribute technical materials to this initiative, contact Michael R. Sanio, m.ASCE, the Society’s director of international alliances, at (703) 295-6116 or msanio@asce.org.

—Mark Fitzgerald

Early next year ASCE will release the second edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future, and we want to hear what you, our members, think of it.

ASCE recognizes the need to lead the civil engineering profession into the future. Our Policy 465 supports the attainment of a body of knowledge (BOK) for entry into the practice of civil engineering at the professional level—that is, via licensure. (That policy may be accessed at www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy.cfm.) The BOK is defined as the depth and breadth of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that engineers must possess if they are to practice at the professional level in the 21st century.

As you know, and as we at ASCE keep telling you, civil engineering practice must change in response to such forces as globalization, sustainability requirements, emerging technologies, and increased complexity, including the need to define and solve problems beyond the boundaries of traditional disciplines. The BOK plays a key role in the civil engineering profession, and the second edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century must embody our profession’s primary mission: to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

The civil engineer’s world of tomorrow will be even more challenging than the world of today. Civil engineers will need to serve as master builders, environmental stewards, innovators, integrators, managers and communicators of risk and uncertainty, and leaders in shaping public policy. In anticipation of this new world of civil engineering, the BOK addresses the skills and knowledge that will enable the profession to meet its responsibility to protect the public. The BOK will support ASCE’s overall goal of preparing our profession for the future.

Policy 465 recognizes that the profession’s principal means of changing the way civil engineering will be practiced tomorrow is reforming the manner in which civil engineers are prepared today—through education and prelicensure experience—to enter professional practice. The BOK is the foundation of this process of change because it ultimately influences accreditation criteria, curricula, the engineer intern experience, licensure requirements, and public understanding of our profession. As a result of ASCE’s efforts, advances are being made on all of these fronts.

ASCE is releasing a draft of the new edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century for your review. This edition was prepared in response to widespread stakeholder interest in the first edition. I am pleased to note that the BOK has stimulated thinking and discussion about education and practice both within and outside of civil engineering. It has provided a forum in which educators and practitioners have come together to proactively determine how tomorrow’s civil engineers should be prepared.

This draft speaks to all segments of our profession. While the various segments may differ when it comes to areas warranting particular attention, we can all view the BOK as common ground. In considering the relevance of the BOK to various members of and stakeholders in the civil engineering community, it should be pointed out that the BOK confers the following benefits:

• Offers prospective civil engineering students, together with their parents, teachers, counselors, and advisers, a glimpse of the importance of civil engineering and of the breadth of opportunities it offers; 
• Assists civil engineering and other faculty members in designing curricula, creating and modifying courses, and teaching and mentoring students;
• Offers researchers ideas on future directions of civil engineering and related technical needs and defines the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that should be imparted to students seeking to pursue a career in research;
• Provides civil engineering students and engineer interns with a framework against which they can understand the purpose, measure the progress, and plan the completion of their studies and prelicensure
  experience;
• Gives leaders of abet, Inc., and those who work with them a basis for developing appropriate accreditation criteria;
• Tells employers what they can expect in terms of basic knowledge, skills, and attitudes from civil engineering graduates; 
• Suggests to practitioners how they can assist engineer interns attain the additional levels of expertise needed to enter the practice of civil engineering at the professional level;
• Provides licensing boards with confidence that the formal education and prelicensure experience of civil engineers will meet the engineering profession’s responsibility to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public;
• Encourages specialty certification boards to build on the prelicensure BOK in defining various mastery levels of achievement.

We want to hear your opinions and perspectives on the BOK. The BOK has broad applications and is likely to affect every civil engineer at some point in his or her career. Accordingly, for your benefit and the benefit of our profession, please review the draft of the new edition of the BOK report and share your thoughts and comments with ASCE. As of July 15, you can download a copy at www.asce.org/raisethebar. Your thoughts and comments should be sent to the Committee on the Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice at comments@bok.asce.org. Your input will be reviewed by the committee, and the final report will be modified as appropriate. The new edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century is scheduled for release in February 2008 during Engineers Week, and it too will be available at www.asce.org/raisethebar.

—W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., p.e.,
Hon.m.ASCE

Virginia Tech Honors Duncan with Emeritus Status

J. Michael Duncan, P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, was given the title of distinguished professor emeritus last month by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) Board of Visitors. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Duncan has made important contributions to geotechnical engineering through his work in soil shear strength and slope stability, seepage through soils, embankment dam engineering, and finite-element analysis methods for soil structures. He has been a consultant on several major geotechnical projects, including work on the Panama Canal and on the levee and flood control structures affected by Hurricane Katrina. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1964, Duncan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. The title emeritus is conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and staff members who have rendered exemplary service to the university and who have been recommended for the honor by the university’s
president.

ACI Recognizes Hsu for Research On Reinforced Concrete

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) recently presented Thomas T. Hsu, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, with its Arthur J. Boase Award in recognition of his outstanding research contributions in the area of reinforced concrete. Hsu helped pioneer a machine for testing concrete panels. Dubbed the Universal Element Tester, the machine stands more than 15 ft (4.6 m) tall, weighs nearly 40 tons (36.3 metric tons), and contains more than 1 mi (1.6 km) of pipes to transport oil pressure to its 40 jacks. It is able to test large panel elements under varied controlled forces and is the only device in the world capable of performing comprehensive testing on reinforced-concrete panel elements. Experts have been using the data from these assessments to predict the behavior of entire structures that may be threatened by destructive forces, such as earthquakes. “Looking into the future, I chuckle when I tell my students that I’ve figured out pretty well the material laws for 1-D and 2-D actions and that it’s up to them to figure out the material laws in 3-D,” Hsu said last month in a press release. Hsu, who helped design and build the Universal Element Tester, has been a professor at the University of Houston for 27 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology, in China, and both a master’s degree and a doctorate in structural engineering from Cornell University. Established in 1971, the Arthur J. Boase Award is conferred on persons or organizations in recognition of outstanding activities or achievements in the field of reinforced concrete.

Adeli Receives Two Awards From Ohio State

Hojjat Adeli, Ph.D., Hon.M.ASCE, has been honored with two awards from Ohio State University—the 2007 Peter L. and Clara M. Scott Award for Excellence in Engineering Education and the 2007 Charles E. MacQuigg Outstanding Teaching Award. Adeli has more than 400 publications, including 11 books, to his credit, and he has served as the editor in chief of various scholarly journals, among them Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, and the International Journal of Neural Systems. ASCE named him an honorary member in 2005 in recognition of his “wide-ranging, exceptional, and pioneering contributions to computing in civil engineering and extraordinary leadership in advancing the use of emerging computing and information technologies in civil engineering throughout the world.” That same year saw Adeli capture the Society’s Construction Management Award for his “development of ingenious computational and mathematical models in the areas of construction scheduling, resource scheduling, and cost estimation.” Adeli holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Tehran, in Iran, and a doctorate in civil engineering from Stanford University.

Standards Body Lauds Speck For Service

ASTM International has recognized Jeffrey F. Speck, P.E., M.ASCE, with its International Award of Merit and the accompanying title of fellow. According to ASTM International’s Committee C15, which deals with manufactured masonry units, Speck has brought “exceptional dedication, vision, and continuous practical contribution to testing standards and specifications . . . related to the manufacture and use of units of fired clay and shale, concrete, and sand-lime units.” Speck serves as a member at large on C15’s executive subcommittee and is also involved with the work of Subcommittee C15.03, which deals with concrete masonry units and related units. He has also been C15’s membership secretary and its recording secretary. Within Committee C09, which deals with concrete and concrete aggregates, he is the chair of Subcommittee C09.21, which concerns itself with lightweight aggregates and concrete. He is generous enough with his time to also serve on Committee C12, which deals with mortars and grouts for masonry units. The vice president of sales and marketing for Big River Industries, Inc., a manufacturing firm in Alpharetta, Georgia, Speck has extensive experience with materials testing and structural engineering design. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Michigan State University.

Fellows Elected

The following members were elected fellows of the Society in recent months. ASCE fellows are legally registered professional engineers or land surveyors who have made significant technical or professional contributions and have demonstrated notable achievement in responsible charge of engineering activity for at least 10 years following election to the ASCE grade of member. Fellows occupy the Society’s second-highest membership grade, exceeded only by honorary members.

Gary N. Durham, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is the president of Durham Geo Enterprises, Inc., of Stone Mountain, Georgia, which manufactures and distributes geotechnical and geoenvironmental equipment and instruments. Durham has practiced geotechnical engineering for 40 years, serving with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and working for electric utilities and in private practice. Since 1988 he has been involved in manufacturing products for various segments of the geotechnical industry. Early in his career with the Corps of Engineers he was the assistant chief of the Corps’s largest production testing fACIlity, and he was also involved in fieldwork related to levee safety and earthen dams in the Mississippi River region. In 1976 Durham joined Southern Company Services as the geotechnical engineer in the department working on the reconstruction of Walter Bolden Dam, which had failed several years earlier. While there, he developed a blended material to serve as an impervious core in the dam since local deposits were scarce. He also supervised the design of five major earthen dams. Durham has served as principal and president of two private practices, Ground Engineering, established in 1979, and Durham Geo Enterprises, established in 1994. He has also served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he has taught soil mechanics to engineering students. His current projects involve working with electrical and mechanical engineers in conjunction with software developers to develop products that satisfy the requirements of their geotechnical customers. Durham has been involved with ASTM International’s committee D18 since 1972, helping to develop standards associated with geotechnical testing and field characterization.

Corrado Gisonni, Ph.D., P.Eng., F.ASCE, is an associate professor in Italy at Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli and is well known throughout Europe for his work in urban hydrology and sewer system design. Research resulting from his collaborations with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich and from work sponsored by the government ministry in Italy in charge of universities and scientific research has led to significant advances in sewer hydraulics and scour control. Gisonni’s achievements include the hydraulic design criteria for sewer manholes in the presence of supercritical flow; an assessment of flood risks in certain parts of Naples, whose sewer network comprises more than 1,100 km of channels; and research pertaining to sediment transport in urban drainage systems. He has authored more than 50 research papers and is a coauthor of an Italian handbook on sewer system design. Gisonni also serves as a referee for ASCE’s Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering and Journal of Hydraulic Engineering and lends his time and expertise to a number of environmental organizations.

Ralph B.Y. Hwang, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor in the civil engineering department at California State University at Sacramento, where he has taught for 31 years. During this time he has advised and mentored more than 50 graduate students, and the more than $650,000 in funded research he has received has led to 22 papers and 154 technical reports. Hwang developed the sequence of steps in dam break inundation map preparation that was officially approved in California by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and incorporated into the state regulations for dam inundation mapping procedures. Hwang’s other accomplishments include developing seven stream flow simulation computer models for predicting stream flow from rainfall data in the watershed of California’s Russian River. He has also developed strategies and predictive models for sediment transport and stream flow simulations and since 1991 has carried out assessments of more than 145 large dams in California for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to determine maximum breaching outflows and resulting inundation maps under various dam break scenarios. Hwang is the author of Groundwater Hydrology, published in 1993. In addition to numerous teaching awards, he received the Outstanding Scholar Award in 2002, and in recognition of his 19 years as adviser to the Tau Beta Pi chapter at California State University at Sacramento he was honored with the Superior Service Award.

Jiann-Wen Woody Ju, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and chair of the school’s civil and environmental engineering department. In his 20 years of university teaching, research, and professional service, Ju has made significant contributions to the fields of civil and mechanical engineering. He is credited with developing one of the earliest models for the stiffness of solids containing crack systems using fracture mechanics. Well known for his work in this area, he has applied his expertise to concrete structures and geotechnical issues. Ju has also developed continuum models for damage mechanics based on microcrack systems, and these models have been successfully used in investigating concrete and fiber composites. This work has aided the computational modeling of problems associated with the failure, dynamic response, and durability of these composites. Ju has served as the principal investigator on numerous research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. armed forces, Caterpillar, Inc., and other groups. He has led or helped to organize more than 30 national and international symposia on civil engineering and engineering mechanics. In addition to his teaching and research and his work as a student adviser, Ju has published nearly 150 papers, has lent his expertise to forensic projects, and has done consulting work for engineering firms. In 2000 he established the Martin Rubin Scholarship at UCLA for civil engineering students. Ju’s numerous accolades for teaching and research include ASCE’s Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award, and Princeton University’s Alfred Rheinstein Faculty Award.

Philip G. King, P.E., F.ASCE, is the president of SynchroPile, Inc., of San Antonio. In his 25-year career King has managed a wide variety of engineering projects throughout Texas as well as in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Canada, and Alaska. From 1999 to 2003 he was the chairman of the ASCE Texas Section subcommittee that developed the document “Recommended Practice for the Design of Residential Foundations.” At present he is the chair of the ASCE Geo-Institute’s Shallow Foundations Committee. King has managed numerous geotechnical engineering studies for residential structures, and his work as a coinventor has been recognized with five separate U.S. patents—including the SynchroPile/SynchroPier Technology—dealing with pier and pile technology and storm-water separation systems. As a geotechnical consultant he has particular expertise in dealing with problems relating to the moisture condition and swell potential of under-slab foundation soils. In 2003 the Bexar chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers named him engineer of the year.

Henry G. Landau, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has more than 35 years of experience as a civil and environmental engineer and is the founder of Landau Associates, a leading geotechnical and environmental engineering firm in Washington State. Landau received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the City College of the City University of New York and master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University. He served as an engineering officer in Vietnam, has worked in consulting and construction, and has taught engineering at the University of Washington and in Brazil. One of the first geotechnical consultants to recognize that contaminated soils and groundwater require special interdisciplinary knowledge and services, he has been the principal engineer and project manager for four Superfund sites in Washington State, designing monitoring systems that have returned those sites to productive use. Landau has also performed site investigations and provided design recommendations for foundations, port and harbor developments, soil and groundwater remediation, and stabilization of soft sediments and landslides. His accolades include the Alumni Achievement Award in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. Landau has served as the chair of the science advisory board for Washington State University’s ecology department since 1991, earning him a commendation from the governor.

Luis E. Moura, P.E., G.E., F.ASCE, is the principal of Geotecnia, a firm he founded in 1996. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geotechnical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and is registered in California as a professional civil engineer and geotechnical engineer. Moura has 23 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, and his work has encompassed planning, design, construction, and forensic engineering in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California. He has lent his services to more than 1,300 residential, commercial, industrial, and public works projects and has also provided constructability assessments, value engineering services, and expert testimony. In 1994 ASCE’s San Francisco Section recognized his contributions with the H.J. Brunnier Award, its highest service award. Moura has been active in the affairs of that section since 1990, serving as president of its Younger Member Forum and sitting on committees dealing with continuing education, geotechnical issues, and outreach efforts to high school students. The bimonthly technical workshop program dealing with geotechnical topics he established in now in its 13th year.

David J. Nash, P.E., F.ASCE, is currently the president of Dave Nash & Associates, LLC, of Birmingham, Alabama. Before entering the private sector he had a distinguished navy career as a commissioned civil engineer, serving as commander on several multimillion-dollar projects. His career has given him considerable experience and expertise in program management, fACIlity design, construction, and maintenance. His hands-on experience at all program and project levels has led to success with multimillion-dollar complexes and multibillion-dollar infrastructure reconstruction programs. Nash provided program, construction, financial, and acquisition management services for an annual $2-billion U.S. Navy global construction program that included industrial fACIlities, housing, utilities, airfields, and transportation. In 2003 he served as director of program management in Iraq, managing an $18.4-billion reconstruction budget, the largest reconstruction program ever attempted by the U.S. government outside its borders. Nash’s accomplishments were recognized with an honorary doctorate in civil engineering in 2005 from the Indiana Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in 1965. He also earned a master’s in financial management from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1977. His accolades include ASCE’s Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research in 2001 and its John I. Parcel–Leif J. Sverdrup Civil Engineering Management Award in 2004, and the Society of American Military Engineers honored him with its Golden Eagle Award in 2005.

Peter G. Nicholson, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has been a leader in the engineering community on both local and national levels through teaching, consulting, research, civic duties, and volunteer efforts. Nicholson has been the senior geotechnical engineering faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for the past 15 years and has demonstrated his expertise by being at the forefront of research into earthquake engineering in Hawaii. In particular, he has focused on the response and behavior of residual and calcareous soils and the stabilization of tropical soils through the use of commercially available and industrial waste by-products. After receiving the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 1991 and the University of Hawaii Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching in 1993, he worked over the following decade to expand the geotechnical curriculum in both the undergraduate and graduate programs and was named graduate chair of the department in 2003. Nicholson has long been active in the profession through his consulting activities in the areas of design, inspection, and assessment of earth slopes, dams, and levees in Utah and California. He has also carried out pioneering research on engineering with tropical and residual soils. He has consulted on the state level as well, helping to review and recommend better legislative mandates for dam safety after the 2006 failure of the Kaloko (Ka Loko) Dam, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Within ASCE Nicholson has held several officer positions in the Hawaii Section, serving as president in 1998. He has also served the Society on the national level through committee work in the Geo-Institute and as the leader of a team that issued a report on the failure of the levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

James L. Wilton, P.E., F.ASCE, is an engineering consultant specializing in the design and construction of subsurface structures. Throughout his career, which began in 1950, he has contributed significantly to the state of the art in the design of excavation support systems for deep retained excavations, particularly in the downtown areas of San Francisco; Oakland, California; and Washington, D.C. The ground support systems he has designed for cut-and-cover subway construction in highly urbanized areas have contained original structural features, and the construction techniques he has specified remain in use today. His adaptations of equations from theoretical soil mechanics also have been valuable. In 1987 his contributions were signalized with the Golden Beaver Award for Engineering Achievement. His earlier work involved the design of special plant and equipment for such heavy civil engineering projects as dams and tunnels. In working in northern California on the Trinity Dam project in the late 1950s, he designed what is believed to be the first truly successful belt conveyor system for the construction of a major dam. In 1962 he supervised the construction of the Mangla Dam, in Pakistan, involving at the time the largest aggregate plant ever built for a construction project. Wilton’s consulting work has taken him to Venezuela, Egypt, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, India, Pakistan, and New Zealand, as well as across the United States, and he has served on 18 dispute review boards. He earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Stanford University and is the author of the section dealing with cut-and-cover tunnel structures in the Tunnel Engineering Handbook.

Fellow applications may be obtained from ASCE’s world headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, by calling (800) 548-2723 or, from outside the country, (703) 295-6300 or by e-mailing memapp@asce.org. Applications for fellow status are also available in PDF format at www.asce.org/membership/fellowgrade.cfm. Applicants using the PDF format must request reference forms and return envelopes from ASCE through one of the contact points listed above. Completed applications are considered at the monthly meetings of the Society’s Membership Application Review Committee (MARC), which elects qualified candidates to the fellow grade. Questions regarding the fellow guidelines or application process (including waiver of guideline inquiries) should be directed to Curtis Nunley, the staff liaison to the MARC, at one of the contact points above.

For ASCE, 2006 was a year of significant achievement. The Society welcomed challenges and developed leaders. The 2006 ASCE Annual Report, which is currently available online at http://content.asce.org/annualreport/2006/2006.pdf, provides a synopsis of accomplishments in support of the Society’s four overarching strategic goals—developing leadership, advancing technology, advocating lifelong learning, and promoting the profession—and includes the final audited financial statement for 2006.

I am pleased to announce that ASCE has released The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025, a report that summarizes the findings of the Summit on the Future of Civil Engineering, a conclave held last summer in Virginia. The report describes the highly interactive process followed at that gathering and reflects the creativity and innovative spirit of the participants and the steering committee. It is also a call to action, exhorting individuals and organizations to come forward to help realize the vision’s goals. Civil engineers attended the 2006 conference as a way of charting their profession’s future rather than let others chart it for them. Visit www.asce.org for more information.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released its prototype risk assessment for the hurricane protection system in New Orleans. The analysis was developed by the Corps’s Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) as part of its study of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the protection system. These prototype risk products profile current protection system conditions and conditions before Katrina and show the dynamics of risk and the effects of system improvements on risk and vulnerability. Future analyses will look at the next level of protection for the system (100-year storm elevations), which will be provided in the coming years. ASCE’s External Review Panel (ERP) will complete a technical review of the new information, as it has for all of the ipet’s analyses, reports, and findings. For more information, visit http://nolarisk.usace.army.mil/.

Released June 4, the report The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why focuses on the direct physical causes and contributing factors involved in the failures that occurred during Hurricane Katrina (see “The ERP Report: What Went Wrong and Why,” Civil Engineering, June 2007). It presents the in-depth review carried out by ASCE’s External Review Panel (ERP) of the work done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) in investigating the tragedy. Visit www.asce.org for more information. 

Two U.S. senators, Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota), have announced their opposition to the 3 percent government withholding provision enacted as part of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. The measure would require a 3 percent withholding tax on all local, state, and federal contracts. In a letter dated June 12 to the Senate Committee on Finance, the two senators stated that the requirement would place an undue burden on many contractors. ASCE is working with other engineering and business organizations to have the measure repealed. Last year ASCE’s Board of Direction officially opposed the withholding statute by adopting Policy 520. “The American Society of Civil Engineers supports the immediate repeal of Section 511 of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-222), which mandates a three percent withholding on payments to companies for any contract with a government entity,” the policy states.

In cooperation with the Applied Technology Council (ATC), ASCE’s Committee on Critical Infrastructure (CCI) sponsored a training workshop in connection with the report ATC-20 (Procedures for Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings) on May 16 immediately preceding the Structural Engineering Institute’s conference Structures 2007, which was held in Long Beach, California. The workshop was repeated on June 22 in Reston, Virginia, at ASCE’s headquarters. On June 23, also at ASCE’s headquarters, the CCI held the first in what will be an annual series of orientation workshops for those who have been designated infrastructure champions. After acquainting the participants with the resources they will have at their disposal, the workshop organizers discussed the goals of the champions program in an effort to define a clear vision. Acting as coordinators and providing a link between local groups and ASCE’s national office, infrastructure champions help to define local and regional infrastructure issues and call attention to trends, best practices, and innovative solutions.

The Infrastructure Security Partnership (tisp) held a breakfast meeting on June 21 in Washington, D.C., at the Army and Navy Club. The sold-out event, which was sponsored by Beck Disaster Recovery, Inc., featured a talk by Admiral Thad W. Allen, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Allen’s presentation is available as a podcast, free of charge to all ASCE members, at http://podcast.tisp.org/. Breakfast meetings will also be held this year on September 20, October 18, and November 15. Additional details will be posted to www.tisp.org as speakers are confirmed.

Thanks are in order to all of the sections and branches that have conducted Order of the Engineer induction ceremonies. The program has been an enormous success, and ASCE now has more than 2,000 initiates. The Order of the Engineer was started in the United States to foster a spirit of pride and responsibility in the engineering profession, to bridge the gap between training and experience, and by bestowing a ring to give engineers a visible symbol of their profession. ASCE headquarters can assist your section or branch in conducting an induction ceremony by providing background information and scripts; rings of various sizes (full and half sizes from 2 to 13.5); blank certificates and certificate holders; a template that can be used to print certificates; and a large ceremonial steel ring (weighing in at approximately 65 lb and entailing a shipping charge of $100). Timing is important to ensure the continued success of the Order of the Engineer program. Generally, ceremonies should be planned two to three months in advance, and the person who will conduct the ceremony should contact ASCE headquarters to announce the date and obtain support information. Promotional materials should then be prepared and distributed, and the documents and forms needed for the ceremony should be prepared and printed two to three weeks in advance. For general information about the Order of the Engineer, visit www.asce.org/professional/orderengineer.cfm or contact Reggie Smith at (703) 295-6158 or rsmith@asce.org. For detailed information about how to conduct an Order of the Engineer ceremony, visit www.asce.org/professional/conductceremony.cfm.

Do you have adequate life insurance? Although individual needs may vary, ASCE makes available the tools you need to help effectively plan for your future. Through ASCE’s learning center, you can click on the life insurance calculator to help determine current obligations and future expenses and to calculate the protection you may need for yourself and your family. ASCE’s group term insurance plans ensure you will find the plan that best fits your needs. Visit www.asceinsurance.com for more information.

During recent floor action on a bill to fund U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operations in 2008, ASCE fought to preserve the Corps’s right to contract services out, in keeping with our Policy 138 (“Engineering Services for Government Agencies,” see www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy.cfm). An item included in the bill would bar the Corps from awarding contracts to any business in the private sector under what is called an A-76 competition (defined in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s circular A-76). ASCE supported the attempt made by Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) to remove that provision. Although his amendment failed to pass, we are hopeful the provision will be removed later in the legislative process.
Stay tuned to our Web page “This Week in Washington” (www.asce.org/pressroom/news/grwk/index.cfm) for updates on this and other issues having a bearing on civil engineering in Washington and your state capital.

—Patrick J. Natale, P.E., F.ASCE
Executive Director

Badgers Paddle into First Place for Fifth Straight Year

For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Badgers have won ASCE’s National Concrete Canoe Competition, a demanding three-day contest that featured a variety of races in canoes made of concrete. Held June 14–16 in Seattle at the University of Washington, the competition—the 20th installment of this annual event—brought together 22 engineering institutions from across the country.

“Over the past two decades the students that have participated in the National Concrete Canoe Competition have represented the best and the brightest of the engineering profession, and this year’s class is a continuation of that tradition,” ASCE’s president, W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, observed recently. “The creativity, innovation, and teamwork these students have displayed over the past three days assure me that no matter what challenges come their way—energy, transportation, global water supply—they will be prepared for success.”

The winning canoe, Descendant, is 6.1 m long and weighs 81.2 kg, and it helped the Badgers win a $5,000 scholarship from basf Construction Chemicals, llc, a major contributor to the competition. (Headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, basf develops and manufactures chemical and mineral admixtures for specialty concrete.) This year, as an added bonus, the winning team has been invited to compete in an international concrete canoe competition to be held in the Netherlands in September.

In a canoe named Gladigator (5.8 m, 61.2 kg), the University of Florida team placed second, winning $2,500. The University of Nevada at Reno’s Cerulean (5.8 m, 80.3 kg) paddled into third, winning $1,500. Although the race depended largely on speed and endurance, performance on the water counted for only 25 percent of each team’s overall score. The remainder of the score was based on an academic paper, an oral presentation detailing the canoe’s design, and the characteristics of the canoe itself, which was measured, weighed, tested for buoyancy, and aesthetically appraised.   Organized by ASCE, this annual event offers engineering students the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to hands-on work as they consider concrete mix designs and learn how various materials can be added to concrete to affect its performance. Canoe teams qualify for the event by placing first in one of the 18 regional competitions held throughout the country during the spring. Teams placing second in a regional competition behind a university that finished in the top five in the previous year’s national competition also are invited. To be eligible to compete, the entrant school must be recognized as a student chapter, club, or international student group of ASCE.

The event this year was made possible by the generous financial support of basf, the founding sponsor, and by support from the American Concrete Institute; Baker Construction, Inc., of Spokane, Washington; Bentley Systems, Inc., of Exton, Pennsylvania; Holcim, Inc., of Dundee, Michigan; Norchem, of Hauppauge, New York; ics Penetron, of Pittsburgh; Pennoni Associates, Inc., of Philadelphia; Propex Concrete Systems, of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and the U.S. Silica Company, of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. For more information regarding the canoe competition visit www.asce.org/inside/nccc2007/index.cfm.

Bridge-Building Prowess Shown By North Dakota State Team
Engineering students from North Dakota State University won first place in this year’s Student Steel Bridge Competition, which was held May 25–26 at California State University at Northridge. This is the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past six years that North Dakota has triumphed, its previous wins coming in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

Sponsored by ASCE and the American Institute of Steel Construction (aisc), the competition brings together student engineering teams from universities around the country to showcase their knowledge and skills in designing, fabricating, and constructing a scale model of a steel bridge. More than 40 teams competed this year. Their entries were judged on the basis of structural efficiency and construction economy, with attention also given to the bridge’s weight, stiffness, appearance, and speed of construction. The judges included structural engineers, erectors, and experts from steel fabrication companies.

“Every student team competing in the regional and national student steel bridge competition, regardless of rank, is a winner,” Fromy Rosenberg, the aisc’s director of university relations, remarked in a press release last month. As Rosenberg explained, “Student teams work for months perfecting the design, fabrication, and construction of each steel bridge. The dedication, hard work, and ingenuity shown by each team in the designing and constructing of their steel bridges are impressive.”

The University of California at Davis placed second overall, while the University of Wisconsin at Madison finished third. Awards were presented at a banquet on May 26, and each winning team also received a plaque. This year marked the 16th installment of this annual event, which offers engineering students the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-world problems. For more information about the event, visit www.aisc.org and click on “Competitions & Awards.”

EWRI, T&DI, and SEI Seek Public Comments on New Standards
On May 31 ASCE’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) announced that it would conduct a public comment period on a new, two-part standard, Fitting of Hydraulic Conductivity Using Statistical Spatial Estimation (KSTAT). The final public comment period for the two KSTAT documents will run from June 15 to August 30.

The first document, “Standard Guideline for Fitting Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Using Probability Density Functions,” concerns itself with the range of applicability; estimation of sample average, standard deviation, and coefficient of skew; the role of the coefficient of skew in choosing a probability density function (pdf) to fit saturated hydraulic conductivity (K) data; fitting K data with a lognormal pdf; and fitting K data with the (three-parameter) log-gamma pdf. The document outlines a procedure to optimize the fitting and “goodness-of-fit” testing of a pdf to a sample of saturated K measurements.

The second document, “Standard Guideline for Calculating the Effective Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity,” deals with the purpose and quantitative interpretation of the effective saturated K; the range of applicability; calculation of the sample average, geometric mean, and standard deviation; calculation of the effective saturated K when it is lognormally distributed with very small variance or has an arbitrary pdf and variance; and examples of the calculation of the effective saturated K when K is log-gamma distributed or exponentially distributed with isotropic covariance. The standard outlines a procedure to calculate the effective saturated K in local-scale groundwater flow.

On June 20 ASCE’s Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI) announced that it would conduct a public comment period on the second part of its revised standard (ASCE 21) for automated people movers (APMS). To expedite the approval and release process and facilitate use, the standard has been divided into four parts. After setting forth references and definitions, the second part concerns itself with vehicles, propulsion, and braking. The standard establishes minimum requirements for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of apm systems and is used in the safety certification process. The public comment period for the second part of the standard will run from July 15 to August 29.
On June 21 the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) announced that it would be conducting a public comment period on revisions to standard ASCE 16, Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) for Engineered Wood Construction. The standard provides design criteria for construction work involving structurally graded lumber and structural timber that is laminated with the aid of glue. It also applies to panel products, poles, piles, and other structural wood components, together with their connections. The revised sections of the standard that are being released for public comment deal with design requirements, compression members and bearing, members with combined bending and axial loads, mechanical connections, shear walls, diaphragms, and the bending and shear of flexural members. The public comment period will run from July 15 through August 29.

The EWRI, the T&DI, and the SEI are three of the seven institutes ASCE has established to serve the needs of members and allied professionals working within specialized fields of engineering. Visit www.ewrinstitute.org/, http://content.tanddi.org/, or www.seinstitute.org/ for more information. To participate in these public comment periods, contact Phillip Mariscal, ASCE’s standards administrator, at pmariscal@ASCE.org or (703) 295-6338. For more information on these standards or on ASCE’s standards program in general, contact An Pham at apham@ASCE.org or (703) 295-6408.

Civil Engineering Wins Multiple Awards for Fifth Consecutive Year
ASCE’s monthly magazine has been honored with eight 2007 awards for editorial and design excellence by the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), the professional association for editors and writers employed in the business, trade, and specialty press. In conferring its awards in various categories, the ASBPE pays tribute to the efforts of business publication editors and designers and their commitment to excellence in journalism and graphic presentation. The awards recognize the editorial content and graphics of print publications. This is the fifth year in a row that Civil Engineering has won multiple ASBPE awards. The magazine has also won two 2007 awards from Trade, Association, and Business Publications International (TABPI), an organization that endeavors to bring together editors working for English-language publications worldwide and to encourage a common dedication to editorial ethics and excellence. This is the third year the tabpi awards program has been in existence and the first year that Civil Engineering entered the competition.

The magazine received an ASBPE national editorial Award of Excellence for its September 2006 issue’s Civil Engineering News section. The award was given to editors Brett Hansen, Karen Trimbath, Jeff L. Brown, Brian Fortner, and Jay Landers. The magazine won a regional editorial Award of Excellence in the technical article category for “Geometry Lesson,” by Jason Jones, P.E., Christopher Hauke, P.E., M.ASCE, Andreas Greuel, P.E., M.ASCE, and Brad Saalfeld, P.E., M.ASCE, which appeared in the May 2006 issue. In the design category, the magazine’s art director, Jan Hilton, won a national award for the opening spread of the article “Counterpoint,” by Paul Asp, P.E., M.ASCE, which appeared in the March 2006 issue. Hilton also won a national design award in the feature article design category for her design of the article “Landmark Reinvented,” by Civil Engineering’s Fortner, which was published in the April 2006 issue. Additionally, she won four regional design awards: for the opening spread of the article “Landmark Reinvented”; for the opening spread of the article “The Berlin Connection,” by Hans Schober, Dr.-Ing., M.ASCE, published in the August 2006 issue; for the cover of the February 2006 issue (pertaining to the article “A Healing Place,” by Robert L. Reid, the magazine’s senior editor); and for the cover of the April 2006 issue (pertaining to the article “Landmark Reinvented”).

Reid won a Gold Award from tabpi in the technical article category for “A Healing Place,” and Hilton won honorable mention for the opening spread of “Landmark
Reinvented.”

While this column all too frequently focuses on unethical behavior, it is important to recognize that most ASCE members and engineers uphold high standards of professional conduct even in challenging situations. In light of the recent passing of William J. LeMessurier, P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, the 1993 recipient of ASCE’s George Winter Award, this article commemorates his praiseworthy and exemplary behavior upon discovering a serious flaw in the design for New York City’s Citicorp Center.

SITUATION: The 59-story Citicorp Center, one of New York City’s most distinctive skyscrapers, was the brainchild of the structural engineer William J. LeMessurier and the architect Hugh Stubbins, Jr. A deal struck by Citicorp and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, the original landowners, allowed Citicorp to build a structure on the site if it also constructed a church on the northwest corner of the block that would not be connected to the skyscraper in any way. To accommodate this requirement, LeMessurier devised an innovative structure in which the skyscraper rested atop a central core and four immense 114 ft (34.8 m) columns set at the midpoint of each side of the building. This design made it possible for the structure’s corner to be cantilevered over the new church on the northwest, and it created an open plaza on the southwest corner.

LeMessurier’s design also included a unique wind brace system comprising 48 braces arranged in a six-tiered V pattern on each side of the building. The system was intended to enhance the structure’s lateral stability by channeling stress from the building’s corners to the steel support columns at the center of each facade.
In June 1978, one year after construction of the skyscraper was completed, LeMessurier received a call from an engineering student in New Jersey requesting more information about the design. According to the student’s professor, LeMessurier had placed the columns incorrectly. In revisiting his calculations, LeMessurier became aware of a serious flaw in the building’s design.

At the time, New York City’s building code required testing of a building’s resistance only to perpendicular winds. Yet the placement of the support columns at the midpoint of each facade, rather than at the corners, meant that a greater risk to the structure’s stability was presented by diagonal winds. When LeMessurier tested his wind brace system against winds hitting a column at an angle of 45 degrees, he realized that the winds increased the tension in four of the eight affected girders by 40 percent, substantially more than he had anticipated.

The increase in tension on the wind brace system would not have been a significant concern to LeMessurier if he had not recently learned of an on-site modification to his original design. His design had specified that the diagonal girders be welded to the support columns at the center of each facade; however, since welded joints were both expensive and commonly regarded as needlessly strong, LeMessurier’s New York office had approved a change to bolted joints. Even more troubling was the news that while American Institute of Steel Construction specifications required an extra safety margin in the strength of joints in structural columns, the people on LeMessurier’s team had chosen to regard the diagonal braces as trusses, not columns; thus, the number of bolts securing the joints had not provided for this extra margin of strength.

As a result of these design flaws, Le Messurier estimated that the Citicorp Center would be able to withstand only a 16-year storm, not the 50-year storm the building had supposedly been designed for. The design had also included a tuned mass damper, which might have lessened the risk of failure, but the damper relied on electric power and thus would provide no protection in the event of a power outage. With hurricane season on the horizon, LeMessurier believed that the potential for strong diagonal winds presented a significant risk to the newly occupied skyscraper.

QUESTION: In light of his discovery of a serious flaw in the Citicorp Center design, what were LeMessurier’s obligations under the asce Code of Ethics?

DECISION: Canon 1 of the code reads as follows: “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public . . . in the performance of their professional duties.” Paragraph (a) in the guidelines to practice for this canon elaborates: “Engineers shall recognize that the lives, safety, health, and welfare of the general public are dependent upon engineering judgments, decisions, and practices incorporated into structures, machines, products, processes, and devices.” Moreover, canon 6 has this to say: “Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance the honor, integrity, and dignity of the engineering profession.” As further guidance, paragraph (a) in the guidelines to practice for canon 6 states that engineers shall “not knowingly engage in business or professional practices of a fraudulent, dishonest, or unethical nature.” Although these excerpts are from the current edition of the code, the canons cited have remained substantially unchanged since 1976.

Given the evident risk to public safety, LeMessurier had an ethical obligation to take steps to remove the threat. After verifying his calculations with an outside consultant, LeMessurier notified the building owners of the design flaw and the serious risk that the building posed to public safety. He proposed a plan to reinforce the wind braces by welding steel plates 2 in. (51 mm) thick over each of the bolted joints; meanwhile, he recommended that electric generators be installed to power the mass damper system and that stress gauges be placed throughout the structure to allow constant monitoring of the building’s condition.

Working virtually around the clock, LeMessurier’s team made the necessary repairs to the wind brace system before the arrival of the fall storm season; the reinforced skyscraper is now estimated to be capable of withstanding a 700-year storm. LeMessurier’s reputation was not damaged by the design mistake; rather, he was widely lauded for his professional integrity. Most important of all, his response upon discovering the problem served to protect occupants and visitors to the Citicorp Center from a possible building failure.

Members who have an ethics question or would like to file a complaint with the Committee on Professional Conduct may call asce’s hotline at (703) 295-6061 or (800) 548-asce (2723), extension 6061. The attorneys staffing this line can provide advice on how to handle an ethics issue or file a complaint. Please note that individual facts and circumstances vary from case to case and that the general summary information contained in these case studies is not to be construed as a precedent binding upon the Society.