May 2008
Volume 33, Number 5

ABET, Inc., the body that accredits college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology in the United States, recently rescinded its long-standing ban on accrediting both bachelor’s and master’s engineering programs at the same school. For many years ASCE and other organizations have attempted to convince the members of ABET’s Board of Directors that the ban was outdated and was impeding efforts to raise the standards of engineering education.

James J. Duderstadt, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Michigan and a former president of the university, also encouraged ABET to rescind the ban. “By relaxing this constraint, ABET has enabled the possible elevation of educational requirements of American engineers, enabling them to compete more effectively with the current trends toward global sourcing of engineering services,” he states in an e-mail. “The past restriction of ABET accreditation to only one level of a particular curriculum was a major roadblock in the further evolution of engineering education,” he writes.

On March 28 ABET’s board voted to change subsection II.B.8.a of the organization’s Accreditation Policy and Procedure Manual, which addresses the ban on dual accreditation. Prior to the change, the section read as follows: “Engineering programs may be accredited at either the baccalaureate or master’s level. A program may be accredited at only one level in a particular curriculum at a particular institution.” The vote showed 28 in favor of the change and 12 against, according to Phillip E. Borrowman, P.E., F.ASCE, one of three asce representatives on the board. The other two representatives are Larry Feeser, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, and Beverly W. Withiam, P.E., M.ASCE. (Since Withiam was unable to be present for the vote, Gregory Reed, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, represented ASCE.)

By rescinding the ban, ABET has opened up educational pathways to better prepare the engineering practitioners and leaders of tomorrow, a goal that coincides with ASCE’s Policy 465 and the second edition of its Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future, which encourages engineering students to supplement their baccalaureate with either a master’s degree or 30 additional credit hours. (See “asce Releases New Edition of Body of Knowledge Report,” ASCE News, March 2008.) As that report explains, Policy 465 “recognizes that the profession’s principal means of changing the way civil engineering is practiced lies in reforming the manner in which tomorrow’s civil engineers are prepared—through education and early experience—to enter professional practice.”

According to ABET’s Web site, www.abet.org, accreditation in the United States is a nongovernmental process that is based on peer review and is designed to help ensure that the postsecondary education received by a student is of acceptable quality. Accreditation is voluntary, and quality assurance standards are set in collaborative efforts undertaken by various professional and technical societies.

According to Borrowman, no one currently with ABET knows why or when the ban was implemented. It is believed that the ban went into effect approximately 50 years ago. Borrowman speculates that it may have been implemented when ABET’s processes were more prescriptive or perhaps reflected an effort to reduce the workload on faculty members and administrators preparing for a visit from ABET accreditation teams.

Even though no one knows why the ban was implemented, rescinding it was not without opposition. The Engineering Deans Council of the American Society for Engineering Education expressed concern that lifting the ban might undermine programs not accredited by ABET. Nevertheless, according to Mickey R. Wilhelm, Ph.D., the dean of the University of Louisiana’s Speed School of Engineering, lifting the ban will help engineering students at his university achieve an accredited baccalaureate on the way to earning an accredited master’s degree in engineering through the school’s five-year program, which is focused on preparing students for professional practice. In addition to this program, the school offers a master of science that is not accredited, and that degree can be pursued by those who are pursuing a research-focused degree. Now that the ban has been lifted, Wilhelm says, “we want to continue to provide the leadership by taking whatever steps are necessary to get our programs accredited both at the undergraduate and the master’s level.”

Last July W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, then the Society’s president, outlined other benefits that lifting the ban would confer in a letter to George D. Peterson, Ph.D., P.E., the executive director of ABET. He wrote that lifting the ban would enable the number of accredited programs to grow, which, he contended, would help engineering graduates meet the requirements outlined in the model law formulated by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. That law requires that those intending to sit for the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam possess either an accredited bachelor’s degree or an accredited master’s degree. Marcuson argued that accredited graduate programs could provide an ideal path to licensure for U.S. students with nonaccredited engineering degrees or degrees in physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, or other nonengineering fields, as well as for graduates of foreign institutions. “Accredited master’s programs will better assure long-term, enhanced protection of the public’s health, safety, and welfare. This is the bottom line,” Marcuson wrote.

Borrowman emphasizes that gaining ABET accreditation is not mandatory. “But we are very much in favor of allowing those programs that want to [become accredited] to be allowed to do it,” he says. According to a report prepared by ABET’s board, institutions will be eligible to request accreditation for both their baccalaureate and their master’s programs during the 2009–10 accreditation cycle. 

ASCE has been striving to have the ban lifted for several years, and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), in its Engineer of 2020 initiative, joined the effort. “It was one of the recommendations of the NAE’s ‘2020’ reports, as was the notion that in the future more than a bachelor’s degree will be needed to be an engineer,” states William Wulf, Ph.D., the AT&T Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia and a former president of the National Academy of Engineering, in an e-mail.

For more information about the change in policy, contact Jeffrey S. Russell, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, who heads the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and also chairs the Society’s Committee on the Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice, via e-mail at russell@engr.wisc.edu. Inquiries may also be e-mailed to Tom Lenox, Ph.D., M.ASCE, an ASCE senior managing director, at tlenox@asce.org.

—Brett Hansen

Photos from the 2008 Opal Awards

The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project—submitted by Potomac Crossing Consultants—was named the winner of ASCE’s 2008 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award (OCEA award) at this year’s Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) gala, which was held on April 30 in Arlington, Virginia. Established in 1960, the OCEA award annually recognizes the project deemed to embody the best in civil engineering and to make a significant contribution both to the civil engineering profession and to society as a whole. The project was one of five finalists chosen in January by the OCEA jury. The other finalists, which received OCEA merit awards, were the Tacoma Narrows Bridge; the Pasadena City Hall Seismic Upgrade and Rehabilitation Project; the Mission Valley East Light-Rail Transit Project; and the Arsenic Crisis in the Indian Subcontinent: Sustainable Engineering Solution, West Bengal, India. (See “Five OCEA Finalists Are Chosen,” ASCE News, February 2008, page 1.)

ASCE established the OPAL awards in 1999 to celebrate the achievements and recognize the contributions of civil engineers worldwide. Candidates may be nominated by any ASCE member but need not be members of ASCE. Five individuals are chosen each year to receive OPAL awards by the Society Awards Committee, which is composed of five past presidents of ASCE. The committee nominates one recipient in each of the five categories and then forwards the nominations to the Board of Direction’s Executive Committee for approval. This year’s honorees are Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, for design; John M. Dionisio, P.E., M.ASCE, for management; Gerald E. Galloway, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, Hon.M.ASCE, for government; William H. Luyties III, P.E., M.ASCE, for construction; and Ernest T. Smerdon, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, for education. (See “2008 OPAL Lifetime Achievement Honorees Selected,” ASCE News, January 2008, page 1.)

The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project is revitalizing a crossing that has impeded travel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area for decades. With new gossamer twin spans supported by gracefully curving V piers, the new bridge has been carrying traffic since 2006, and the second span is scheduled to open later this year. The structure, which crosses the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C., to link Maryland and Virginia, has already improved traffic by providing shoulders for vehicle breakdowns and requiring fewer openings of its drawspans. Under construction since late 2000, the $2.47-billion program has remained on schedule and on budget.

The project involved much more than replacing a bridge: it rebuilt almost 12 percent of the Capital Beltway—the ring road around Washington, D.C.—and reconstructed four interchanges in its 7.5 mi (12 km) corridor.

A high-tech marvel, the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge features eight massive bascule leaves, each with a deck encompassing at least 11,800 sq ft (1,096 m²). The most striking innovations include employing movable falsework for the bascule piers; using carbon dioxide to neutralize concrete wash water and then reusing the water to promote the settlement of dust; and adapting an epoxy gel method to seal posttensioning ducts.

The Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation (CEFI) bestowed the 2008 Charles Pankow Award for Innovation on the Lightweight Modular Ceramic Composite Firewall System, developed by a team comprising Composite Support & Solutions, Inc., of San Pedro, California; Southern California Edison, a utility firm headquartered in Rosemead, California; San Diego State University; and the University of Southern California’s Center for Composite Materials. The firewall system was developed to protect utility transformers from catastrophic fires. The Pankow jury met in January.

The Pankow award was established by CEFI’s predecessor, the Civil Engineering Research Foundation (CERF), to recognize organizations working collaboratively to aid the design and construction industry by bringing innovative ideas into practice. The award is named for CERF’s founder, a leader and innovator in civil engineering for five decades.

CEFI bestowed the 2008 Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research on Carl A. Strock, P.E., M.ASCE, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and a former commander and chief of engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who was chosen for his work with the Corps in promoting engineering innovations in research and technology. According to its criteria, the award “recognizes and acknowledges leaders of the design and construction industry whose dedication and aggressive vision for the industry have provided the cornerstones for improving the quality of people’s lives around the world through research in the design and construction industry.” It is named for a former chairman of CERF’s Board of Directors.

Patrick J. Natale, P.E., F.ASCE, the Society’s executive director, offered testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies on April 2. Natale outlined asce’s stance on appropriations for fiscal year 2009 for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The executive director began by discussing the benefits of NSF and NIST programs in the area of hazard mitigation. He noted that “a number of small but critical programs” exist within the NSF and NIST that are designed to mitigate the effects of national disasters, including such initiatives as the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. He pointed out that, in addition to the loss of life, such natural disasters as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes cause approximately $52 billion in damage and in disruptions to commerce and that a single major event can cause $80 billion to $200 billion in economic losses.

Under the auspices of the NEHRP, “there has been a constant source of funding for seismic monitoring, mapping, research, testing, code development, mitigation, and emergency preparedness,” Natale said. He stated that ASCE supports continued funding of the program and is urging Congress to appropriate $14.6 million to the NIST portion of the NEHRP funds for fiscal year 2009.

ASCE supports President Bush’s request for $4 million for NIST programs that seek to ensure structural safety during natural disasters, Natale stated. Moreover, the NSF has the responsibility to “advance fundamental knowledge in earthquake engineering, earth science processes, and societal preparedness and response to earthquakes,” he said. He also pointed out that the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), which is operated by the NSF, employs experiments and computer simulations to gain a better understanding of earthquakes. Natale stated that ASCE supports the Bush admiNISTration’s request for $23.02 million in research grant money for the NEES program, which is a portion of the $64.7 million in funding allocated to the NSF portion of the NEHRP funding.

ASCE also recommends full funding of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, Natale stated. The executive director noted that in the fall of 2004 President Bush signed a law authorizing the formation of the program, which has been authorized for fiscal years 2006 to 2008. Nevertheless, no appropriations or budget requests for the program have been made. Natale stated that ASCE is hoping that Congress will fully support the program by authorizing—in accordance with the law—$9.4 million for the NSF, $4 million for NIST, and $2.2 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdmiNISTration.

The executive director then turned his attention to the country’s global competitiveness: “ASCE believes that technological innovation has been the engine that drove the nation’s economic expansion of the last fifty years. ASCE firmly believes that by maintaining strong, continuing, and steadily increasing support for research and education, we will continue to enjoy the rewards of economic expansion. If we do not continue to invest in research and technology, we will lose our position in an ever more integrated and competitive world. The basic research funded by NSF, in engineering and all other areas of science, is the foundation of that investment in the future.” He said that while ASCE is pleased that President Bush has requested funding for the American Competitiveness Initiative, the Society is hoping to see Congress and the Bush admiNISTration follow through and fund the initiative.

Natale emphasized the need to fund or continue to fund several other important programs overseen by NIST, including those that form part of its scientific, technical, and research services, those under the purview of its Building and Fire Research Laboratory, and those under the National Construction Safety Team Act. The scientific, technical, and research services encompass NIST’s core programs, which “provide the measurements and standards on which the nation’s industry stands and grows,” Natale said. ASCE supports the Bush admiNISTration’s request of $535 million to fund these programs. “If fully appropriated, the funding would permit NIST to carry out its core responsibilities and greatly enhance U.S. competitiveness,” he asserted.

NIST’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory provides services that are invaluable to the building industry, according to Natale. “The construction industry needs research and development to enhance international competitiveness and increase public health and safety. Funding for construction-related research, from all sources, is a fraction of that available to the health care and agricultural industries,” he said.

The purpose of the National Construction Safety Team Act is to investigate major building failures in the United States. Such investigations are designed to establish the technical causes of the failures and recommend improvements in building design, construction, operation, and maintenance, according to Natale. ASCE supported the act, but the Society believes that additional resources are now needed. ASCE recommends that Congress appropriate an additional $2 million for fiscal year 2009 to create an office for the team within the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, Natale stated.

ASCE supports the Bush admiNISTration’s request for $6.85 billion for the NSF for fiscal year 2009, said Natale, approximately $800 million more than the funds appropriated for the current fiscal year. Nevertheless, ASCE is urging Congress to appropriate $7.326 billion for the NSF, as authorized by the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act (better known as the America COMPETES Act), he stated. For Natale’s full testimony to the subcommittee, visit www.asce.org/files/pdf/pressroom/Commerce-testimony.pdf.

—Brett Hansen

SITUATION: Newspaper articles reporting on an indictment of an engineering firm and its officers are forwarded to the Committee on Professional Conduct (CPC) by members of the local ASCE section. The indictment alleges that the firm has been overcharging its client, a local public agency, for the design work it was performing. Although none of the firm’s principal officers are members of asce, an ASCE member working for the firm as an engineer also is indicted for lying to the grand jury during its investigation. This indictment is dropped in exchange for the member’s testimony against the firm’s officers, and the member is named as an unindicted coconspirator in the suit against the firm’s president.

In his testimony at trial, the ASCE member admits to inflating the hours reported on his time sheets at the direction of his supervisor, who himself claimed to be acting on the orders of the firm’s president. The firm and its president are convicted of falsifying records in order to overcharge the client, and a state court imposes fines and a suspended jail sentence on the guilty parties. After the trial and sentencing, the CPC advises the ASCE member of the ethics complaint filed against him and invites the engineer to discuss his involvement in the case before members of the CPC.

QUESTION: Did the engineer’s actions in inflating the amounts reported on his time sheets as time spent on a public project violate asce’s Code of Ethics?

DECISION: While this case was considered under a previous version of the ASCE Code of Ethics, the canons involved are substantially the same as in the current code. Therefore, for the purposes of this article the numbering and language of the current version will be used.

Although the ASCE member’s original indictment alleged false testimony before a grand jury, suggesting a violation of canon 3’s mandate to “issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner,” the CPC felt that the swift dismissal of the indictment and the member’s subsequent assistance to the grand jury made it difficult to support a violation of that canon. Instead, the committee focused on the member’s confession that, at his supervisor’s direction, he had falsified his time sheets to inflate the hours reported as time spent on the public project.

Canon 4 of the code says that “engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees,” and canon 6 holds that “engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance the honor, integrity, and dignity of the engineering profession and shall act with zero tolerance for bribery, fraud, and corruption.” The CPC believed that an engineer’s obligation to serve his or her client faithfully and to be vigilant in eschewing fraud and dishonesty created a clear ethical obligation for the engineer in this case to report with strict accuracy the time spent on his client’s project.

The engineer claimed that he had initially questioned the order to falsify his time sheets but said that his supervisor had given what, at the time, appeared to be plausible explanations of why the overbilling was neither dishonest nor unethical. The engineer said that he respected his employers and had high regard for their integrity, but he expressed remorse that he had failed to place greater reliance on his initial qualms.

While the CPC believed the engineer’s claim that he had trusted his supervisor’s explanation for the suspicious practice, its members nevertheless felt that his actions had violated the Code of Ethics. At the same time, the CPC took into consideration the member’s youth and inexperience and felt that he had already been punished by the loss of his job and the substantial legal fees he incurred during the investigation. The CPC believed that in light of these mitigating factors and the ASCE member’s apparent remorse for his action, the member deserved a less severe penalty than
the committee might otherwise have recommended.

The CPC found that the ASCE member had violated canons 4 and 6 of the code and recommended that he receive a letter of admonition, but it also recommended that no publication of the case appear in an ASCE publication. The Board of Direction agreed with the CPC’s findings, and a letter of admonition was issued to the member.

Because overbilling of public agencies for services is fraud not only against the government but also against the taxpayers whose contributions are being misused, penalties for persons found to have engaged in such conduct are harsh. The federal False Claims Act, enacted in 1863, imposes civil penalties of up to triple the amount fraudulently billed and criminal sentences of up to five years for any person found to have knowingly submitted a false claim to a federal agency. Moreover, many states have passed similar acts to cover false claims submitted to state and local agencies. To further combat fraud, the federal government and some states have enacted legislation allowing private citizens with knowledge of false claims to initiate a suit on behalf of the government and to receive a percentage of the proceeds of the action. Such laws are powerful incentives for those with knowledge of false claims to blow the whistle. For more information about the False Claims Act, visit www.taf.org/.

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.

At this writing, I am on my way to Beijing to address the First International Symposium on Transportation and Development Innovative Best Practices. This is another opportunity for ASCE to assume a high profile in an international arena where issues will be discussed that—let’s face it—truly have global ramifications. Transportation is a vital part of every nation’s economy, and it has no small effect on the quality of life. Securing resources for building and maintaining transportation infrastructure is a challenge every country around the world faces today and will face in the future.

From Beijing I will travel to the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, which is being held in Hawaii under the auspices of our Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI). That conference will focus on sustainability and water resources and will give special attention this year to problems in countries bordering the Pacific. The issues that will be considered at the conference have important implications for public health, economic vibrancy, and the quality of life.

ASCE enjoys productive relationships with many groups around the world. The Society recognizes that regardless of where we civil engineers practice our profession or where we live, we are all part of a global community.

Our international relations and alliance activities are designed to improve what is increasingly a global profession, and it is of the utmost importance that we take the lead in connecting U.S. civil engineers with their colleagues around the world. In fulfilling this responsibility, ASCE forms partnerships and joins various consortia. We also work to ensure that our members are properly apprised of global issues affecting civil engineering. About 11 percent of our members live outside the United States, and just as U.S. members do, they work in the private sector, at all levels of government, and in academia.

ASCE is active in the international arena because we view engineers as “global leaders building a better quality of life.” As part of its quest to “raise the bar” on the standards for practice at the professional level, ASCE has worked to develop the engineering body of knowledge and to share it with students and practitioners worldwide. We also do our best to inform engineers of the opportunities and challenges that global developments are creating in engineering. ASCE has agreements of cooperation with 70 engineering organizations in 59 countries. We also have 12 international sections and 19 international groups, and we participate in a variety of international engineering organizations, among them the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) and the Unión Panamericana de Asociaciones de Ingenieros. Our technical institutes work closely with their international counterparts in sharing information, hosting conferences, and bringing members of our profession closer together. A number of ASCE programs have international aspects. Roughly half of the contributions to ASCE journals come from overseas authors, and about half of our journal sales are to engineers, universities, and libraries outside the United States.

Recent international activities have included participation in the project Millennium Villages in collaboration with the EWRI. Millennium Villages gives members who participate an opportunity to provide advice, guidance, and direction that can help make better use of water resources in Africa. ASCE also partners with Engineers Without Borders–USA, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works with communities in poorer countries to implement projects that not only raise the standard of living but also advance the goals of sustainable development. asce’s partnership with this group affords our members an opportunity to grow personally and professionally as they make the best possible use of their technical expertise.

ASCE’s Council on Disaster Risk Management brought together specialists from a variety of locations to coordinate disaster strategy last August. We worked with the Peruvian ambassador to the United States to dispatch a team of earthquake engineers to Peru to evaluate damage in Ica and Pisco from a major earthquake.

Peru also figured in another international endeavor. Through the efforts of our History and Heritage Committee and with the support of the Smithsonian Institution, we formally recognized the Peruvian sites of Machu Picchu and Tipón as civil engineering landmarks.

Another effort in the international arena saw our Task Committee on Global Principles for Professional Conduct hosting discussions with members of a WFEO task group set up to combat corruption. An ASCE delegation has been invited to join the American Bar Association’s related initiative, the World Justice Project, at a key meeting in Vienna, Austria, that will consider ways of promoting good governance and the rule of law.

In partnership with the U.S.-based Society of Afghan Engineers, we have worked to help both the engineering profession and engineering firms in Afghanistan. The program is funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and many of the sessions are hosted by Kabul (Kabol) University. U.S. firms carrying out reconstruction work in the country are encouraged to mentor Afghan engineers and Afghan engineering firms. The World Bank also is lending its support to this program.

In cooperation with the Society of American Military Engineers, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State, ASCE is also assisting in a program that places Iraqi engineers with engineering firms outside Iraq so that they can learn about recent advances and trends. ASCE helped to finalize an agreement with the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) to support this program through funds earmarked for technical capacity building in such postconflict countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our international activities are part of an overall quest to ensure that the future of our profession is in keeping with The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 (visit http://content.asce.org/vision2025/index.html). The vision described in that report encompasses not just U.S. civil engineers but civil engineers around the world. ASCE hopes that all civil engineers will join us in realizing this vision for our profession and will share our preference for “choice over chance.” As we see it, there are only two futures for civil engineering around the globe: one the future the profession creates for itself, the other the future that others create for us. We have chosen to create our own future.
What is our vision for the challenges of 2025? We want to see civil engineers serving as master planners, designers, constructors, and operators; as environmental stewards; as innovators and integrators; as managers of risk and uncertainty; and as leaders in shaping public policy. The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 will thus be our guidebook. The vision is a call to action addressed to both individuals and organizations. ASCE is leading the effort to restructure civil engineering licensure in the United States and to raise educational standards for our profession through the body of knowledge initiative.

ASCE’s vision for the global profession also calls for a more clearly defined organizational structure for engineering teams. It wants to see more civil engineers involved in public policy forums so that they will not only raise the stature of our profession but also gain public trust. The vision also calls for more civil engineers to be elected to public office so that they can apply their expertise to such issues as the conservation of natural resources and the construction and maintenance of infrastructure. Furthermore, it calls for a greater level of collaboration between civil engineers and those who are not engineers in efforts to meet society’s needs while advancing the goals of sustainable development. A greater emphasis on research and development, another part of the vision, will help to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. Civil engineers will indeed have much to do in devising and implementing solutions. Higher educational standards will be supplemented and enriched by a firm commitment to ethics in engineering practice, yet another facet of our vision.

My hope is that civil engineers around the world will work together to realize this vision as they undertake the formidable tasks of meeting society’s increasingly complex needs in this century.

—David G. Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE

I wish to thank the key contacts and ASCE staff members who helped the Society and its coalition partners block an amendment that Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) planned to put forth that would have resulted in a summer gas tax holiday. McCain suggested amending the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) technical corrections bill by suspending the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal motor fuels tax during the summer. He believed that the suspension would alleviate the burden of expected gas price increases. However, the federal motor fuels tax is the main source of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, and even a temporary repeal of the tax would significantly reduce the funds available for surface transportation projects. The Highway Trust Fund already faces a probable shortfall of about $4 billion in 2009, and a suspension of the gas tax would create an additional burden. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) had announced plans to offer the amendment to the SAFETEA-LU technical corrections bill on McCain’s behalf, and several other senators had agreed to be cosponsors. Nevertheless, the proposal immediately faced vehement opposition from the transportation industry, and Kyl withdrew the amendment, effectively killing the measure. The SAFETEA-LU technical corrections bill was later passed by the Senate by a vote 88 to 2.

The Infrastructure Security Partnership (tisp) held a regional breakfast meeting on April 3 in New York City at the Manhattan campus of Stony Brook University. The featured speaker was Joseph F. Bruno, the commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management. Bruno presented an overview of his office’s activities, paying particular attention to emergency response planning, interagency coordination, and public communications. He also stressed the importance of regional and operational planning. His presentation is available as a podcast at http://podcast.tisp.org. tisp will be holding another breakfast meeting on June 19. That one will be in Washington, D.C., and details are available at www.tisp.org.

ASCE’s geographic services department recently completed its spring series of conference calls with section and branch presidents and region governors. Twenty-eight region, section, and branch leaders took advantage of this opportunity to learn about current ASCE initiatives and to share information about their own activities and programs with peers around the country. The discussions encompassed communications, government relations, and member recruitment and retention. Summaries of all of the calls have been placed on asce’s Web site for the benefit of all section and branch leaders.

As part of our effort to implement asce’s strategic plan as it relates to infrastructure renewal, you are invited to participate in an online survey on member contacts with elected and appointed officials at all levels of government. Please make an effort to participate in this important benchmarking activity. We will use the results to determine the best course of action as we tackle the infrastructure strategy highlighted in the plan, as well as other important public policy issues. To participate in the survey, visit www.asce.org/govrel. For more information about asce’s strategic planning process and priority initiatives, visit www.asce.org/inside/next_plan.cfm.

It was indeed gratifying to see so many civil engineers join us on the evening of April 30 as we presented the various awards in our Outstanding Projects and Leaders (opal) program. (See pages 1 and 14–16.) The OPAL awards loom large in our profession and in the construction industry, and they enable ASCE to widely publicize the contributions and accomplishments of the civil engineering community. ASCE established the OPAL awards, which formally recognize the project designated the year’s outstanding civil engineering achievement (OCEA) and pay tribute to individuals for lifetime accomplishments in design, construction, government, education, and
management, in 1999. Nominations for next year’s OPAL lifetime achievement awards are due by November 15. For information on submitting a nomination, visit www.asce.org/awards. Established in 1960, the OCEA award honors the project seen not only as representing civil engineering at its best but also as benefiting society. Nominations for this award are due by October 1. For additional information, visit www.asce.org/opal/ocea_2008.pdf.  Nominations for the Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research and for the Charles Pankow Award for Innovation, which also are presented at the OPAL gala, are due October 1. For additional information, visit www.asce.org/cefi and click on “Awards.”

If you are still endeavoring to fill summer internships, asce’s premier job Web site, Career Connections, may be your answer. Career Connections enables em-ployers to showcase their assets to students by posting internships and co-op positions for up to six months at no cost. Students who join asce cite as their main reasons for doing so a desire to take advantage of career-related opportunities and to acquire knowledge that will benefit them as they advance in their profession. Meanwhile, you’ll gain confidence that those hired for internships can do the job well. Let asce help move your company forward by giving you access to the most qualified candidates. Contact Seàn Scully at sscully@asce.org or visit www.asce.org/careers to post your internships.

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

Charles W. Durham, F.ASCE, a world-renowned engineer and philanthropist, died in Omaha, Nebraska, on April 5 at the age of 90. The man who eventually became the D in the international architecture and engineering firm HDR, Inc., headquartered in Omaha, grew up in Ames, Iowa, and attended Iowa State University. He had planned to study law but was influenced by his future father-in-law, H.H. Henningson, to study engineering and work for his engineering company, Henningson Engineering, in Omaha. During World War II, Durham was an army captain and helped construct military installations around the country. In 1950 Henningson transferred the leadership of his firm to Durham, who changed the firm’s name to Henningson, Durham & Richardson, Inc. (now HDR, Inc.), and developed the 15-employee firm into an internationally recognized entity with more than 6,800 employees in 150 offices around the world. (Durham sold the firm in 1983.) In addition to his professional success, Durham became well known for his philanthropy. He founded Durham Resources, an investment firm with interests in banking, health care, and real estate development, and he donated millions of dollars to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, to construct two research towers. (The second tower is still under construction.) In 2007 the university honored Durham with its Regents Medal.

Robert Chieruzzi, P.E., M.ASCE, died on January 17 at the age of 81 in Beaver, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Chieruzzi was a licensed civil and geotechnical engineer in California, where he spent most of his professional life. He returned to Pennsylvania later in life because of a continuing illness. Chieruzzi graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and earned a master’s degree from Ohio State University. His professional career started at the University of Southern California, where as an assistant professor he taught soil engineering. In 1963 he joined the Southern California Edison Company, headquartered in Rosemead, California, as a staff engineer responsible for foundation work on a variety of projects. In 1966 he joined LeRoy Crandall and Associates, of Los Angeles, and became an associate of that firm in 1969. He opened the firm’s San Diego office in 1985 and remained there until 1990, the year of his retirement. Chieruzzi’s expertise was in earthquake engineering, and his work on site characterization included liquefaction studies and the preparation of site response spectra. Active in the affairs of ASCE, he also lent his time and expertise to a number of other professional associations.

Oregon Forum and Workshop Promote Earthquake Preparedness

ASCE’s Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE) teamed up with several organizations in Oregon in an effort to promote earthquake preparedness in that state as it relates to infrastructure. A forum and a workshop held on April 2 brought together executives, senior engineers, and decision makers from, among other groups, energy and telecommunication organizations to encourage them to assess the seismic vulnerability of utility systems and promote the development and implementation of disaster mitigation plans.

The events were sponsored by the TCLEE, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission (OPUC), the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI), and the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission. The OPUC-DOGAMI Leadership Forum and the Seismic Critical Energy Infrastructures Workshop focused on unusually large earthquakes, or “megaquakes,” that can occur along the Cascadia subduction zone, a region off the Pacific coast of North America that stretches from Canada to northern California.

State leaders in attendance raised concerns about safety and recommended that electricity, gas, and telecommunication providers raise their standards of disaster preparedness. Peter Courtney (D), the president of Oregon’s Senate, called for a proactive approach to disaster mitigation. Mark Ellsworth, a spokesperson for Oregon’s governor, Ted Kulongoski (D), voiced the governor’s concern about disaster preparedness, focusing on businesses that rely on critical infrastructure. Ellsworth stated that individuals, businesses, communities, utilities, and transportation entities need to become better prepared for disasters. As an example, he cited challenges that occurred during response and recovery efforts after a severe storm in December 2007, recounting how recovery efforts were significantly hampered by damaged electricity and telecommunication systems.

Nationally recognized experts, among them TCLEE members Alex Tang, P.E., F.ASCE, Anshel Schiff, M.ASCE, and Peter McDonough, P.E., M.ASCE, made presentations covering a number of topics, including earthquake hazards and risks along the Cascadia subduction zone; the vulnerability of infrastructure to earthquake damage; lifeline seismic vulnerability studies and applications; and vulnerability case studies conducted by the Bonneville Power Administration, of Portland, Oregon, and Pacific Gas & Electric, headquartered in San Francisco. Those attending the events were particularly interested in achieving the resilience necessary to weather earthquakes of magnitude 9 along the Cascadia zone, tsunamis that occur as a result of such earthquakes, and earthquakes along such crustal fractures as those in the Portland Hills fault zone.

Updated Sample Governing Documents Released 

ASCE’s Committee on Geographic Units has updated its sample governing documents for the Society’s sections and branches. The new documents illustrate what governing documents should include and how they could be formatted. The committee recommends that all sections and branches review and, if necessary, update their governing documents approximately every five years. The updates should reflect the changes that have been made to ASCE’s governance structure and procedures and should be revised to accurately reflect the operations of the section or branch.
The sample documents, which may be found at http://www.asce.org/files/doc/inside/sample_section_constitution_and_bylaws_3-08.doc, help clarify amendment procedures, membership classifications, definitions of officer roles, and other points. Sections and branches are not required to adopt the sample documents wholesale, but they should be sure to include such essential issues as tax status limitations on lobbying. In addition to the constitution and bylaws, sections may elect to write rules of policy and procedure to clarify operational details.

The sample documents mandate that articles 1 and 10 of a constitution and of bylaws not be changed. Article 1 of a constitution refers to the formal name of the section or branch, its use, and the objective of the section or branch, which “shall be the advancement of the science and profession of engineering, in a manner consistent with the purpose of the American Society of Civil Engineers.” Article 10 covers the proper use of section resources, the limitations on political activity, conflicts of interest, and the distribution of the section’s assets.

The Committee on Geographic Units points out that it must approve any amendments to the section documents, preferably before the changes are voted on by members. Branch and group amendments and documents must be approved by the section’s board. Questions or comments regarding the governing documents may be e-mailed to Nancy Berson at nberson@asce.org.

Section Honored for Supporting Technology Education  

The New Jersey Technology Education Association has honored ASCE’s New Jersey Section with its New Jersey Alliance for Technological Literacy Impact Award. The award, which was presented at a banquet on May 1, “honors exceptional supporters of technology education in New Jersey,” according to the organization’s Web site, www.njtea.org.

The award pays tribute to individuals, institutions, and government officials. “Honorees usually come from outside of the immediate profession of technology education and have a proven track record of advocating the benefits of technological literacy for all students in New Jersey schools,” the group’s Web site states.

In an e-mail to the section board, Andrés Roda, P.E., M.ASCE, a project manager for the transportation department of French & Parrello Associates, P.A., and the section’s president, stated that the section received the award because of its strong support of an initiative formally known as the Technology Education Career for Engineering Professionals Program, which encourages professionals to consider careers in engineering education.

Using the section’s Listserv, Roda advertised a series of meetings held in connection with the program. “We promoted it like crazy,” Roda told ASCE News in an interview. Of the professionals who attended the meetings, more than half were professional engineers and members of the New Jersey Section, he said. Roda put it this way in his e-mail to the board: “Not only has this been a great opportunity for our members to get involved in a career in K–12 outreach, but it has also revealed that some of our members are interested in careers in education.”

The program offers courses and exams for those interested in acquainting students in high school, middle school, or elementary school with aspects of engineering. However, the purpose of the program is not necessarily to persuade professional engineers to change careers; rather, it is to encourage them to use their experience to supplement and enrich technical education in their communities and schools, according to Roda.

Baker Honored by ENR

Engineering News-Record (ENR) has named Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, the recipient of its 2008 Award of Excellence. Chosen from among the 25 individuals deemed most newsworthy by the magazine in 2007, Baker was recognized for his efforts as a geotechnical engineer on the Chicago Spire as well as for his legacy as a pioneer in foundations and soil mechanics. Baker is also being honored this year for lifetime achievement in design as part of asce’s Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) program. He has worked for more than five decades for STS Consultants, Ltd., which is headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Baker’s contributions in the area of soil mechanics have gone far in elucidating bearing pressures and settlement in soils and bedrock. He has overseen the geotechnical engineering of tall buildings in Chicago and has applied his advanced techniques to some of the best-known tall buildings in the world, including the Petronas Towers, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Taipei 101, in Taiwan; and, most recently, the Burj Dubai, in Dubayy (Dubai). Baker holds bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Burns Wins AISC Award

Joseph G. Burns, P.E., M.ASCE, a managing principal in the Chicago office of Thornton Tomasetti, Inc., has been honored with an award for notable accomplishments in structural steel design, research, and education by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). Burns was honored for his significant efforts in promoting and advancing the use of building information modeling and interoperability in the design and construction of major steel structures, according to Scott Melnick, the AISC’s vice president of communications, in a press release. “His contributions have made a positive and substantial impact on the structural steel design and construction industry,” Melnick said. A resident of Wilmette, Illinois, Burns holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Notre Dame and master’s degrees in architecture and civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been with Thornton Tomasetti since 1995. The award was presented on April 2 during the North American Steel Construction Conference, which was held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Forbes Receives 2008 EWB-USA Founder’s Award

Stephen Forbes, P.E., M.ASCE, the president of Forbes Environmental Engineering & Associates, of San Antonio, has been honored by Engineers Without Borders–USA (EWB-USA), which presented him with its Founder’s Award for his efforts worldwide and in his home state of Texas. The award is given to those who personify the mission of EWB-USA, which is to improve the quality of life of people in poorer communities around the world by drawing on the technical prowess and humanitarianism of engineers. Forbes, eager to participate in the group’s projects, mentored students from Columbia University in a 2005 project in Ghana shortly after joining the EWB-USA chapter in northern Texas. He also served as a mentor to students from California Polytechnic State University in a project to design and construct a sand filter for improving the quality of drinking water and assisted with a dam project in Cambodia that also involved a New York chapter of EWB-USA.

Three ASCE Members Recognized By AAES

The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) has bestowed awards on Albert A. Grant, P.E., F.ASCE, Priscilla P. Nelson, Ph.D., Hon.M.ASCE, and Gerald E. Galloway, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE. The awards were presented at the organization’s annual banquet, which was held in Washington, D.C., on May 3.

Grant, a former asce president, was honored with the Joan Hodges Queaneau Palladium Medal, which recognizes outstanding achievements by an engineer in the area of environmental conservation. Among Grant’s many accomplishments is the creation in 1997 of the Engineers Forum for Sustainability under the auspices of the AAES. The forum promotes sustainable development through interdisciplinary discussions and the exchange of information. Moreover, it enables engineering educators and practitioners to work together to apply the principles of sustainable development. Grant also helped to develop the document setting forth the policy principles regarding renewable natural resources for the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF). The document expounds the group’s positions on sustainability, ecosystems, biological and cultural diversity, and resource management. Grant served as the chair of the RNRF for four years.

Nelson received the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award, which is presented to an engineer who has been particularly effective in promoting unity among engineering societies. Nelson’s positions as a senior executive of the National Science Foundation and, currently, provost of the New Jersey Institute of Technology bear testimony to her ability to foster cooperation. Her research and consultation efforts for the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Texas on the Superconducting Super Collider, a particle accelerator that was to have been built in Texas but was canceled because of funding issues, provide examples of her ability to work collaboratively with those in other disciplines. As a member of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, she has evaluated the technical and scientific validity of activities undertaken by the Department of Energy at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada.

Galloway received the Norman Augustine Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements in engineering communications and is presented to an engineer who has demonstrated the capacity to convey the excitement and wonder of engineering to others. It recognizes an engineer who can speak passionately about engineering and its potential and can give the public a better understanding of engineering and of how the profession improves the quality of life for everyone. Galloway’s appearances on radio and television, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, have been especially valuable in this regard.

Mohsen Becomes ASEE’s President-Elect

J.P. Mohsen, Ph.D., M.ASCE, has been chosen by the members of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) to be the group’s president-elect. Mohsen is a professor at the University of Louisville and the chair of the school’s civil and environmental engineering department. He has taught a variety of classes related to materials, structures, and pavement design, as well as introductory engineering classes. He has served in several capacities on ASEE’s board of directors and on its projects board. Mohsen has also been a member of asce’s Educational Activities Committee and has been involved in the Society’s congresses on computing in civil engineering. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and master’s degrees in civil engineering and engineering management, all from the University of Louisville, and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

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 distinguished members.

Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is the Distinguished Service Professor at Farmingdale State College, part of the State University of New York, where he chairs the architecture and construction management department. A member of the faculty since 1990, Bandyopadhyay developed and implemented a four-year program in construction management and a bachelor of science program in architectural technology. He directs Farmingdale’s newly formed Center for Advanced Pavement Studies, which works to bring research advances into engineering practice. Bandyopadhyay’ primary research field is construction engineering and management, and he has numerous publications in construction productivity to his credit. His research on developing inference structures with incomplete or unavailable data and his work on using water jets in construction have attracted national and international interest. He worked with other structural engineers in the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center to collect and document burned structural elements so that forensic engineers could determine the causes of the structural failures. Bandyopadhyay is active in a number of professional societies, chairing the American Society for Engineering Education’s Middle Atlantic zone and serving on the executive board of the Engineers Joint Council of Long Island, which promotes businesses and technology transfer. As a member of the executive board of the Society of Asphalt Technologists, he made significant contributions in technology transfer involving Superpave in New York State, and he is also active in the affairs of the Construction Research Council. Within ASCE he has served on the Committee on Curricula and Accreditation, and he currently represents the Society on ABET’s Technology Accreditation Commission. A licensed professional engineer in New York and New Jersey, Bandyopadhyay holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Calcutta and a master of science and a doctorate from Pennsylvania State University.

Gary E. Freeman, Ph.D., P.E. D.WRE, F.ASCE, is the president of River Research & Design, Inc., in Gilbert, Arizona, where he specializes in stream bank stabilization, stream restoration, floodplain delineation, and numerical modeling of sediment and hydraulics. As a member of the White House’s Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team, Freeman served on the Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee, and documents and reports from that committee led to modifications in the flood insurance program and were used by the White House in efforts to change the national floodplain policy. Freeman has provided project analysis for large U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects and floodplain remapping projects and has designed significant lengths of bank protection on some of Arizona’s largest rivers. His work in determining stage discharge uncertainty has facilitated the development of a new approach to setting levee heights and freeboard requirements for flood protection works, an approach now used around the country. Freeman has taught stream restoration classes for ASCE and other organizations, and his extensive work with two-dimensional modeling has helped to show how such modeling can be tested and applied to river systems. He has applied his research findings and skills to sites around the world, including an agricultural project in Mali and an irrigation training project in Egypt, and he also provided river forecasting for the U.S. Army peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. A licensed professional engineer in Arizona and five other states, Freeman holds a law degree from Brigham Young University and engineering degrees from Utah State University and Texas A&M University.

Marvin W. Halling, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is an associate professor of civil engineering at Utah State University and head of the school’s structural engineering division. He has been in academia for 14 years and before that worked for structural engineering firms in Los Angeles. An associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering, Halling serves on the Structural Engineering Institute’s Seismic Effects Committee and Methods of Monitoring Structural Performance Committee. He also lends his expertise to a Transportation Research Board committee dealing with dynamics and the field-testing of bridges and serves on a Advanced National Seismic System regional advisory board. Halling served as the adviser to the ASCE student chapter at Utah State from 1996 to 2006, and in 1997 he helped to establish an annual career night that brings members of the Northern Utah Branch of ASCE’s Utah Section to the university. He has also served as an adviser to the school’s chapter of Tau Beta Pi. Halling has been honored for his contributions as a teacher and adviser. Named the outstanding teacher and outstanding adviser by Utah State’s College of Engineering and civil and environmental engineering department, he has been nominated four times as the Utah engineering educator of the year by the Utah Section and the Structural Engineers Association of Utah. A licensed professional engineer in California and Utah, Halling is the author or coauthor of more than 75 scholarly publications.

Muhammad Sohail Khan, Ph.D., Reg. Eng., F.ASCE, is a professor at Loughborough University, in the United Kingdom, and a research director at the school’s Water, Engineering, and Development Centre. His research deals primarily with providing sustainable urban infrastructure through partnerships that encompass policy, planning, procurement, and management. He has conducted research around the world, and his pioneering work on urban infrastructure issues has generated more than $53 million in funded research in such areas as public-private partnerships for the urban environment, privatization of the water sector for practical applications, and efforts to combat corruption. Khan has 10 books and dozens of academic and refereed papers to his credit, and he serves as editor on four scholarly journals. He has also supervised 15 doctoral students and research fellows. He drew on his research and professional collaborations in coauthoring Partnering to Combat Corruption in Infrastructure Services: A Toolkit, a work published in 2007 by Loughborough’s Water, Engineering, and Development Centre that offers operational tools for practitioners based on real-world experience. Khan also led the initiative for certifying professionals in the fields of public-private partnerships and the regulation and management of utilities. In partnership with the U.S.-based Institute for Public Private Partnerships, the certification program has so far enrolled more than 100 professionals. A member of ASCE since 1997, Khan holds an undergraduate degree from the NED University of Engineering and Technology, in Pakistan, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Loughborough University.

Shahram Pezeshk, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor at the University of Memphis, where he also chairs the civil engineering department. He has been on the faculty there since 1989 and before that was a bridge engineer at Hanson Engineers, Inc. Through his research and publications, Pezeshk has made contributions to structural engineering by integrating considerations of seismic hazards, structural vulnerability, and structural optimization into the design process. His recent work on ground motion prediction is being used in the development of probabilistic seismic hazard maps. Pezeshk has worked on numerous projects relating to probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, and he has carried out studies of the seismic profiles of particular sites, including liquefaction studies for such structures such as the FedExForum and Peabody Place, both in Memphis. He has also conducted probable maximum loss and seismic risk investigations for several major structures in the Memphis area. In the past 10 years he has published numerous papers and reports and seven book chapters and has been invited to lecture at a number of venues. He has also been the principal investigator or one of the principal investigators on funded research totaling more than $3 million. His funded projects in Tennessee include the nonlinear site response of deep deposits, scaling selection in ground motion time histories for structural design, ground motion at particular sites, and seismic site characterizations. His numerous research accolades include the ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award. Pezeshk has been actively involved in ASCE’s Structural Division (now part of the Structural Engineering Institute), serving on multiple technical committees. He has also been a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and other national associations and was appointed by the governor of Tennessee to serve on the West Tennessee Seismic Safety Commission. A licensed professional engineer in Tennessee, Pezeshk holds a bachelor of science and a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master of science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Kenneth H. Rosenfield, P.E., F.ASCE, is the director of public services and the city engineer for the City of Laguna Hills, California. Rosenfield has provided three decades of service to a number of public agencies, assisting them in efforts to efficiently implement their capital improvement projects, enhance public services, and maintain infrastructure systems. As the city engineer, he is responsible for infrastructure maintenance, and he manages multimillion-dollar budgets to design, construct, and operate public facilities. The notable projects in which he has participated include a state-of-the-art community center and sports complex, a new city hall, and endeavors to widen all the major arterial roadways in the city, improve neighborhood parks, and enhance traffic signal coordination. Rosenfield represented Laguna Hills on the technical advisory committee that helped transportation agencies determine how cities would contribute to the construction of a $3-billion toll road system in Orange County. He previously led and currently serves on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s technical advisory committee, which evaluates local projects for grant funding through the multibillion-dollar funding program known as Measure M. Within ASCE Rosenfield is the vice president of the Los Angeles Section’s Orange County Branch. He first served as an officer in 2005, when he became the secretary and the editor of the branch’s award-winning newsletter. Later he became branch treasurer. Rosenfield has been recognized for his public service with the branch’s Government Engineer of Merit Award. A registered professional engineer in California, he received a bachelor of science from the University of California at Irvine and a master’s in business administration from the University of California at Riverside.

T. Michael Toole, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Bucknell University, where his research interests encompass construction innovation, construction safety, and project management simulation. Toole is one of the directors of Bucknell’s Institute for Leadership in Technology and Management, and he is leading the design and construction of a water pipeline for a rural community in Nicaragua as part of a group of students and faculty and staff members known as the Bucknell Brigade. Toole began his career with the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, where he was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal for excellence in administering construction contracts worth nearly $21 million. Before moving to academia, he practiced in private firms specializing in technology innovation and management relating to cost estimating and construction safety. Toole has served asce nationally as vice-chair of the Construction Institute’s Construction Site Safety Committee and as founding vice-chair of its Prevention through Design Committee. He has also been an assistant editor of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management and was a track chair for the Construction Research Congress in 2003 and 2005. He was also the initiator of the alliance that asce formed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2003. Under this alliance osha and asce’s Construction Institute bring their collective experience and technical knowledge to bear in promoting safe working conditions for construction employees through outreach efforts, information sharing, and training. A licensed professional engineer in a dozen states, Toole holds a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Bucknell and a master of science in civil engineering and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Fellow applications may be obtained from ASCE’s world headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, by calling (800) 548-2723, extension 6289. From outside the country, the number is (703) 295-6289. The e-mail address is fellows@asce.org. The application may be found on the Web at www.asce.org/pdf/fellowmemapp.pdf. Completed applications may be submitted online at www.asce.org/membership/fellowgrade.cfm (click on “Online ASCE Fellow Application”). Questions concerning fellow guidelines (including guideline waiver inquiries) or the application process may be directed to Erin Santiago, the applications coordinator, at (703) 295-6289 or esantiago@asce.org. Completed applications are reviewed monthly by the Membership Application Review Committee.