August 2008
Volume 33, Number 8

The profession of civil engineering encompasses a wide range of disciplines, all of them requiring specialized training and experience, and the discipline of structural engineering is no exception. For many years structural engineers have attempted to gain separate licensure in their states, yet only 12 states have passed laws to that effect. On June 17 and 18, structural engineers from around the country met at asce’s headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, for the Separate SE Licensing Summit, their goal being to consider the current state of affairs regarding licensure. The discussions focused on why such licensure is needed, the roles of state legislatures and licensing boards, and the different types of licensure that have been adopted by various states.

“Every time I bring this subject up, whether it be with engineers, nonengineers, or state boards, the first question is, why? Why is it important?” said Susan A. Jorgensen, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, M.ASCE, the principal of the Denver office of Leo A. Daily. She explained that the answer is simply to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. “By setting the standards higher for licensing for structural engineers, we are trying to protect [the public] from the engineers who are not qualified, who do not do structural engineering on a daily basis,” she said. Unlicensed engineers without proper experience are not up to date with the discipline’s complexities and expectations, she explained. In addition to better ensuring public safety, licensing structural engineers would, Jorgensen contended, make it easier for structural engineers to work in multiple states, reduce insurance costs, and give recent graduates and young engineers a clearer understanding of what is expected of them.

Professional licensing of design professionals dates to the 1800s, explained W. Gene Corley, P.E., S.E., Dist.M.ASCE, the president of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and a senior vice president of the CTL Group, of Skokie, Illinois, who surveyed the history of licensure. After the disastrous fire in Chicago in 1871 that destroyed 3.5 sq mi (9.1 km²) in the heart of the city, design professionals traveled to Chicago to aid in the rebuilding effort, he explained. “Along with those talented people came some fools and scoundrels who were not doing a good job,” he said. As a result the Illinois legislature passed the first design professional act in 1897, and other laws dealing with licensure soon followed.

Echoing Jorgensen, Corley contended that separate licensing for structural engineers is needed now to protect the public. Comparing the work of structural engineers with that done in such other branches as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, Corley stated that if something goes wrong with their designs, it is not usually life threatening. With structural engineers, however, “everything we do is [related to] life safety. We don’t do anything that doesn’t have life safety involved with it,” he noted.

John. G. Shipp, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, a managing engineer of buildings and structures for Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting, of Irvine, California, discussed the two principal types of state licensure laws that are currently being enforced in the United States: practice acts and title acts. A practice act, according to Shipp, “defines the specific type of work that a licensed engineer in that discipline can legally perform, along with the corresponding responsibilities and liabilities.” He said that a practice act can stand alone, which means other professional licensure is not required. However, it may be coupled with another license. In this regard, Shipp cited ASCE Policy 524, which states that “ASCE supports licensure as a professional engineer (P.E.) that recognizes the traditional breadth of the civil engineering practice. ASCE also supports post-P.E. credentialing that attests to a professional engineer’s expertise in a civil engineering specialty area. Obtaining a P.E. license or post-P.E. credential shall require the engineer to demonstrate attainment of an appropriate body of knowledge.” (All of ASCE’s official policies may be accessed at www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy.cfm.) Shipp also cited the following statement from the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations: “A national standard for minimum competency with consistent licensing and continuing education requirements will better protect the public health, safety, and welfare.” He pointed out that the NCEES has developed a licensure model law for civil engineers and structural engineers.

A title act, according to Shipp, allows only a licensed engineer to employ a particular title and thus to append certain initials (in this case “S.E.”) to their name. This type of an act, however, does not place restrictions on, say, professional engineers who do not possess the particular title. Therefore, it is only a stepping stone to a practice act, according to Shipp. Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, and Nebraska have passed title acts.

Case studies dealing with the practice acts passed by legislators in Utah, Washington, and Oregon also were presented at the conference. Barry K. Arnold, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, a vice president with ARW Engineers, of Ogden, Utah, who worked to have the act passed in Utah, summarized the lessons learned in the difficult process of lobbying members of the state legislature. He passed along a question he had found particularly effective in his meetings with legislators: “Do you know the credentials of the professional engineers who designed your school, church, mall, office, or grocery store?” He said that the question was extremely helpful in beginning the conversation about why licensing is so important.

Arnold said that those lobbying on behalf of licensure should ensure that the act will not cost the state or the legislator’s constituents money, will not restrain or restrict any existing businesses, and will benefit the legislator’s image if he or she is associated with it. He also counseled the engineers in attendance to take responsibility for writing the legislation and to include everything they could think of with regard to the bill. “Think of it as a big, juicy steak,” he said. “The bone represents the bare minimum—what you want to have in your bill. All of the rest of the meat is good to have, but it is not essential. When you throw it out there, you will have all of the groups reviewing this, and they are all going to take a whack at it and then they are going to throw it back at you. I got the bone back, but I also got a lot of meat too.” Arnold attributed his success in having the bill passed on its first attempt to his willingness to address the concerns of the bill’s opponents and to negotiate.

All of the case studies emphasized the importance of a transition, or “grandfather,” clause that would enable practicing structural engineers to become licensed under the newly passed legislation without having to take the exam. In Washington State, according to Edwin T. Huston, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, the vice president of Smith & Huston, Inc., of Seattle, the clause states that a practicing engineer can apply for a waiver by December 2010 if the engineer is a registered professional engineer and “demonstrates to the satisfaction of the [state licensing] board that [he or she] has sufficient experience in the duties typically provided by a professional structural engineer regarding significant structures,” he stated. According to Douglas S. Meltzer, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, a structural engineer with BMGP Engineers, of Salem, Oregon, the grandfather clause in Oregon’s practice act specifies that a committee of eight licensed structural engineers is to help the state licensing board review applications for licensure by practicing engineers.

Cheri Leigh, P.E., a principal of Leigh and O’Kane, of Kansas City, Missouri, and a former member of Missouri’s licensing board, discussed how professionals can work with their licensing boards when addressing separate licensing for structural engineers. She stated that it is important for the professional engineer to stress to the board the need for licensure. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the professional, not the board, to explain that need to the public, according to Leigh. “As a member of the licensing board, I was not encouraged to have any leadership roles with the Structural Engineers Association or any other association because there is a perceived conflict of interest,” she recounted.

Gregg Brandow, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, the president of Brandow & Johnston, Inc., of Los Angeles, discussed the work of the task force set up by the NCEES to consider this topic. The committee was asked to evaluate the existing structural exams, consider modifications to the NCEES structural exam, and make recommendations. According to Brandow, the group recommended that a 16-hour structural engineering exam be adopted by all jurisdictions that license structural engineers, that the exam be updated to reflect the dictates of current building codes, and that it be composed of two 8-hour sessions that could be taken on separate occasions.

After the formal presentations, the discussion moved to the types of structures for which a structural engineering license should be required and how to respond to concerns voiced by those opposing separate licensure. The intent of the conference organizers is to prepare literature based on the discussions at the conference for the benefit of professionals, boards, and legislatures.

The summit was concluded by Sam Rihani, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, the principal and chief executive officer of BEI Structural Engineers, Inc., of Fairfax, Virginia, and the summit’s moderator. He advised the participants to determine the optimal time for pursuing a title or practice act in their states, to work together and learn from each other, and to solicit as much support as possible for the effort.

—Brett Hansen

ASCE’s Committee on Sustainability is leading a Society-wide effort to promote sustainable development within the engineering profession. The initiative includes the release of a sustainability plan, a set of guidelines for national and local ASCE entities, and a new Web site that will provide members with resources on the policies, programs, and activities that ASCE has developed as part of its commitment to sustainability.

“I think one of the exciting things about [this effort] is that it is the first time the Society has addressed sustainability across the board, both at the national and international level and also working with the student chapters and the sections and branches,” says Albert A. Grant, p.e., f.ASCE, a past president of ASCE and the chair of the Committee on Sustainability. “Some committees have been doing sustainability work, but this sets the pattern for the entire Society to pursue. That, I think, is a pretty exciting thing.”

The Web site, www.ASCE-susdev.org, includes the ASCE Sustainable Development Action Plan, which was released in May together with the report Sustainability Guidelines for ASCE Sections, Branches, and Student Chapters. The plan is an outgrowth of a joint commitment on the part of ASCE, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and the United Kingdom’s Institution of Civil Engineers. On July 4, 2006, representatives of the three organizations signed a document entitled “A Sustainable Future for the Planet,” which called upon each of the organizations to “develop, monitor, and implement an action plan to help articulate and deliver their contribution to sustainable development both nationally and internationally.” It added that “this will build on work already carried out by the three institutions.”

As stated in The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 (http://content.ASCE.org/vision2025/index.html), civil engineers will be “entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life.” The plan drawn up by the Committee on Sustainability has been designed to fulfill the obligations of the Society contained in “A Sustainable Future for the Planet” and to establish a vigorous, Society-wide program that will advance the goals of sustainable development.

In addition to summarizing past efforts, the plan proposes a number of new measures. Past and future measures are placed in six categories: policy, practice, education, research, outreach and information sharing, and international.

In the policy category, ASCE has modified its Code of Ethics to include sustainable development and has adopted policies on the role of the engineer in sustainable development (Policy 418), in capacity building (Policy 506), and in using science and engineering (Policy 517) to raise the standard of living in underdeveloped countries. (All of ASCE’s official policies may be accessed at www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy.cfm.) The Committee on Sustainability’s plan recommends that all ASCE policies be periodically reviewed “to ensure consistency with the sustainability principles and actions of the Society.”

The practice category includes measures of the type implemented in asce’s Practice, Education, and Research in Sustainable Infrastructure (PERSI) project, which is designed to help organizations address sustainability consistently in their practices and standards and develop methods of gauging sustainability. Another example is provided by the work of the Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation, which promotes sustainability in design work. The committee’s plan recommends that ASCE continue to fund and participate in the PERSI project and that it employ sustainable building standards and practices in maintaining and refurbishing its own facilities. It also recommends that ASCE prepare a progress report on the plan’s recommendations each year.

In the education category, ASCE has published a book for engineering students and young engineers entitled Sustainable Engineering Practice: An Introduction. Sustainable development also figured prominently in the new edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century (www.asce.org/professional/educ/). The committee’s plan recommends that ASCE continue to promote sustainability at all education levels, “including holistic consideration of the cultural, ethical, political, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.” It also exhorts ASCE to join forces with other groups in efforts to help the public gain a better understanding of how sustainable development relates to infrastructure. ASCE is also called upon to support the efforts of organizations that bring university students and practition-ers together in projects that apply the principles of sustainable development to raise the standard of living in underdeveloped countries. Engineers Without Borders–USA is a prime example of the type of organization that deserves support.

In the research category the plan recommends that ASCE “continue to promote and encourage basic and applied research and development for sustainability. . . to meet national needs, including promotion of sustainable technologies, to help reduce energy consumption and global climate impacts.”

With regard to outreach and information sharing, ASCE, together with the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, is sponsoring the Engineers Forum on Sustainability, which meets three times a year. The report Sustainability Guidelines for ASCE Sections, Branches, and Student Chapters was prepared in response to the plan’s recommendation that ASCE develop sustainability guidelines for its sections, branches, and student chapters in order “to promote interest, activities, and programs at the local level.” The plan also recommends that ASCE develop an awards program that will call attention to noteworthy civil engineering achievements that have a bearing on sustainable development.

In the final category, which relates to international endeavors, ASCE—through its membership in the American Association of Engineering Societies—has been able to participate in the activities of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations and has been a leader in “developing policies and actions on capacity building and combating corruption,” the plan states. The plan recommends that ASCE “continue to seek opportunities for multidisciplinary partnerships and cosponsorships with diverse professional organizations worldwide” so that it can address such global sustainability issues as those relating to climate change.

The report Sustainability Guidelines for ASCE Sections, Branches, and Student Chapters contains recommendations and ideas designed to help ASCE entities organize activities and programs that can advance the goals of sustainability. In particular, the report does the following:

• Summarizes asce’s sustainability actions and activities at the national and international levels;
• Suggests programs and activities that sections and branches can employ in their own communities;
• Provides information on sustainability activities at various universities that student chapters can adopt at their own institutions;
• Lists works that those interested in further reading can consult;
• Contains appendixes outlining key ASCE policy documents that reflect ASCE’s leadership role in sustainable development.

A sustainability network is being created inside ASCE that will include those organizational units whose responsibilities and activities relate to sustainability. Each unit is being asked to appoint an individual who as a sustainability “champion” will chair a sustainability group within the unit. The units making up the network will share information, and the Committee on Sustainability will oversee the effort.

In addition to the plan and the sustainability guidelines, the Web site contains information on PERSI, on the Engineers Forum on Sustainability, and on events, news, and resources that relate to sustainability. To view or download these resources, visit www.asce-susdev.org and click on “PROGRAMS.”

—Brett Hansen

It has been said that ASCE’s institutes and its Technical Activities Committee (TAC) are the “heart and soul” of our Society. Every member survey tells us that a primary reason engineers join ASCE is to obtain access to the specialized technical information that flows from the institutes and the TAC.

To enhance the value of ASCE membership, our members may choose to belong to one of our eight technical specialty institutes at no cost. The institutes focus on technical, educational, and professional issues within a particular area of professional practice. By joining an institute, professionals are better able to share information, exchange ideas, and gain access to technical resources. Our Technical Region, an important component of our new governance structure, represents the nearly 103,000 individuals who belong to the Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI), the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI), the Construction Institute (CI), the Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI), the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), the Geo-Institute (G-I), the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), or the Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI).

When advances are made in practice or through research, technical committees working within ASCE’s institutes or within the TAC’s divisions and councils bring this information to our members, as do conferences, workshops, and such technical publications as manuals of practice and journals. The TAC’s divisions and councils include the Aerospace Division, the Council on Disaster Risk Management, the Energy Division, the Geomatics Division, the Pipeline Division, the Technical Council on Cold Regions Engineering, the Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology, the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering, the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering, and the Technical Council on Wind Engineering. Moreover, the TAC has a very active Committee on Sustainability. These bodies orchestrate the work of approximately 200 committees that help define the standards, direction, and focus of the various areas of our profession.

The TAC is also active in investigating disasters, both natural and man-made. It has dispatched teams to Japan and Peru and at present has a team in China studying lifeline damage caused by the recent earthquakes there.

The TAC organized two conferences in 2008. The Aerospace Division’s Earth & Space 2008 was held in Long Beach, California, in March, and the Pipeline Division’s Pipelines 2008 took place last month in Atlanta. The five conferences that the TAC has scheduled for 2009 will concern themselves with lifeline and earthquake engineering, computing in civil engineering, pipelines, forensics, and engineering in cold regions.

The EMI, the Society’s newest institute, seeks to place engineering mechanics in a broader context by providing a forum for researchers, practicing engineers, industry representatives, citizen groups, public officials, and others. It hopes to become a leading group in the field by effectively serving the needs of the worldwide mechanics community and promoting research work and the application of scientific and mathematical principles to address a broad spectrum of problems, many of which will have societal aspects. In May, its very successful inaugural conference featured nearly 500 technical presentations and a dozen concurrent sessions, the participants coming from 34 countries. (See “Engineering Mechanics Institute Holds Inaugural Conference in Minneapolis,” ASCE News, July 2008, page 1.)

The AEI’S 2008 Architectural Engineering Conference will be held in Denver September 25–27 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center. In addition to a number of half-day and full-day workshops, participants will have access to technical presentation sessions and panel discussions. Students also will benefit, as a job fair and various activities are planned.

COPRI has published the proceedings of its Solutions to Coastal Disasters Conference, which was held in April of this year in Hawaii. This work promises to be a valuable resource for engineers, managers, planners, scientists, geologists, economists, oceanographers, and meteorologists working in coastal zones because the 90 papers contained therein address themselves to, among other topics, coastal inundation and flooding, shoreline erosion and beach nourishment, shoreline management, coastal hazard mitigation, the vulnerability of coastal structures, and the rise in sea levels. Furthermore, copri’s Waterways Committee will soon be publishing a manual entitled Navigation Engineering Practice and Ethical Standards, a work designed to help engineers ensure that their endeavors are fully consistent with the standards set forth in our Code of Ethics.

The CI, in conjunction with the San Francisco Section and the Sacramento Section’s own Construction Institute, will host a workshop in San Francisco September 26–28 that will feature technical sessions, site tours, and networking opportunities for construction engineering students. The gathering will also provide an opportunity for students to rub shoulders with construction industry leaders and representatives of potential employers.

The G-I will conduct its 2009 annual meeting during the International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo ’09, which will be held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, March 15–19. The conference will also bring together members of the International Association of Foundation Drilling and the Pile Driving Contractors Association. Engineers, foundation contractors, researchers, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers of tools and services will be discussing the latest technological advances in the foundation and earth retention industry.

The proceedings of the SEI’s Structures Congress 2008, held in April in Vancouver, British Columbia, are now available in CD-ROM format. The various topics addressed in the papers include international structural engineering, business and professional practice, bridges, special structures, and multidisciplinary projects. To order the CD online, visit http://content.seinstitute.org.

The T&DI is making progress on a number of fronts. In April I had the opportunity to address those attending the First International Symposium on Transportation and Development Innovative Best Practices, which was held in Beijing. This was an opportunity for ASCE to raise its stature in the international arena. Indeed, transportation is a vital part of every nation’s economy and has much to do with defining the quality of life. Securing resources for building and maintaining transportation infrastructure is a challenge that every country faces. The T&DI’s successful Web seminars (“webinars”) and training sessions, which are focusing on, among other topics, traffic engineering and the application of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology, are drawing large numbers of participants. The T&DI continues its successful series of workshops exploring bus rapid transit (BRT), and it is also championing an approach to transportation design that takes the setting of a project into consideration so that those who live near it and use it will see the finished work both as an aesthetic and as a functional improvement.

As an active member of the World Water Council, the EWRI is helping to plan sessions for the 5th World Water Forum, which will be held in March in Istanbul, Turkey. I traveled to the EWRI’s World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008, which was held in May in Honolulu. Special attention was given to sustainable development and to the problems faced by nations bordering the Pacific. Water resources of course loom large in any discussion of public health, economic vibrancy, and the quality of life. Next year’s World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, to be held May 17–21 in Kansas City, Missouri, will provide an important opportunity for the best minds at work in the environmental and water fields to exchange ideas and bring their expertise to bear on important topics. The congress will pay particular attention to the engineering challenges posed by the world’s great rivers as societies seek to balance the sometimes competing goals of environmental stewardship and economic development. The conference’s organizers hope that insights from researchers and practitioners will promote efforts to develop practices for managing and restoring watersheds, ensuring the safety of dams and other hydraulic structures, and addressing environmental issues.

Several institutes have seen a marked increase in the number of section and branch technical groups seeking affiliation as institute chapters, and I believe that this increase can be attributed in part to the work of the Technical Region’s leadership.

All ASCE members are eligible for membership in one institute at no additional cost, and the cost of each additional institute membership is a mere $20. Click on any institute link located on the Institutes/Technical Practice home page (http://www.asce.org/instfound/) to explore the various benefits conferred by institute membership. I urge you to play an active role in institute programs and to put your heart and soul into the heart and soul of ASCE. Only through member involvement and commitment will our technical programs continue to develop and flourish.

—David G. Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE

Thank you for your letter and for your interest in ASCE’s ethics case studies. The questions you raise about the suitability of publishing details of an actual ASCE ethics investigation speak to the very essence of this column, and in view of the fact that other members may share your concerns, we have decided to devote this column to your letter and to asce’s ethics education activities as a whole.

In cases where an ASCE member is found to have violated the Code of Ethics, subsection 3.0.9.4 of the Society’s rules of policy and procedure allows the Board of Direction or the Executive Committee to determine whether notice of the disciplinary action should appear in a Society publication. Publication is a form of disciplinary sanction that is typically reserved for more serious violations of the Code of Ethics, but the notice is also intended to benefit the Society in ways unrelated to the punishment of a particular member. These notices keep the ASCE membership informed of the Society’s disciplinary activities, and in cases where the notices are published with a name they alert the engineering community that a particular individual within the community has engaged in unethical conduct. Publication also serves as a statement to all Society members of the profession’s commitment to ethical conduct and reminds readers that individuals who violate the Code of Ethics may be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

Even though it authorizes the publication of actions, subsection 3.0.9.4 limits the amount of information that may be revealed in such notices. According to this subsection, notices may include a statement of the circumstances of the case, but if the member’s name is included the published notice may give no more than a factual statement of the disciplinary action and only such facts as may be found in a publicly available document, for example, a court ruling. These restrictions reflect the Society’s policy of exercising discretion in investigations of potential ethical violations and avoiding unnecessary disclosure of an individual member’s activities.

In view of these competing objectives, asce’s published notices of disciplinary action have traditionally been restricted to a brief recitation of facts, such as follows:

On April 1, 2005, as a result of proceedings conducted in accordance with article 3 of the Society’s bylaws and rules of policy and procedure, the Executive Committee found that John Q. Member, of Anytown, USA, violated canon 6 of the ASCE Code of Ethics, and it voted to suspend him for a period of three years.

While this statement is sufficient notice from a “punishment” standpoint, many members have seen these notices as failing to serve the “Society benefit” goals of publication. These critics argue that such notices prevent readers from making informed assessments of a member’s professional conduct and lack the specificity needed to act as a useful deterrent to similar conduct. Moreover, many members have argued that these official notices fail to achieve an even more important goal offered by publication, namely, to serve as an educational tool for the benefit of all members.

The study of professional ethics involves the application of basic philosophical principles to a variety of actual situations. Although no ethics course or manual could describe every possible scenario in which professional ethics may play a role, case studies are an invaluable aid to students and practicing engineers alike, both as an exercise in ethical thinking and as a reference point for decision making in similar situations. Given the importance of ethics case studies, many have argued that asce’s disciplinary notices should provide enough detail about the facts and circumstances of a case so that readers can understand and learn from the ethical issues involved in the disciplinary action.

ASCE News debuted this monthly column in 2005 to provide an ethics education resource that would be readily available to all members of the Society. While the column has discussed hypothetical questions and addressed topics of historical interest, its focus has been on case studies drawn from actual ethics cases investigated by the Committee on Professional Conduct. The material has been presented in the belief that descriptions of actual cases where ASCE members have been guilty of ethical lapses are of greater educational value.

At the same time, the writers of this column have been conscious that publication in too much detail might violate the restrictions imposed by asce’s rules of policy and procedure and have the effect of creating a harsher “punishment” than was handed down by the Board of Direction or the Executive Committee, particularly in cases where the actual verdict was to omit publication of the action. In an effort to avoid this result, the writers of this column have taken the following steps to preserve the anonymity of the parties and circumstances involved:

1. Except for rare, high-profile cases in which information about an investigation has been made publicly available through other sources, no detailed information pertaining to the date, location, or parties involved in the activities is provided.
2. While each article reports accurately on the general nature of the ethics violation and the resulting disciplinary action, factual details about the accused member and his or her actions are disguised or modified to the greatest extent possible.
3. To discourage readers hoping to identify the subject of a particular case study by connecting the summary to an official notice of disciplinary action, the Committee on Professional Conduct has directed that no ethics case appear as a case study until at least one full year has elapsed from the date of final disposition of the case, and many of the articles appearing in this column are drawn from cases dating as far back as the early 1970s.

By presenting actual case studies in general terms, with details changed and after a sufficient time has passed since the actual decision, it is our hope that this column strikes a reasonable balance between the Society’s aim to avoid unnecessary disclosure of a member’s conduct and its interest in providing educational resources in the area of engineering ethics.

ASCE welcomes your feedback on this column or on any matter pertaining to engineering ethics and education. Please write to ASCE, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191, Attention: General Counsel. The number for our ethics hotline is (703) 295-6061 or (800) 548-ASCE (2723), extension 6061.

Civil Engineering Wins Multiple Awards for Sixth Consecutive Year; ASCE News Wins Award for General Excellence

ASCE’s monthly magazine has been honored with 18 awards for editorial and graphic design excellence—1 national award and 9 regional awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), 7 APEXawards from Communications Concepts, and 1 award from Trade, Association, and Business Publications International (TABPI). This is the sixth year in a row that Civil Engineering has won multiple awards. The honors were bestowed for work published in 2007.

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. In the area of design, the magazine’s art director, Jan Hilton, won a national bronze award for the opening spread of the article “Sky Watcher,” which was published in the May 2007 issue. Hilton was also recognized with regional awards, garnering a gold award for the cover of the January 2007 issue, a silver award for the August 2007 cover, a bronze award for the November 2007 cover, a bronze award for the graphic design for “Sky Watcher,” a gold award for the opening spread of the article “Tower of Power,” which appeared in the October 2007 issue, and a silver award for the opening spread of the article “Taking the Lead,” which appeared in the December 2007 issue. In the editorial category, Robert Reid, the magazine’s senior editor, won in the news writing category for his article “Grand Inspiration,” which appeared in the September 2007 issue; Brett Hansen, the associate editor of ASCE News and a contributing editor of the magazine, won for History Lesson, his magazine column; and civil engineers Gonzalo García-Sobrinos, Ignasi Salvador-Villà, ICCP, and Jesús Serradilla-Echarri won a silver award for their article “Tower of Power.”

APEX awards are national accolades bestowed to recognize excellence in graphic design and editorial content. APEX Grand Awards honor the outstanding works in each main category, while APEX Awards of Excellence recognize exceptional entries in each of the subcategories. Hilton won a Grand Award in the area of design and illustration for the Bridges 2007 calendar, an Award of Excellence for the cover design of the January 2007 issue of Civil Engineering, and an Award of Excellence for the design and layout of the article “Reconsidering Value Engineering: The Rhode Island School of Design Library Project,” which was published in the February 2007 issue of the magazine. Hansen won an Award of Excellence for his feature article “Gathering Strength,” which was published in the August 2007 issue of the magazine; Reid won an Award of Excellence for “Grand Inspiration”; the editorial staff and contributing editors won an Award of Excellence for news series writing in the magazine’s Civil Engineering News department; and ASCE News won an Award of Excellence in the newspaper category.
TABPI is 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. Hansen won a silver TABPI award for his column History Lesson.

The magazine won a total of 4 awards in 2003, 4 in 2004, 6 in 2005, 6 in 2006, and 10 in 2007.

Flowers Stresses Link between Infrastructure and Economic Health

The flooding along the Mississippi River in recent months has once again raised concerns about the resiliency of the nation’s infrastructure. At a breakfast meeting in June held by The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) in Washington, D.C., Robert B. Flowers, m.ASCE, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who is now the vice-chairman of HNTB Federal Services, of Kansas City, Missouri, and the chief executive officer of HNTB International Operations, reminded attendees of the fragile state of the infrastructure and exhorted TISP members to become more involved in efforts to increase public support for improving the built environment. He also called upon TISP to urge lawmakers to implement sound policies for such improvements.

Flowers stated that while infrastructure is important for any nation that wants to survive economically and militarily, most people do not understand its importance. He said that the economy is directly tied to infrastructure and that it is the economy that gives the nation the ability to “project its military power.” As an example, he stated that if all of the bridges spanning the Mississippi were shut down, the economic ramifications would be devastating. He also stated that many of the goods involved in the trade between Canada and the United States pass over the Ambassador Bridge, which spans the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Because the bridge is privately owned, its safety and the level of security it provides are unknown. From a military standpoint, Flowers cited the example of the national transportation lines used by the military in the United States. In 1990 and 1991 the amount of equipment transported along those lines totaled approximately 600,000 tons (544,316 metric tons), and Flowers said it is imperative that those lines be properly maintained.

Flowers also cited ASCE’s 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which conferred a grade of D on the nation’s roads and on the overall condition of the nation’s infrastructure. As he put it, “We’ve got to get this fixed; it can’t be outsourced.” He also pointed out that the act of upgrading the infrastructure would be beneficial in itself because it would create jobs and help stimulate the economy.

TISP has made significant progress in increasing its influence with the government in matters of security and the nation’s infrastructure, but there is still much to be done, Flowers noted. He cautioned that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are fading from the public’s memory. “The people who are voting now were eleven years old at the time [the attacks] took place,” he said.

Concluding his presentation, Flowers recommended that threats to the infrastructure—airports, significant bridges, and border crossings, for example—be prioritized. He also stated that as a coalition of independent entities, TISP had the expertise and authority to offer advice and to challenge existing policies when government entities are reluctant to do so.

Upon completing his presentation, Flowers was asked whether he thought offshore oil rigs should be viewed as critical facets of infrastructure. Responding indirectly, he said that those in authority should act in the same way that President John F. Kennedy did when he announced that the nation would go to the moon within a set time frame. “We need someone to say that by such and such time we will be completely independent from foreign oil,” and then we need to work to meet that goal, he said.

Professionals Grow in ASCE’s LEAD Program

Since last November, 21 professionals have gained greater confidence in their ability to lead by participating in asce’s Leader Education and Development (LEAD) Program, the fourth installment of which took place at the Society’s headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, and ended in June. Participants engaged in interactive learning, which figured prominently in the program’s seven formal training sessions and one individual coaching session. Speaking on June 12 at the graduation ceremony, Thomas W. Smith III, M.ASCE, the Society’s assistant executive director and general counsel, congratulated the participants on their efforts and presented them with certificates.

“The LEAD program opened my heart and mind to a philosophy that helps define what truly motivates people based on their individual characteristics and personalities.  The progressive learning over several months provides an excellent foundation for sustained growth and development that may be adapted to changing personal and professional needs over a lifetime.  I am very grateful for the LEAD program and the new skill sets I now have to use throughout my career,” says Lauren C. Mollerup, P.E., M.ASCE, an administrator with the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The program instructors, Olin and Laura Jennings—the cofounders and principals of the Jennings Group, a management consulting and training firm that specializes in working with engineering and other technical service firms—are delighted to be part of asce’s program and to give participants insights that can help them grow personally and professionally. The two helped participants explore the following topics:

• Leadership;
• Better understanding oneself and others;
• Communicating in order to motivate;
• Leading difficult people and leading in situations characterized by conflict;
• Leading change and creating environments for change
• Empowering others by delegating, coaching, and mentoring;
• Creating a leadership culture in one’s organization.

All of the participants were positive about their experience with the program and said that they would recommend LEAD to others. At least five organizations have sent one or two leaders or emerging leaders to past LEAD courses, and it is believed that they intend to continue to build a leadership culture in their organizations by sending participants to future programs.

The next LEAD course will begin on November 13, 2008, and again will be in Reston, Virginia, at asce’s headquarters. The Society hopes to expand the program and welcomes the possibility of working with section or branch members to bring the LEAD curriculum to their areas. For more information, visit www.asce.org/professional/lead/ or contact ASCE’s manager of professional practice, Alicia Karwoski, P.E., M.ASCE, via e-mail at akarwoski@asce.org or via phone at (800) 548-2723, extension 6324.

San Francisco Section Sponsors Kenyan Student’s Visit

When Doug Taylor, P.E., M.ASCE, the president of ASCE’s San Francisco Section, flew to Africa in 2006 with his wife and members of his church group, he had no idea that he would have the opportunity to change a young man’s perspective on life and jump-start his education in civil engineering. Nor did John Rono, a young Kenyan, ever dream that two years later he would be touring construction sites with engineers in California, viewing structural designs on computer-aided design (CAD) software, riding roller coasters at Disneyland, or sitting in an F-15 Eagle fighter jet. But thanks to help from Taylor and the San Francisco Section, Rono—today a civil engineering student at Moi University—was provided with a unique opportunity to visit 15 engineering firms and organizations in San Francisco and Fresno as part of a six-week trip to the United States.

Rono’s adventure began when Taylor and other members of the Northside Christian Church traveled to Kenya in 2006 to lead a five-day youth camp in the small community of Kipkarren. Two weeks before Taylor arrived, however, a bridge in the community collapsed, forcing residents to walk to the next river crossing—a trek that took two hours and had to be made twice a day by those who had to cross the river to get to work.

Upon his arrival in Kipkarren, Taylor was asked to design and construct a new bridge across the river. The bridge required only a few days to build, according to Taylor, as it was a simple, 80 ft (24 m) long catenary structure and was meant to be only temporary. Nevertheless, its effect on Rono, a member of the youth camp, was as permanent as it was profound. “We talked while I was there,” Taylor recalls, “and I guess he saw the life of an engineer and that’s what inspired him to take that career path.” Rono had always wanted to improve the roads in Kenya, but his exposure to Taylor and the bridge construction at the youth camp, he explains, helped him see that a career in civil engineering would enable him to realize his goals.

Once Taylor completed the bridge and the youth camp ended, he returned to California and to his job as an associate civil engineer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Meanwhile, Rono decided to retake some courses in the hope of raising his grades and gaining entrance to Moi University, where he would be able to study civil engineering. When Taylor returned to Kenya in 2007, he and Rono got better acquainted and that’s when Taylor found out that Rono wanted to become a civil engineer.

According to Taylor, as he thought about Rono’s career hopes on the plane trip back to California in 2007, it occurred to him how beneficial a trip to the United States might be for the young Kenyan because he would thereby have a chance to see different types of civil engineering firms and their projects. Taylor presented the idea to the board of the San Francisco Section, and the board members thought it was a great idea. “Then I had to do some homework to make sure it was the right thing to do culturally. I contacted his parents and a few other people I knew,” Taylor says. Everyone seemed to approve of the idea, so last November Rono received a formal invitation from the section to come to California. “The purpose of this visit is to inspire John in his studies of civil engineering by meeting and ‘shadowing’ professional civil engineers in California. This opportunity will allow John to see how a wide range of projects are funded, designed, constructed, and inspected,” the invitation read.

For a native Kenyan, receiving an opportunity to travel to the United States is comparable to winning the lottery, explains Taylor. The section helped Rono obtain his passport and sent a letter that would, it was hoped, enable him to obtain a visa to visit the United States. “Coming to the U.S., especially on a visiting visa, is not often heard of,” the 22-year-old Rono says. Rono’s travel paperwork went through without a problem, which was surprising to both him and Taylor because Kenya’s elections—and the resulting violent civil unrest—occurred in April, at the very time he was trying to obtain his passport. “Getting my papers, including my passport, was miraculous,” Rono says.

Upon completing his freshman year at Moi University, Rono boarded a plane bound for the United States. He arrived on Sunday, May 25, at Fresno Yosemite International Airport, where he was greeted by Taylor and other members of the San Francisco Section. He says the worst part of his trip was flying from his home, in Eldoret, to a larger airport in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “The first flight was not comfortable since it was my first flight and it was on a small plane,” Rono says. After landing in California, Rono was immediately thrust into Western culture: he was taken directly from the airport for dinner at a nearby McDonald’s, and during his first week he was presented with a used laptop computer that had been donated, a digital camera, and a cell phone.

On weekdays Rono spent most of his time at engineering firms, learning about the organizations and their projects. “All of the firms I visited were all so warm and welcoming and ready to teach and share anything I wanted to learn,” he says. What he liked best about visiting the firms was seeing what they designed in CAD software and then comparing the design with what was being done in the field. “I was taken out to the field to see what they were doing, and I must say I learned more than I could ever [have] imagined,” he recalls. He also says that it was an eye-opening experience seeing principles that he learned during his freshman year being applied in “the real world.”

Rono was not the only one learning, however. During lunch hours at the firms, he would make a PowerPoint presentation and discuss his life in Kenya. “I shared about life in Kenya based on my life. . . . I thought it was good to also be a source and let them learn something,” he says. Rono also made presentations at ASCE-related activities and was introduced at a Region 9 board meeting.

What little free time Rono had was quickly taken up by friends and section members who wanted to take him to dinner or other places. In this way he was able to visit Yosemite National Park, Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Napa Valley, and an Air National Guard base, where the ranking commander gave him an hour-long personal tour and permitted Rono to sit in the cockpit of an F-15 Eagle fighter.

Rono returned to Kenya on July 8. He plans to continue his education and become a civil engineer in his native country. Taylor says that the trip turned out better than he could have hoped, as Rono “got a look into how things are probably headed with transportation, water, sewer, and all the stuff that [civil engineers] do. It is not only John who will be impacted, but all of those kids around John at school. He will be sharing his stories and relating what he has seen over here to all of his student friends.” Rono is now looking into forming an international branch of ASCE at Moi University, and Taylor plans to return to Kenya next year to construct a permanent bridge for the people of Kipkarren.

—Brett Hansen

I would like to remind you about one of ASCE’s most valuable benefits, free membership in one of our eight technical institutes.   ASCE’s institutes are your gateway to professional and personal growth opportunities in your area of specialty. Each focuses on the technical, educational, scientific, and professional aspects of a particular area. Add an institute to your membership by visiting www.asce.org/addinstitute.

As one year’s awards selection cycle ends, another begins. Please help ASCE continue to recognize those among us who represent the best in our profession.  I invite you in particular to nominate young researchers for the 2009 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prizes. The Huber awards can be bestowed for achievements in a variety of disciplines, and winning one can have a profound effect on a researcher’s career. Preference is given to younger members, generally under the age of 40, who can be expected to continue fruitful careers in research. Nominations for the Huber prizes and for the Society’s distinguished member designation are due by October 1. To learn more and to access downloadable forms, visit www.asce.org/awards.

ASCE staff members recently traveled to Nebraska to conduct a training session designed to acquaint members there with asce’s efforts to raise the bar for entry into the professional practice of engineering.  Attendees learned about the Society’s effort as well as about the status of legislation on licensing in the Nebraska legislature. They also learned how to promote the effort and how to counter mistaken views on the subject. To support asce’s efforts to implement the model law developed by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, asce has formed and leads the Coalition to Advance the Profession of Engineering (CAPE). CAPE encourages states to raise the bar for admission into the professional practice of engineering. For more information about ASCE’s Policy 465 (“Academic Prerequisites for Licensure and Professional Practice”) or about CAPE, visit www.asce.org/raisethebar or www.advancingengineering.org.

Have you answered the question of the month posed by the Geo-Institute (G-I)?  The G-I recently created the monthly online question to solicit members’ opinions on particular topics. Recently asked questions have included the following: Would you be interested in a G-I webinar? Conference proceedings: Hard copy, CD-ROM, or online? and What are your thoughts on the professional challenges of the next 10 years? Any asce and G-I member, as well as anyone who belongs only to the g-i, can answer the questions by clicking the “Members Only” button at www.geoinstitute.org.

ASCE’s History and Heritage Committee is pleased to provide the civil engineering community with two new online resources.  The first is an online version of volume 1 of the out-of-print publication A Biographical Dictionary of American Civil Engineers. This volume contains 170 short biographies of civil engineers born before the Civil War. Students will find it a useful starting place in learning about the great individuals in the engineering field. The other resource, The Annotated Bibliography on the History and Heritage of Civil Engineering, provides information on books, videotapes, and compact discs. It is divided into two sections, the first arranged by medium and the second by subject. Historians, faculty members, and students are sure to find this bibliography useful. To access either work, visit http://content.asce.org/history/hh_links.html.

In a continuing effort to enhance communication between asce entities, the geographic services division has created a new “eRoom” for section and branch presidents. The eRoom is designed to provide easy access to information about asce’s products, services, and events. Users have access to a calendar of significant events as well as direct links to Web-based resources. They also have access to online discussion forums, which makes it possible for them to exchange views and share information with other asce leaders. For more information, please contact Daryl Morais, the Society’s region administrator, via phone at (703) 295-6042 or via e-mail at dmorais@asce.org.

The ASCE Global Center of Excellence in Computing is making fundamental computing concepts freely available to civil engineers and educators and in doing so is using familiar terminology and examples. No previous knowledge of computing is necessary. Fifteen modules, each comprising approximately 50 slides, are currently available for downloading at www.asceglobalcenter.org. Now engineers can become acquainted with some of the concepts underlying computer-aided engineering by learning about such topics as computational complexity and database design and optimization. The modules contain basic scientific information that can be used in developing courses and can be supplemented by local software and hardware. More than half of the knowledge base, which the center considers essential for all engineers, is currently online, and more will follow in the coming months. Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom have provided modules, and it is expected that this software will be used worldwide.

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

ASEE Honors O’Brien
James J. O’Brien, Jr., P.E., M.ASCE, the Society’s managing director of professional and educational activities, has been honored with the 2008 George K. Wadlin Award by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The award recognizes sustained and distinguished service to ASEE’s civil engineering division as well as notable contributions to civil engineering education. It consists of a plaque and a certificate and was presented to O’Brien in June during the ASEE’s annual conference. O’Brien was honored with the award for his contributions to ASCE’s Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) program and to the ASEE’s civil engineering division.

Johnson Receives Water Quality Award
James H. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE, has been named one of the recipients of the 2008 Gordon Maskew Fair Award by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) for his accomplishments in the training and development of engineers. Johnson, a member of ASCE’s Committee on Diversity and Women in Civil Engineering, is the Samuel P. Massie Professor of Environmental Engineering at Howard University, where he is also the dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences. He serves on the oversight committee in the Division of Earth and Life Studies—part of the National Research Council (NRC)—and on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and chairs the board of trustees of Anne Arundel Community College, in Maryland. He also lends his time and expertise to various university, private-sector, and research center advisory committees. A former chair of the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors, Johnson has chaired the NRC Board on Radioactive Waste Management and its Board on Environmental Studies. He has also served as chair of the Executive Committee of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Engineering Deans Council and the of National Academy of Engineering’s Committee on Public Understanding of Engineering. With more than 60 scholarly articles to his credit, he has been a contributor to three books and a coeditor of two more. A diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, Johnson is a registered professional engineer in Washington, D.C. In 2005 he received the National Society of Black Engineers’ Lifetime Achievement Award in Academia. He will be honored at a ceremony during the WEF’s annual conference.

Underground Construction Association Hails Achievements Of ASCE Members
The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration’s Underground Construction Association (UCA) conferred awards on three ASCE members in June during its national meeting, which was held in San Francisco.

Raymond William Henn, Ph.D., M.ASCE, a principal of the geotechnical and tunnel engineering firm Lyman Henn, Inc., of Denver, received the Outstanding Individual Award, which honors those who have contributed to the field of tunneling and underground construction and have promoted the UCA’s activities and the work of its committees. Henn has worked for nearly 40 years in many capacities in the heavy civil and underground construction industry and currently lectures at the Colorado School of Mines. He has two textbooks to his credit and is currently working on a book on tunnel grouting. A Vietnam War veteran, he holds a bachelor of arts in geology from the City University of New York, a master’s degree in engineering and construction management from the State University of New York, and a doctorate in mining engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. Henn was the 2002 recipient of ASCE’s Roebling Award.

Tor L. Brekke, Ph.D., M.ASCE, was honored with the UCA’s Outstanding Educator Award in recognition of his contributions and dedication to the U.S. underground construction industry. A professor of geological engineering at the University of California at Berkeley from 1976 to 1992, he is now a professor emeritus. His consulting work extends back to 1960 and encompasses dams, subways, highways, mining projects, and underground power plants. It also includes investigating geological sites, designing rock stabilization systems, selecting excavation methods, developing specifications for underground openings, preparing interpretive geotechnical reports, designing repositories for nuclear waste, and serving on dispute review boards. Brekke has authored or coauthored 85 publications and has served on several editorial boards for refereed journals and on research review panels. Elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1977, he is a former chair of the U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology.

James E. Monsees, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, a senior vice president and a principal professional associate for New York City–based Parsons Brinckerhoff, received the UCA’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. Monsees is an expert in soil and rock mechanics as it relates to the design and construction of underground structures. In addition to geotechnical investigations and consulting, he has worked in project management, construction engineering, and design on a variety of projects. His projects and research have encompassed mass transit and water tunnels, field and laboratory testing of soil and rock, nuclear waste disposal in geologic media, geotechnical studies, and studies involving protective structures. For the Los Angeles Metro, he developed an approach to the seismic design of underground structures that has since been refined and used on projects worldwide. Monsees was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991 and has served on two of its committees. His expertise in tunneling is such that he is frequently invited to speak at conferences in this country and abroad.

Two ASCE Members Selected to Participate in Frontiers of Engineering Symposium
Two of ASCE’s brightest young engineers will join 82 individuals from a variety of engineering disciplines at the annual symposium of the Frontiers of Engineering program, which is overseen by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The two are Joshua Boltz, P.E., M.ASCE, who is with CH2M HILL, of Englewood, Colorado, and Patrick O’Mara, A.M.ASCE, a senior supervising transportation engineer for STV, Inc., which is based in New York City. The two-and-a-half-day event, the 14th in this annual series, will bring together engineers between the ages of 30 and 45 who are performing exceptional research or technical work. The participants come from industry, academia, and government, and they were chosen from among more than 230 applicants after being nominated by organizations or fellow engineers. Charles M. Vest, Ph.D., the NAE’s president, stated that the “Frontiers of Engineering program brings some of the country’s rising-star engineers, from a diverse range of disciplines, together for an exchange of ideas that will surely help contribute to keeping us at the forefront of technological advancement and may even spark a breakthrough that changes the way we live.” The symposium will be held September 18–20 at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and will be hosted by Sandia National Laboratories. The participants will be discussing nanoelectric devices, cognitive engineering, drug delivery systems, and methods for countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Pietrucha Becomes Interim Director of Transportation Institute
Martin Pietrucha, P.E., M.ASCE, an associate professor of transportation engineering in the civil and environmental engineering department at Pennsylvania State University, took over as interim director of the university’s Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute on July 15. Pietrucha succeeds John M. Mason, Jr., Ph.D., in the top post at the multidisciplinary institute. Pietrucha joined the Larson institute as a faculty associate in 1990 and is currently the director of its transportation operations program. He also recently served as the director of Penn State’s Science, Technology, and Society Program. A licensed professional engineer in New Jersey, Pietrucha holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Maryland.
 
Engineering Honor Society Salutes Cramer
Steven M. Cramer, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the associate dean of academic affairs there, has been accorded the 2008 McDonald Mentoring Award by Tau Beta Pi. The award recognizes excellence in mentoring and counseling on the part of educators and engineers who are members of Tau Beta Pi. Cramer earned a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s degree and a doctorate from Colorado State University. His research deals with structural engineering, in particular, the mechanical behavior of wood and wood-based materials, the design and analysis of wood structures, and the performance of concrete construction materials. Cramer has also coached, with great success, the university’s team in asce’s National Concrete Canoe Competition.

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Honors ASCE Members
The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) recently paid tribute to a number of ASCE members.

Yingcai Han, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, has been elected a CSCE fellow. Han holds a degree in civil engineering from Tsinghua University, in Beijing, and a doctorate in geotechnical engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland. An expert in soil dynamics and earthquake engineering, he has made a number of contributions in the areas of pile foundations, soil-structure interactions, and seismic design and has more than 100 papers in journals and conference proceedings to his credit. Han has also been a keynote speaker at many conferences and seminars in Canada, the United States, Russia, and China. He works in Calgary, Alberta, as a principal technical specialist for Fluor Canada Ltd.

Pierre Léger, P.E., M.ASCE, a professor of structural engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, has been elected a CSCE fellow and named the recipient of the E. Whitman Wright Award. The award recognizes contributions by a civil engineer that have served to broaden computer applications in civil engineering in Canada. Léger earned a bachelor of science from the University of Ottawa and a master’s degree from the Université Laval. He also obtained a graduate degree in management from McGill University and a doctorate in structural engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. The methods for carrying out dynamic analyses of structures he helped to develop in completing his doctoral studies have since been integrated into several commercial software applications. His research fields include the structural performance, safety, and renovation of concrete dams and hydraulic structures; the development and experimental validation of integral, nonlinear models for evaluating and strengthening civil engineering works; and the development of software for analyzing and designing dams and buildings.

Slobodan Simonovic, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has been elected a CSCE fellow. Simonovic received a bachelor of science in civil engineering and a master of science in civil and electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade, in Serbia, and earned a doctorate from the University of California at Davis. He currently teaches civil engineering and water resource systems courses at the University of Western Ontario, where he is also the director of engineering studies for the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. His research focuses on the management of complex water and environmental systems.

Lloyd Waugh, Aff.M.ASCE, the president of the CSCE since June 2007, has received the society’s Walter Shanly Award, which recognizes CSCE members who have made noteworthy contributions in the field of construction engineering in Canada. Waugh received a bachelor of science in engineering from the University of New Brunswick and a doctorate from Stanford University. As a member of the faculty at the University of New Brunswick, he has chaired the construction division, served as vice president of the General Administrative Committee (now the Administration Coordinating Committee), and been the university’s senior vice president.

Faye E. Hicks, P.E., M.ASCE, has been honored with the CSCE’s Camille A. Dagenais Award, which recognizes civil engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the development and practice of hydrotechnical engineering in Canada. Hicks earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of New Brunswick and a master of science in water resources engineering and a doctorate from the University of Alberta. A professor of civil engineering at the University of Alberta, Hicks carries out research on river ice processes and hydraulics, in particular, the dynamic aspects of ice jam formation and release in rivers.

Moe Shing Cheung, P.E., F.ASCE, has been named the recipient of the James A. Vance Award, which recognizes CSCE members who through dedication and service help to further the goals of the society. Cheung holds a doctorate from the University of Calgary and has been involved in civil engineering education and research for more than 35 years. He heads the civil engineering department at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he is also one of the directors of the Institute for the Environment. The inventor of the finite-strip method for bridge and structural analysis, Cheung has been the recipient of numerous awards.

Aftab Mufti, P.E., F.ASCE, a professor at the University of Manitoba, has been honored with the P.L. Pratley Award, which is bestowed on the author or authors of the year’s best paper on bridge engineering. Mufti’s paper, which he coauthored with Emile Shehata, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng., a senior structural engineer with the Toronto-based engineering firm Wardrop, is entitled “Development of a Glass Fiber-Reinforced-Polymer Bridge Deck System.” It summarizes research on a program “that is designed to study the behavior of glass fiber-reinforced polymer bridge deck modules and their transverse connection,” according to the paper’s abstract. The paper was published in the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering (34, number 3: 453–62).

Raouf Emile Baddour, P.Eng., M.ASCE, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Western Ontario, has been named the recipient of the Thomas C. Keefer Medal, which is bestowed on the author or authors of the year’s best paper on hydrotechnical or environmental engineering. Baddour’s paper, which he coauthored with Hesham K. Zare, a graduate student at the university, is entitled “Three-Dimensional Study of Spatial Submerged Hydraulic Jump.” The paper was published in the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering (34, number 9: 1140–48).

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.

Mukti L. Das, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is the principal civil engineer with Bechtel Power Corporation in Frederick, Maryland. Das received a doctorate in civil engineering in 1971 from the University of Massachusetts and has more than 42 years of engineering experience relating to nuclear, fossil-fueled, and hydroelectric power plants and other industrial facilities. An all-purpose structural analysis and design software package he developed, DAST, was later integrated with STAAD. Das was one of the first engineers to use the finite-element analysis method to solve structural engineering problems, especially those related to nuclear containment structures and large machine foundations subjected to vibration. Das began his career as a construction engineer in India and later worked as a structural engineer in Germany. Since 1970 he has held numerous leadership roles in engineering companies in Massachusetts, and as an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell he replaced manual drafting courses with courses on computer-aided design (CAD). The CAD software he developed was the first system used commercially to produce construction drawings and to perform interference checks. His publications include a wide range of technical articles and a chapter in the book Artificial Intelligence in Computational Engineering (1986). Das is a licensed professional engineer in Massachusetts.

Emilio M. Morales, Reg.Eng., F.ASCE, is a principal of EM2A Partners & Company, in the Philippines, and the technical director of Philippine Geoanalytics, Inc. He has more than 35 years of experience in the geotechnical and structural engineering professions, and his projects as a contractor have involved jet grouting, soil nailing, and rock anchoring. Morales founded a materials testing organization that became the first Philippine laboratory to be accredited by the International Organization for Standardization. As laboratory director, he has pioneered the introduction of technologies for ground improvement and implemented novel field and lab testing programs involving cone penetration, plate loads, vane shear, and pressure meters. He has also carried out inclinometer installations and developed computer programs for geotechnical mapping and the analysis of failing slopes. A senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines, Morales has chaired or been a speaker at more than 30 technical conferences and symposia. As founder and principal of EM2A, he has led the company in its growth from a 7-person firm to one with more than 200 employees. A licensed engineer in the Philippines, Morales holds a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the Mapúa Institute of Technology, in the Philippines, and a master of science, also in civil engineering, from Carnegie Mellon University. He is active in the affairs of numerous professional organizations.

Lindell Ormsbee, Ph.D., P.H., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, is the Raymond-Blythe Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky and the director of the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute. Ormsbee enjoys international renown in water resources engineering, especially for his expertise in water distribution systems and watershed management. His research program has helped to generate more than $30 million in funding, and he has more than 200 technical publications to his credit. Ormsbee has worked closely with various state and federal agencies in addressing serious problems within Kentucky, including water supply and storm-water issues in central Kentucky, environmental remediation efforts in connection with the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, water quality assessments for Appalachian counties in eastern Kentucky, acid mine drainage issues in western Kentucky, and combined sewer overflow issues in northern Kentucky. Ormsbee was involved with the development and promotion of KYPIPE, a network analysis software package that today is used by engineers around the world. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment and the University of Kentucky’s Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment. Ormsbee has been active within ASCE throughout his career, and his positions have included those of faculty adviser to the University of Kentucky student chapter, president of the Kentucky Section (1997–98), and chair of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute’s Emerging and Innovative Technologies Task Committee. A licensed professional engineer in Kentucky, Ormsbee is also a professional hydrologist and a diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.

Chandrasekhar S. Putcha, Ph.D., F.ASCE, has been a professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at California State University at Fullerton since 1981, serving as department chair from 1996 to 2000. His research focuses on reliability and risk analysis, and he has more than 100 research publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings to his credit. Because of his involvement in interdisciplinary endeavors, his published work has dealt not just with engineering but also with psychology, political science, and medicine. He has also served as a consultant to such leading aerospace firms as Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Rockwell International, TRW, and National Technical Systems. The technical reports he has written have dealt with, among other topics, risk analyses of dam gates and associated operating equipment, time-dependent reliability analyses of hydraulic steel structures with corrosion degradation, and design criteria for ensuring the seismic reliability of wharves. His funded research and publications span a wide spectrum, from conducting reliability analyses of stressed timber bridges to models and procedures for reliability assessments of navigation components to the development of a risk model for predicting strokes in humans. Putcha has been a member of ASCE for more than two decades and has served as a member of a committee on building safety and as a faculty adviser to the ASCE student chapter at California State University at Fullerton. After obtaining a master of science and a doctorate in structural engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, he worked as the assistant director of the structures division of the Central Building Research Institute, in Roorkee, India. In 1979 he became a research assistant professor at West Virginia University. Putcha has been the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, including the 2005 Prestigious Engineering Educator Award and the 2001 Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the Orange County Engineering Council. In 2007 he was honored with the Outstanding Professor Award by California State University at Fullerton, the first time the award has ever been bestowed upon an engineer.

Dale Sall, P.E., R.L.S., F.ASCE, is a principal and branch manager of JEO Consulting Group, Inc., in Nebraska. Sall has more than 40 years of experience in civil engineering and land surveying in the public and private sectors and has been the owner of a company for 11 years. He has led numerous projects throughout his career, including the rehabilitation of a major lateral on the irrigation system in the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, the design of a transmission main that provided a rural town with a new source of potable water, and the development of a new wastewater treatment facility that required great resourcefulness on the part of the contractor and the owner to meet the budgetary restrictions imposed by a rural village. In addition to his distinguished professional career, Sall is well known as an exponent of engineering licensure on both the state and the national level. He began his work in this area with the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects in 1981, and since then he has served the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) as a member of an exam preparation committee for 16 years. He also chaired its civil exam group for two years and filled various other roles, including that of NCEES president. In all of this work Sall has sought to ensure that those seeking licensure are properly prepared to meet the demands of the future. He served as a consultant to ASCE in the work done to raise the standards for civil engineering licensure, and since 2001 as president of the United States Council for International Engineering Practice he has worked with engineering groups in Canada and Mexico. His leadership has been instrumental in efforts in Nebraska to adopt the NCEES model law, and that state is now set to become the first to adopt the requirement that those seeking licensure in civil engineering supplement their bachelor’s degree with 30 academic credits. A licensed professional engineer and registered land surveyor in Nebraska and Kansas, Sall holds a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Raymond E. Sandiford, P.E., F.ASCE, is the chief geotechnical engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, his employer since 1982. Earlier in his career he served as a geotechnical engineer for Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation and Dravo Van Houten, Inc. Sandiford has more than 35 years of design and construction experience involving complex subsurface investigations, geologic interpretations, foundations, tunneling, bridges, waterfront structures, dredging, dredge disposal facilities, ground improvement, highway and aircraft pavement, rock slope stabilization, and deep shafts. He has developed numerous designs for stabilizing soils and for using high-strength geotextiles to bridge the soils in the Port Authority’s numerous development areas along water bodies. Sandiford is the engineer of record for the new World Trade Center (WTC) basement expansion, which involves recycling a 100-year-old basement wall constructed as part of the original Hudson & Manhattan Railroad station and numerous existing structures. The WTC basement expansion will provide space for three new office towers as well as for the new Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) hub entrance. Earlier in his career Sandiford led a design team of structural and geotechnical engineers in work on a wharf underpinning scheme that made it possible for berths to be deepened so that they could accommodate container ships with deeper drafts. Within ASCE he served as chair of the Metropolitan Section’s geotechnical group in 1994 and 1995. A licensed professional engineer in New York and New Jersey, he holds an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a graduate degree in civil engineering from Columbia University. Sandiford has served on a number of technical review committees in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Virginia.

Don A. Sepulveda, P.E., F.ASCE, is an associate vice president of AECOM Consulting in Los Angeles, where he serves as project and engineering manager for transportation projects and oversees the development of contract documents for materials procurement and construction. Before joining AECOM Consulting he worked with HDR, DMJM Harris, and private engineering firms, and his work has included the analysis, design, and permitting of highway crossings of rail lines at grade and crossings that involve grade separations. He has also done collaborative work with environmental teams on transportation projects. Those projects included a study of Utah’s Draper Transit Corridor with the Utah Transit Authority, a light-rail project in Los Angeles, and California’s Alameda Corridor. Sepulveda has many years of active service to ASCE, beginning with work on the Los Angeles Section’s student activities committee. He later served as president of that section’s Metro Los Angeles Branch and is now the section’s president-elect. He also served on a task committee for ASCE’s Strategic Planning Committee and is currently the chair of the Society’s Membership Committee. Outside of ASCE he serves on technical committees of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association. An adjunct professor at California State University at Northbridge, Sepulveda supervises the civil engineering senior design program and is a practitioner adviser to the ASCE student chapter. As a member of the Curriculum Advisory Committee, he works with the university on accreditation by ABET, Inc. His dedication to the profession and to ASCE has been recognized with numerous awards, among them the Outstanding Civil Engineer in Private Practice Award, which he received from the Los Angeles Section and its Metro Los Angeles Branch. A licensed professional engineer in California, Sepulveda received a bachelor of science in civil engineering from California State University at Northbridge.

Johann L. Willers, P.E., F.ASCE, is the president and owner of Rooftop Systems Engineers, of Raleigh, North Carolina. A licensed professional engineer in Iowa and six other states, Willers is also certified as a roof consultant by RCI (formerly the Roof Consultants Institute). After receiving a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Iowa State University, Willers served as an officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in South Korea. He then continued his career with engineering firms in Iowa and North Carolina before starting his own company in 1996. Willers has led a variety of roofing projects during his career, including reroofing designs for 26 buildings of historical importance in eastern North Carolina and a reroofing design in New Jersey for the Atlantic City Convention Center, which was originally constructed in 1929. He also led numerous reroofing designs for structures in South Carolina within the Savannah River Site, work that from the standpoint of safety and security was extremely demanding because of the proximity of radioactive materials. Willers served on a panel of contractors, consultants, and manufacturers selected to investigate roof damage caused by winds of hurricane force. He has also been involved in efforts to improve the registration process for roof consultants, and in place of the four-hour written exam that candidates faced in the past, those seeking certification must now pass an eight-hour exam. Willers administered the program for six years.

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.

James L. Martin, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, died on July 9 at the age of 81. Martin began his career in 1943 in Washington, D.C., with the agency today known as the Federal Highway Administration. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from George Washington University in 1950 and that same year moved to northern California to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. In 1955 he accepted a position as assistant city engineer with the City of San Leandro, California. From 1962 to 1966 Martin was the director of public works for the City of Berkeley, and from 1966 to 1987 he held the same position for the City of Fresno. He was an active member of the American Public Works Association (APWA), serving on its board of directors from 1976 to 1985 and as its president from 1983 to 1984. Martin had a passion for the history and heritage of civil engineering, and in May of this year he presented a paper he had coauthored (“California’s Water Resource History and the Central Valley Project’s First 75 Years”) at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, which was held in Honolulu. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and daughters Kathleen Martin, Janice Moreno, and Laura Duffy. His family has requested that memorial donations be made in his name to the APWA or the APWA’s Public Works Historical Society.

Kenneth W. Dawson, P.E., M.ASCE, died on July 7 at the age of 72. He was the owner and principal of the architecture and engineering firm Kenneth W. Dawson Associates, of Louisville, Kentucky. Before founding his practice, Dawson earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Louisville. The experience he gained at various engineering firms included consulting work for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force in Germany in what was then called West Berlin. He served in nearly every capacity in asce’s Kentucky Section and twice served as president of the District 9 Council before becoming the director of that district in the early 1990s. In addition to his membership in asce, Dawson was a member of the Construction Specifications Institute and the National Society of Professional Engineers and earlier had been a member of the American Institute of Architects. He is survived by his wife, Anna Elisabeth, his daughter, Tatyana Vaughn, and his granddaughter, Esmé Adelaide Vaughn.