November 2008
Volume 33, Number 11

Members of Engineers Without Borders–USA (EWB-USA) recently attended presentations by Henry J. “Hank” Hatch, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, who discussed how that organization’s efforts were promoting and contributing to global peace. Drawing upon his experience as the chief of engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hatch discussed how the role of U.S. military operations has expanded to include humanitarian efforts through engineering projects and how EWB-USA was helping countries to become more stable and to develop economically in a sustainable way. Hatch spoke with ASCE News about the presentations, which were made to members of the Washington, D.C., professional chapter of EWB-USA on June 25 and in San Luis Obispo, California, to members of the group’s West Coast region on October 10.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the cold war was drawing to a close, Hatch, then the Corps’s newly appointed chief of engineers, was developing a vision “to seek new ways beyond our current military and civil missions to meet our army’s and our nation’s needs,” he recalls. At that time, the Corps recognized that the mission of the army needed to change to address a post–cold war environment. “When one major threat goes down, you look out and realize that there are a lot of threats out there and they ascend to a level of importance,” he says. To mitigate these other threats, Hatch and his staff examined the future roles of engineers and created a concept they dubbed nation assistance.

Under nation assistance, the Corps would undertake engineering projects in developing countries that would help both the United States and the host nation achieve common goals, Hatch explains. To accomplish this in countries that were neither wholly at war nor wholly stable, the Corps was to work not only with the U.S. military but also with such other government agencies as the U.S. Department of State, he notes.

In such places as Latin America and Micronesia, Hatch noticed that informal efforts at nation assistance were being undertaken and were proving successful. He attributed the success to a number of factors. First, he recalls, they provided U.S. military engineers with training in a realistic environment. That also served to improve the morale of the engineers, who knew that they were improving a community’s quality of life. Second, the efforts supported emerging democracies and economies. Third, they demonstrated to other nations that the United States military was willing and able to engage in activities that would promote peace and buttress civil society.

In the time that has elapsed since the concept was formally introduced, in the late 1980s, Hatch believes that nation assistance has assumed a more prominent role in the army’s missions and is now part of its noncombat operations, or “stability operations.” He cites a directive (3000.05) from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) stating that “stability operations are a core U.S. military mission that the Department of Defense shall be prepared to conduct and support. They shall be given priority comparable to combat operations and be explicitly addressed and integrated across all DOD activities, including doctrine, organization, training, education, exercises, matériel, leadership, personnel, facilities, and planning.” Hatch uses Iraq as an example of how nation assistance and stability operations have been integrated into the military’s mission. “In parts of Iraq, we are fighting an armed conflict. In other parts of Iraq, or perhaps in the same neighborhood, we are involved in stability operations,” he says. “We have to be much more flexible and be able to shift from one approach to other approaches or use them together depending on how the environment changes.”

After recounting his experience with the Corps and outlining the concepts of nation assistance and stability operations, Hatch explained in his presentations how the military’s evolving efforts were similar to the work being done by EWB-USA. He quoted from the statement on the group’s Web site (www.ewb-usa.org) outlining its mission. The organization, he told those at the presentations, “is a nonprofit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students.” Hatch asserted that, with this as its mission, EWB-USA was accomplishing many of the same goals that the Corps and the army have been working toward with their stability operations. EWB-USA, he noted, was therefore promoting an enduring peace.

Hatch explains that his definition of enduring peace, which he developed with his staff when he was in the Corps, has three pillars: security, stability, and sustainability. He acknowledges that EWB-USA is not directly involved with security, which he defines not only as “freedom from threats and danger” but also as “freedom from fear, doubt, and uncertainty.” But he believes that the second and third pillars loom large in the organization’s efforts.

Stability is “not the status quo, but [an] orderly change toward representative government, a market-driven economy,” and such other aspects of stability as a healthy and educated society and strong institutions, Hatch says. He sees EWB-USA as playing an important role in creating stability through its small-scale projects.
Hatch admits that his concept of sustainability initially was primarily environmental and says that sustainable development must include economic, social, political, cultural, and ethical sustainability as well. Citing politics as an example, he says that “what we are doing everywhere, including here in the United States, has got to be politically sustainable; otherwise you will never get there. It has got to stick politically.” He explains that during his presentations he urged members of EWB-USA to place more emphasis on ensuring that their projects were politically acceptable, even if it only involved the politics of a small village. “If the village leaders are not buying into [the project], it is not going to be sustained,” he says.

To successfully create a stable and sustainable environment, Hatch explains, one must understand and implement the concept of capacity building, which he considers synonymous with nation assistance. Hatch defines capacity building as “the building of human, institutional, and infrastructure capacity to help societies develop secure, stable, and sustainable economies, governments, and other institutions through mentoring, training, education, physical projects, the infusion of financial and other resources, and, most importantly, inspiring people to improve their quality of life.” During his presentations, Hatch pointed out elements within that definition that closely correspond to EWB-USA’s endeavors. He told those in attendance that their organization was helping people improve their abilities and was developing stable and sustainable economies through mentoring. Conceding that EWB-USA was not doing some of these things on as large a scale as were the military and other federal agencies, he told his listeners that it was still meeting the important need to assist small communities.

Hatch sees several challenges to capacity building, including insufficient resources, the use of inappropriate technology, and a lack of broad agency participation and interagency cooperation. For its part, he notes, EWB-USA uses appropriate technologies, draws upon a panoply of talent at its sponsoring universities, is highly motivated, and is not hampered by bureaucracy. In conclusion, he says that “EWB-USA is relevant and contributing to a secure, stable, and sustainable world—a world at peace.”

—Brett Hansen

The Society’s Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI) celebrated its 10th anniversary at AEI 2008, which took the theme “Building Integration Solutions” and was held September 24-27 in Denver. In addition to conferring awards and offering attendees workshops and presentations, the conference gave the AEI’s founding members and leaders an opportunity to contemplate the past, present, and future of the institute and to assess the effectiveness of its continuing efforts “to facilitate the crucial communication among members of the building team, both on a technical basis and in the professional arena,” according to the AEI’s Web site.

During the celebration, J. Paul Guyer, P.E., F.ASCE, one of the AEI’s founders, highlighted the substantial accomplishments of the institute during its first decade. For example, the institute supported the separate Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam for architectural engineering, which was approved by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying in 2003. (The exam’s specifications were updated this year.) Moreover, the AEI is the only asce institute that has active student chapters, some of which grew out of the 2007 AEI National Student Conference, which was held at Kansas State University. asce’s Journal of Architectural Engineering continues to be a well-respected publication, and the AEI has taken a leadership role in enabling architectural engineers to be formally registered, which is now possible in more than 40 states, Guyer noted. He added that the number of universities offering architectural engineering as a major has expanded from 10 to 16. Among the AEI’s most notable accomplishments have been its efforts to promote building security, endeavors that culminated in the formation of the Building Security Council. The AEI’s membership reached more than 8,000 this year and now includes a significant number of building professionals who are not civil engineers.

Guyer also focused on the future of the institute during the celebration. He encouraged the AEI to focus on attracting more members among the building design team, which includes mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and architects. He also suggested that the institute consider the challenges affecting the building design team that have arisen from the proliferation of design/build construction contractors and construction managers.

In addition to the celebration, the conference featured several workshops, including a training workshop on postdisaster evaluations that was organized by asce’s Committee on Critical Infrastructure. The workshop acquainted attendees with the procedures and guidelines that have been developed to evaluate the safety of buildings and other infrastructure systems after such disasters as earthquakes, windstorms, floods, and fires. These procedures and guidelines have been developed expressly for volunteer engineers who may be called upon to make decisions on the use, operation, and occupancy of damaged buildings and other facilities.

Another workshop highlighted floor vibrations and featured a presentation by Thomas M. Murray, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, the Montague-Betts Professor of Structural Steel Design at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a renowned expert on the subject. Murray discussed the procedures used on steel-framed floor systems to assess their ability to withstand vibrations caused by walking and other rhythmic activities. In doing so, he drew upon criteria set forth in AISC Design Guide 11: Floor Vibrations Due to Human Activity (Chicago: American Institute of Steel Construction, 1997).

The conference also included presentations of a significant number of technical papers on a variety of topics presented in five concurrent sessions. The traditional architectural engineering topics covered at the conference included building envelope and curtain wall analysis, design, and construction; the design and specification of cold-formed steel; experimental and analytical methods in structural design; the use of advanced materials in mitigation, repair, and retrofit; the behavior of buildings and components; vibration and noise control; electrical standards; and facility management.

The technical presentations also addressed themselves to a number of new topics, among them structural glass; demolition; architectural engineering education; building information modeling; the Building Security Council’s rating system; multihazard, reliability, and risk assessments; and the progressive collapse of buildings. The presentations were made both by industry and by academic experts.

The Society’s Construction Institute and its Technical Council on Forensic Engineering organized several sessions on building construction management, planning, and project control, as well as on forensics in architectural engineering. Sessions on energy efficiency and applying the principles of sustainable design also were offered.
A workshop on the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam for architectural engineering acquainted attendees with recent changes in the exam specifications, and a workshop organized by the Society’s Technical Council on Forensic Engineering dealing with the forensic aspects of facades provided insights into the significant features of building facade failures.

The conference gave a number of groups within the institute an opportunity to hold meetings, and so members of the AEI’s Academic Council, Structural Glazing Committee, and Recommended Electrical Installation Practices for Control, Communication, and Power for Critical Facilities Committee got down to business, as did the AEI’s Board of Governors and the Building Security Council’s Board of Directors. For the first time, the conference included exhibits and a career fair. Approximately 215 individuals, including about 70 students, attended the congress, the highest attendance ever.

As we say in my home state of Texas, Howdy! I am glad you decided to stop by my column. Together during the 12 months of my term as your president we will explore a number of interesting initiatives and trends within ASCE and the profession of civil engineering. I welcome the opportunity to serve as your new president during some interesting economic times when there will be a continuing need for what we do. I am looking forward to seeing how this year will unfold.

Before I launch into my remarks for this month, I want to thank David G. Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE, for his service as ASCE’s president during the past year. David initiated a number of significant advances in the profession and is a champion of ASCE and its programs. He handled some challenges faced by the Society with an impressive demonstration of professionalism. I thank him for being my mentor and friend during the past year. All of us owe him much gratitude for his steady leadership. He performed well as our president.

You may know that I have defined my initiatives for this ASCE year with a simple three-pronged approach that I refer to as ABC. Please let me expand on this concept as I ask you to join me in working together for our great organization.

A stands for advocacy. Civil engineers design and build modern civilization. These are grand words that reflect the reality of our profession. Somewhere along the way, we began to describe our product as infrastructure. A percentage of the public is not sure what infrastructure means, even though ASCE has dramatically raised awareness in recent years and our citizens rely on it every day. But there seems to be universal agreement that our country does not spend enough on infrastructure. Investment in the basic building blocks of our communities has been deferred for decades at all levels of government. It is time for civil engineers to stand up taller and impress upon local, state, and federal government the value of what we do. This will require a lot of effort at all levels. During the coming year we will continue to focus on Congress and various bills that fund stronger infrastructure. We will also work with ASCE units at the state level to support their efforts to improve state-level funding. ASCE is preparing new training to assist any member of ASCE wishing to learn how best to participate in the public policy process. Please join us. Our quality of life is directly affected by our ability to change the conversation about infrastructure funding.

B is for benefits. ASCE is a great source of information, training, opportunity, and professional growth. If you want to know something about civil engineering, ASCE has what you are seeking. Recognizing that our profession must be both promoted and defended, we have several initiatives that will ensure that we remain the leaders in infrastructure far into the future. All civil engineers will benefit from the products and policies that will flow from ASCE’s efforts. Some of the initiatives are indeed far reaching, such as reporting on the state of our nation’s infrastructure and properly preparing students to meet the formidable challenges of this century, the latter flowing from our report The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 (http://content.asce.org/vision2025/index.html). These initiatives will reach all members on a broader scale and will truly require the resources of the entire organization for success. But most important of all, my B initiative includes making certain we meet our members’ daily needs for technical, professional, educational, and various other resources and ensure that they can readily tap into these resources. My charge to the staff and every committee is to ask a single question in confronting each and every task: How does this task benefit our members? Each of you will be the judge of how well this question is answered.

C refers to change. We are all keenly aware that the world is changing rapidly. ASCE is profoundly affected by this change. We are members of a proud and successful organization. We routinely outperform other societies similar to ours. But what brought us here will not be what keeps us here. Fortunately, a number of important changes have already been initiated, including the largest development ever of a new Web site for ASCE. I am enthusiastic about the options for member service that will be on offer when the new site is launched. Recognizing that we have members of various ages and that we benefit from an influx of new student members and younger members, I have created the No Wristwatch Task Force. Made up of members under the age of 30, this body will help us create a whole new way to serve and communicate with our younger members. We want to create a culture that seeks new ways to serve as it supports those programs and activities that have proved to be big successes.

ASCE is quite simply a splendid organization. The breadth and depth of all that ASCE achieves every day are indeed impressive, but the ultimate value of the organization is derived from you, our members. I will never forget that fact. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead this great organization. Let’s work together to make it a year to remember.

 —D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE

In November 2006 ASCE’s Board of Direction approved changes to canon 1 of the Code of Ethics and to the guidelines to practice for that canon. These changes, incorporating the concept of sustainable development as an ethical objective, were the result of a long and hotly contested debate about civil engineers’ obligations to their clients, to the public, and to the environment. This column explores the background of the sustainable development provisions of the code on the 12th anniversary of their adoption.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: In 1976 ASCE’s Board of Direction approved an extensive revision of the Code of Ethics, transforming it in such a way that, rather than focusing narrowly on business practices, it became a more comprehensive guide to professional conduct. In addition to canons mandating honor and integrity, professional development, and, above all, concern for the health, safety, and welfare of the public, the 1976 edition included a provision on the engineer’s obligation to the environment. This provision was set forth in paragraph (f) in the guidelines to practice for canon 1: “Engineers should be committed to improving the environment to enhance the quality of life.”

While the new provision was intended to reflect the philosophy that concern for the environment was part of an engineer’s “paramount” obligation to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, for many ASCE members it did not do nearly enough to demonstrate the Society’s commitment to the principles of environmental stewardship. In a decade that saw major strides in the environmental movement in the United States, including federal legislation aimed at ensuring clean air and water, preserving endangered species, and protecting the environment, proponents of so-called environmental ethics argued that the code should require, not merely recommend, that ASCE members take environmental factors into consideration in meeting their professional obligations.

Almost immediately after the adoption of the 1976 edition, ASCE’s Environmental Impact Analysis Research Council began work on new language that would make a commitment to the environment an ethical obligation. After several versions of the new language were considered, in 1984 the council proposed to the ASCE membership a new canon, canon 8: “Engineers shall perform services in such a manner as to husband the world’s resources and the natural and cultured environment for the benefit of present and future generations.” This canon, together with the nine clauses pertaining to it in the guidelines to practice, required engineers to possess knowledge of environmental issues, to determine and disclose any untoward environmental effects of civil engineering projects, and to promote and support efforts to preserve areas of archaeological, geological, or biological significance.

While the proposed canon was hailed by supporters as a statement of the profession’s existing standard of practice and a means of dispelling any public misperception of civil engineers as supporters of unchecked development, the proposed canon met with immediate resistance within the ASCE membership. Critics of the canon argued that, while good engineering includes stewardship of resources, it was inappropriate to place the abstract concept of conservation above the engineer’s duty to his or her clients and the profession’s goals of technological advancement.

Many feared that creating an express obligation to husband resources would create a new source of legal liability for members rendering professional services. Still others, while supporting the concept of environmental ethics in general, believed that the issue was amply covered in paragraph (f) in the guidelines to practice for canon 1 and in ASCE’s policy of “assuring a desirable quality of life,” which included many of the considerations contained in the proposed canon. In the face of this opposition, ASCE’s Professional Activities Committee voted against recommending canon 8 to the Board of Direction, and the initiative stalled.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: The term “sustainable development” was popularized in the late 1980s as a concept that stressed the importance of balancing the needs of today’s population to develop and use natural resources against the need to preserve finite resources for the benefit of future generations. The increasing global focus on sustainability gave new life to the quest to strengthen the civil engineer’s responsibility to the environment and to have this responsibility reflected in the Code of Ethics.

In 1994 the Professional Activities Committee drafted a second version of canon 8: “Engineers shall perform services that help sustain the world’s resources and meet long-term human needs, while protecting the natural and cultural environment.” This version was disseminated to the membership for comment in February 1995 but again met with opposition.

Some ASCE members argued that the focus on sustainable development was harming the civil engineering profession in that major infrastructure and other projects throughout the country were drying up because of vague concerns about sustainability. Others challenged the murky definition of sustainable development as popularly used and questioned whether any engineer could have a sufficient understanding of the concept to comply with a canon in the Code of Ethics. At least one ASCE district objected on the grounds that the term “sustainable development” had been used in the media in debates over such issues as birth control and abortion, and it opposed any action by ASCE that might be perceived as taking a position on such issues. Finally, some members repeated the argument that sustainable development was adequately addressed in paragraph (f) in the guidelines to practice for canon 1.

After tallying the wide range of member responses, the Professional Activities Committee again voted against recommending canon 8 to the board. Instead, it proposed an alternative means of introducing the concept of sustainability into the code, namely, by modifying canon 1. Their proposal for canon 1 read as follows: “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.”

The proposed amendment also included several changes to the guidelines to practice for canon 1. The new guidelines stressed that engineers should seek opportunities to protect the environment and demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, and they required engineers to advise clients and employers of possible consequences if their advice in matters of sustainable development was not heeded.

The proposed revisions to canon 1 were announced to the ASCE membership in April 1996 and approved by the board in November of that year, along with the following definition: “Sustainable development is the challenge of meeting human needs for natural resources, industrial products, energy, food, transportation, shelter, and effective waste management while conserving and protecting environmental quality and the natural resource base essential for future development.”

Since the passage of its amended Code of Ethics, ASCE has supported a number of other policies and initiatives in furtherance of sustainability. Policy 418 (“The Role of the Civil Engineer in Sustainable Development,” http://www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy_details.cfm?hdlid=60), last modified in April 2007, encourages civil engineers to consider economic development and environmental sustainability as “complementary aspects of the common goal of improving the quality of life.” The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 (http://content.asce.org/vision2025/index.html) depicts civil engineers as leaders in implementing “green” design and environmentally friendly innovations. And in May 2008 the Board of Direction approved the dissemination of the Sustainable Development Action Plan, which summarizes achievements and outlines new objectives in education, outreach activities, and research in relation to sustainable development.

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.

I am excited to announce the launch of ASCE’s Mentoring Web site, www.asce.org/mentoring . The Society’s goal in providing mentoring opportunities and programs is to facilitate the vital transfer of knowledge from today’s civil engineers to tomorrow’s great minds. The Web site features ASCE’s online mentoring module, which enables individuals to draw on the expertise of mentors and professional peers and to receive constructive feedback. Mentors will also benefit from the module in that it will enhance their ability to transform values and strategies into productive actions while helping them remain current with issues affecting the profession. In addition to providing information about ASCE’s mentoring module, the Web site features section and branch mentoring programs as well as mentoring programs for Engineers Without Borders–USA. Visit the Web site for more information about these features or to request a brochure that describes mentoring, outlines its benefits, and lists the steps needed to begin a mentoring program.

What infrastructure needs are of greatest concern in your area? Share them by taking a survey that will help ASCE prepare its next national infrastructure assessment—the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure—which is to be released in March. The survey is your way of telling ASCE what ought to be emphasized in the new assessment by describing the gravest physical problems in your community. It is open only to ASCE members, and personal information will not be shared. Complete the online survey at www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB228AEAT3YAR. For additional information about the March report, visit www.asce.org/reportcard.

One of the best ways to become involved in ASCE’s advocacy efforts, including the promotion of the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, is through our Key Contact Program. Those participating in the program receive information and resources designed to help them acquaint officials at all levels of government with issues that have a bearing on civil engineering. To learn more about the Key Contact Program, visit www.asce.org/pressroom/publicpolicy/keycont.cfm or contact our government relations department via phone at (202) 789-7850 or via e-mail at govwash@asce.org.

I would like to invite all photographers and videographers to enter the photo and video contest that has been organized in connection with our next national infrastructure assessment, the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. To enter, send us images of deteriorating infrastructure in your community. Winners will receive a cash prize, and their entries may be used in promotional materials for our report. To obtain more information, visit www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm. A promotional video is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRgcPsB2yj8.

A new online review course for those planning to take the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam in environmental engineering will be available this winter. The course will cover topics likely to be included on the exam, including wastewater, storm water, and potable water. Attention will also be given to ambient air, emission sources, control strategies, municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and special and radioactive waste, as well as to environmental assessments, remediation, and public health and safety. The 12-hour course will be made up of six 2-hour sessions and will meet once a week online for six consecutive weeks. The online portion will be delivered using the popular and convenient webinar format. Organizations pay a single site registration fee, and an unlimited number of individuals may attend the course at a single site. In response to strong demand from members, ASCE will continue to offer online courses for those intending to take the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam in civil engineering or structural engineering, and a special review course will be offered for ASCE members and other engineers planning to take the California Structural Engineer Seismic Examination. The registration deadline for all of ASCE’s winter 2009 online review courses is February 3. For additional information on the courses or to register, visit www.asce.org/conted/distancelearning/livepeexamreview.cfm.  

I would like to congratulate our Maine Section for its efforts in persuading Maine’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to sponsor ASCE memberships for its employees. The agency has purchased an agreement with the Society for 60 members that focuses on membership, publications, and continuing education. Before the agreement, only 20 of the approximately 200 engineers at the DOT were ASCE members, and they paid all their own dues. For more information about ASCE’s partnering programs, visit http://content.asce.org/orgresources.

Do you know any civil engineers who are looking for a new professional home? When you recruit new ASCE members, you are not only helping ASCE grow but also giving yourself a chance to win great prizes in our 2009 Member-Get-A-Member Drive (http://content.ascedrive.org/). The first drawing, in which members will have an opportunity to win a gift certificate worth $200 toward ASCE merchandise, will be on December 31. The more members you recruit, the greater your chances of winning.

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

Engineering Alliance Addresses Needs of Younger Members
The Emerging Leaders Alliance, which includes ASCE and other engineering societies, held its inaugural conference in Pittsburgh October 9–11. The conclave, formally the 2008 Capstone Program, was supported by a grant from the United Engineering Foundation and attracted a number of younger members of the participating societies. Twelve younger members from ASCE were in attendance.

“I really wanted the opportunity to talk with people who were more than just civil engineers on my professional level,” says Leah Milcarek, A.M.ASCE, a structural engineer in the Pittsburgh office of aecom. “I thought that one of the really great things about this conference was that I had [interaction with] engineers from a multitude of disciplines,” she says.

Those in attendance heard from several keynote speakers, including John Goodish, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the United States Steel Corporation, of Pittsburgh; Robert Kumpf, the chief administrative officer and vice president of Bayer Material Science, headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany; and Chris Hendrickson, Ph.D., Dist.M.ASCE, one of the directors of Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute. Attendees also had an opportunity to avail themselves of training modules that covered such topics as risk assessment; critical thinking and problem solving; team building and coaching; social responsibility and ethics; communication; and conflict resolution.

The mission of the Emerging Leaders Alliance, according to its Web site (www.emergingleadersalliance.org), is to “foster leadership in the engineering and scientific community” by providing “an interdisciplinary community of learning for engineering and scientific professionals, promoting the development of great leaders to guide our professions in addressing the needs of people in the 21st century.”
In addition to ASCE, the alliance includes the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers.

New Software Promises To Streamline HQ Operations 
In August staff members at ASCE’s headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, made the transition to a new association management system called Personify. Developed by the software firm TMA Resources, of Vienna, Virginia, Personify replaces two systems that ASCE had been using for more than two decades.

“ASCE believes that the new Personify system will improve the Society’s relationship with its members and non-members by streamlining its operations, consolidating data, and improving staff productivity,” stated Patrick J. Natale, P.E., F.ASCE, the Society’s executive director, in an October 22 e-mail. In August, September, and October, staff members entered data into both the legacy database and Personify. Dual entry mitigated the risks associated with a major system change and enabled staff members to become acquainted with the new system.

In September a letter was sent to all ASCE members describing how the transition to Personify would affect them. The letter informed members that whereas their online user identifications were being changed to their primary e-mail addresses, their passwords would not change. A new ASCE membership card accompanied the letter. It featured a bar code that can be scanned at ASCE events to facilitate the registration process.
Such online procedures as renewing memberships, making changes to profiles, and ordering ASCE publications have been redeveloped to be compatible with the Personify system. “The Society has already experienced some benefits with the implementation of the new system,” stated Natale in his e-mail. “Notwithstanding, we will see more significant benefits with the redesign of the Society’s Web sites, including www.pubs.asce.org. Personify will serve as a solid foundation upon which to build this new Web interface, which will serve as a primary source for professional networking and collaboration. The combined services provided by Personify and this new Web platform will result in better service for the public, ASCE’s staff, and, most importantly, its membership,” he wrote.

Members who have questions about the transition to the new system and how it will affect their online dealings with the Society are encouraged to contact ASCE’s customer service department at (800) 548-2723 or at member@asce.org.

Bonneville to Chair Building Seismic Safety Council
David R. Bonneville, M.ASCE, a senior principal of Degenkolb Engineers, of San Francisco, has been named the chairman of the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC), a body established by the National Institute of Building Sciences to develop and promote national regulatory provisions for mitigating earthquake damage. A former vice-chair of the BSSC’s governing board, Bonneville plans to use his experience in seismic safety programs to ensure that BSSC-recommended codes and standards are included in legislation, regulations, practices, rules, codes, and relief procedures. He will remain a member of the BSSC’s Code Resource Support Committee. Bonneville leads an engineering group at Degenkolb that specializes in the seismic evaluation, design, and improvement of buildings for science, technology, and government, and he has also contributed to California’s seismic codes and standards. He will assume his new responsibilities next year.

Johnston Named Weisiger Professor
David W. Johnston, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has been named the Edward I. Weisiger Distinguished Professor in Construction Engineering and Management at North Carolina State University. The selection was made by members of the civil, construction, and environmental engineering department. Johnston holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in civil and construction engineering from North Carolina State and joined the faculty there in 1977. His teaching and research interests have included construction engineering, construction management, and infrastructure management. Within ASCE he has chaired the Construction Institute’s Construction Engineering Education Committee and Construction Research Council and been a member of the Structural Engineering Institute’s Design Loads on Structures during Construction Standards Committee.

Clough to Receive NAE’s Bueche Award
G. Wayne Clough, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, is to be presented with the Arthur M. Bueche Award, which is conferred by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The award “honors an engineer who has shown dedication in science and technology as well as active involvement in determining U.S. science and technology policy, promoting technological development, and contributing to the enhancement of the relationship between industries, government, and universities,” according to the NAE’s Web site. Clough has taught at Duke University and Stanford University, has headed the civil engineering department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and been dean of the College of Engineering there, and has served as the University of Washington’s provost for academic affairs. He became the president of the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1994 and during his tenure helped to raise the institution’s stature. President Bush appointed him to the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2001 and to the National Science Board in 2004.

Lansey Named Department Head
Kevin Lansey, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Arizona, has been named head of the school’s civil engineering and engineering mechanics department. Lansey’s research encompasses water resource modeling and planning, the optimization of water distribution systems, uncertainty analyses, and the remote sensing of data for hydrologic modeling. In 2002 he won ASCE’s Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, and he has served as editor of ASCE’s Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Lansey earned a bachelor’s degree in forest engineering from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, a master’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Poston Honored as Distinguished Alumnus
Randall W. Poston, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, the vice president of Whitlock Dalrymple Poston & Associates, P.C., an engineering consulting firm headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, has been inducted into the University of Texas at Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni. An active member of numerous national and international technical committees, Poston has been a recipient of ASCE’s T.Y. Lin Award and Collingwood Prize for technical papers published in ASCE journals. For the past two decades he has been a structural engineering consultant engaged in the evaluation, repair, strengthening, and design of more than 500 structures. In 1995 he and two colleagues founded Whitlock Dalrymple Poston & Associates, and he currently manages the firm’s office in Austin. Poston was inducted into the academy at a banquet on November 7.

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.

Juan D. Carrizo, P.E., F.ASCE, received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University in 1984 and is currently a senior project manager with Keith and Schnars, P.A., in Lakeland, Florida, where his duties include design and project management services for both public- and private-sector engineering projects. Over the past 10 years Carrizo has been an active member of the Florida Section’s Ridge Branch, serving as treasurer in 1999, secretary in 2000, vice president in 2001, and president in 2002. Recently he was the senior water resources engineer for two watershed management programs in Polk County, Florida, one of them involving Saddle Creek. Both were jointly funded by Polk County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. He also served as the senior water resources engineer responsible for preparing the bridge hydraulics reports and the environmental resources permit application for a bridge replacement project in Hardee County, Florida. Using an extensive watershed model based on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Engineering Center–Hydrologic Modeling System) and HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center–River Analysis System), he was able to simulate water surface profiles and velocity distributions through the multiple openings in bridge crossings. A licensed professional engineer in Florida, Carrizo recently received an award from the Ridge Branch for his contributions on a storm-water treatment project, and in 2007 the Florida chapter of the American Planning Association honored him with an award for his work on a watershed study and plan for Miami-Dade County.

Rollin H. Hotchkiss, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Brigham Young University, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Utah State University, and a doctorate in civil and mineral engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is currently a professor at Brigham Young University and associate chair of the civil and environmental engineering department. A licensed professional engineer in Nebraska, Hotchkiss has authored, coauthored, or contributed to more than 145 reports, papers in technical journals and conference proceedings, and other publications. Within ASCE he has served as treasurer of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), been a member of the institute’s Governing Documents Committee, and held the positions of vice-chair and secretary of its Technical Coordination Executive Committee. He has also been an associate editor of the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering and is the EWRI’s incoming vice president. For the past 15 years he has served as secretary-general of the International Coordinating Committee on Reservoir Sedimentation, a body within the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Hotchkiss has been inducted into the Order of the Engineer and has been the recipient of numerous teaching accolades, among them the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology Excellence in Education Award, the James M. Robbins Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Chi Epsilon Honorary Society Central District Excellence in Teaching Award. He was recently named the winner of a regional best-paper award by the American Society for Engineering Education.

Kang-Won Wayne Lee, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from South Korea’s Seoul National University in 1974, a master’s degree in geotechnical and structural engineering from Rutgers University in 1978, and a doctorate in transportation and geotechnical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1982. Upon receiving his undergraduate degree Lee worked in the South Korean offices of Lyon Associates, of Baltimore, and TAMS, of New York City. Between 1974 and 1985 he held positions as a graduate assistant, highway construction inspector, assistant research engineer, and assistant professor and was also a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin and at King Saud University, in Riyadh (Ar Riyad¸), Saudi Arabia. In 1985 he joined the faculty of the University of Rhode Island, where as a professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the university’s Transportation Center he teaches undergraduate and graduate students. Lee has more than 90 papers and lectures and more than 70 technical publications to his credit. A licensed professional engineer in Texas and Rhode Island, he has been active on various ASCE committees. He is a founding member of the Construction Institute’s Bituminous Materials Committee and served as its chair from 1999 to 2001. He has also been a board member and president of the Rhode Island Section.

Mohamad A. Saadeghvaziri, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor of civil engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He earned a bachelor’s degree (with high honors) in 1982, a master’s degree in 1983, and a doctorate in 1988, all in civil engineering, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Saadeghvaziri specializes in structural engineering with an emphasis on the nonlinear responses of structures, finite-element and computational methods, extreme event engineering, and structural applications of composite and renewable materials, and he is currently conducting research on systems capable of protecting structures from blast loads. A licensed professional engineer in New Jersey, he has served on numerous ASCE committees, including the Structural Engineering Institute’s Committee on Bridge Security, Committee on Blast, Shock, and Impact, and Committee on Seismic Effects. He was recently awarded a $622,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, MCEER (formerly the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research), and the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the use of jackets to protect structures from a multiplicity of hazards. The design concept centers on dissipating energy through damage and phase changes in order to mitigate the damaging effects of shock waves. Saadeghvaziri has also done consulting work for a number of companies and has authored or contributed to more than 120 publications and reports.

Edward C. Sullivan, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is an associate dean and professor at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He also holds a master’s in business administration from John F. Kennedy University. With a career that spans more than 30 years, Sullivan has authored or contributed to more than 100 publications, and his “A New Model for Predicting Freeway Incidents and Incident Delays,” which appeared in ASCE’s Journal of Transportation Engineering, earned him a best-paper award from the Society’s Urban Transport Division (now part of the Transportation and Development Institute). As noted in the special section in this issue honoring the winners of the Society’s awards for 2008, Sullivan is this year’s recipient of the Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award. He has been a lecturer at Northern Jiaotong University (also known as Beijing Jiaotong University) and a visiting professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Outside of academia, he has contributed to the engineering community by serving as a consultant for several organizations, among them the California Department of Finance, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also advised the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on a value pricing study. Within ASCE he has served on the Transportation and Development Institute’s Publications and Newsletter Committee and been president (2005–06) of the Los Angeles Section’s San Luis Obispo Branch. One of his most noteworthy contributions to the profession has been the development and implementation of an online guide for carrying out cost-benefit analyses of transportation projects. Originally begun as an ASCE technical committee activity, the work was recently completed under the sponsorship of the California Department of Transportation’s Office of Transportation Economics. Sullivan is a licensed professional engineer in California.

Robert B. Turner, P.E., F.ASCE, is the governor of ASCE’s Region 8 and the communications chair of the Inland Empire Section. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Gonzaga University in 1989 and a master’s in business administration and public administration from Eastern Washington University in 2001. Turner currently serves as the traffic operations engineer for the City of Spokane, Washington, and his responsibilities include supervising professional and technical staff in connection with traffic investigations, studies, and operational reviews and supervising the city’s pavement management system program. For the past four years he has also been an adjunct professor in the civil engineering department at Gonzaga University. Turner was president of the ASCE chapter at Gonzaga University and has held a number of posts within the Inland Empire Section, including those of director, vice president, president-elect, and president. On the national level he has served on ASCE’s Committee on Critical Infrastructure. In recognition of his wide-ranging activities within the engineering community, the Inland Empire Section named him engineer of the year in 1999, and in 2001 he was elected to the honor society Beta Gamma Sigma. He is also the author of “The Inland Empire Section: ASCE and the Grand Coulee Dam National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Ceremony” (in Proceedings of the Second National Congress on Civil Engineering History and Heritage, edited by Jerry R. Rogers [Reston, Virginia: ASCE Press, 1998]). A licensed professional engineer in Washington, Turner was responsible for managing all aspects of a street bond election campaign in Spokane in 1996 and in that capacity coordinated the efforts of staff members, citizen groups, and elected officials.

Rajalingam “Raj” Valluvan, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Anna University, in India, a master’s degree in concrete structures from Imperial College London, and a doctorate in civil and structural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently serves as a transportation engineer in the California Department of Transportation’s Division of Local Assistance. Earlier in his career he was a vice president of MACTEC Engineering & Consulting, Inc., and served as the firm’s national bridge practice leader. His technical and research interests include the seismic behavior and response of civil infrastructure, in particular, bridges. The notable projects with which he has been involved have included the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco; the Confederation Bridge, which links Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick; the SkyTrain rapid transit system, in Vancouver, British Columbia; and the first Blue Water Bridge, which crosses the St. Clair River to link Port Huron, Michigan, with Point Edward, Ontario. Eager to share his knowledge with the engineering community, Valluvan chairs the American Concrete Institute (ACI) committee dealing with earthquake-resistant concrete bridges and is a voting member of the Structural Engineering Institute’s Shear and Torsion Committee, which as a joint committee also includes ACI members. In 2001 he was honored with the ACI Younger Member Award for Professional Achievement. Valluvan has numerous technical articles, reports, and publications to his credit and is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and California.

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 Patrick Ballou, the applications coordinator, at (703) 295-6169 or pballou@asce.org. Completed applications are reviewed monthly by the Membership Application Review Committee.

John Fondahl, P.E., F.ASCE, a professor emeritus of civil engineering at Stanford University, died on September 13 at the age of 83. Born in Washington, D.C., Fondahl joined the United States Marine Corps during World War II and in 1945 participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. In 1955 he was the project engineer of the Nimbus Dam and its powerhouse, near Sacramento, California. Invited by Stanford’s civil engineering faculty to help implement a new construction program at the university, he accepted and wound up teaching there for 35 years, retiring in 1990. In addition to providing the theoretical foundation for the development of software that helps construction firms plan and maintain complex schedules when working on large projects, Fondahl pioneered the concept of using time-lapse photography as a management tool on construction projects. In 1960 he founded a separate institute at Stanford for construction, one the university’s first industry affiliate programs, and later he did the same for project management. Fondahl is survived by his wife, Doris; four daughters, Lauren, Gail, Meredith, and Dorian; and three grandchildren.

Jack M. Graham, P.E., F.ASCE, a former public works director and a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, died on July 17 at the age of 85. Born in Dallas in 1923, he graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1945. During the years 1966–83 he served as the public works director for the Texas cities of Fort Worth and Corpus Christi. Graham is survived by his wife, Doris, and his son, Richard.