Articles for Dallas ASCE

Community Service and the Engineer’s Role in Society Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, once said of engineering: “It is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy...it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege...To the ...

Low Impact Development Our July speaker provided a fascinating presentation about Low Impact Development (LID), focusing on steps that have been taken in the Houston area to educate engineers and public officials about LID, and to promote the concept as a design solution that is not cost prohibitive. In fact, the engineering firms that were involved in Houston’s LID Design Challenge actually proved the opposite: LID applications save money. After the presentation I spoke with ...

The Spark of Innovation Think back to the time when you first decided that you wanted to be an engineer. For some of you, that decision came in college. For others, it was a childhood dream. What made you choose engineering? My guess is that many engineers were drawn to the profession because they wanted to solve problems. Not only to solve problems, but to come up with creative, new, innovative ways to solve problems. Most engineers have creative minds, and many are quite ...

Public Relations for Civil Engineers At the Spring Texas Section Meeting in Austin this year I attended an all-day workshop entitled “Public Relations (PR) for Civil Engineers.” The workshop was led by ASCE national’s government relations staff. It was an excellent hands-on workshop with exercises on everything from how to develop a relationship with your local elected officials to how to write a press release. I left the classroom that day with a realization that we ...

2010 ASCE Legislative “Fly-In” – March 23-25. Each year National ASCE Legislative Affairs Division provides an opportunity for ASCE members from around the country to travel to Washington, D.C. to speak with their Senators and Congressmen about issues that are vital to the civil engineering profession. The event is known as a legislative “fly-in” and I was fortunate to be one of 11 ASCE Texas Section members to participate in this year’s event. I was ...

Last month Clarence Daugherty, P.E. of Jacobs presented an update on the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. This park is the result of the creative vision and forward thinking of leaders at the City of Dallas and the consultant community. It reminds us that engineers are creators, visionaries and problem solvers. Civil engineers literally build civilizations. Our creativity and vision are essential to the successful and sustainable future of our developed world. In February our Dallas Branch ...

The Nation’s Infrastructure In President Obama’s State of the Union address in January he noted that investing in our infrastructure is investing in our nation, emphasizing that railroads and the Interstate Highway System are critical investments and citing construction jobs that were created through the Recovery Act. As civil engineers we know that for many years our nation has neglected to invest in infrastructure. I think of it as an “out of sight, out of mind” ...

Celebrate National Engineers Week February 14-20, 2010 This year I challenge you to do something to commemorate National Engineers Week. As engineers we often downplay what we do to make the world a better place, but this year I encourage you to take one week to celebrate our profession. How? Here are some ideas: Participate in “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” on February 18, 2010 Even today fewer than 10% of engineers are women. Invite a ...

Inspiration and Vision As we begin a new year we often reflect on last year’s accomplishment and successes, as well as unfortunate events and perhaps disappointments. This reflection enables us to learn from the past and to gain inspiration and vision for the coming year. At our December 5th meeting we were inspired by the presentation by Don Holzwarth, the Director of Public Works for Dallas County. Mr. Holzwarth did not focus on the technical aspects of our profession ...

What is Sustainability? Two weeks ago I attended the ASCE National Conference in Kansas City. The official conference theme was entitled From Builders to Integrators – Civil Engineers Leading the Way, but the underlying and recurring theme was the ever-present concept of “sustainability.” What is sustainability? How does it relate to the profession of civil engineering? The ASCE Task Committee on Sustainable Design has created a definition of sustainability as it ...

Civil Engineering: A Remarkable Profession I write this message as I attend the 83rd annual TxDOT Transportation Short Course in College Station. It probably comes as no surprise that the theme of this conference is centered around transportation funding (or the lack thereof). For those of you in the transportation industry, this is a topic of great interest and concern. In fact, funding for infrastructure of any type is a topic of great concern for civil engineers across ...

Next month, we will be inviting Mr. Wayne Klotz, PE, President of ASCE National to tell us about State of the National organization. I am looking forward to his presentation and would encourage you to join us at the next meeting. ASCE Texas Section Fall Meeting will be in Woodlands, Houston from Oct 28 - 31. Support Texas Section of ASCE by attending that event. You can get details on the meeting registration on our website. For my last message as your President, I want to say ...

We had a great joint meeting with SAME last month. We thank all of our members and guests who attended the event. We will be looking forward to get an update from Mr. Steve Stagner of TXCEC to get an update on the legislative session at the next months’ meeting. Plan to join us at September 14th which is the second Monday of the month. We are accepting nominations for the ASCE Citizen Engineer Award and the Younger Member Employer Recognition Award. I encourage you to consider ...

Wow – we had a great joint meeting with the Fort Worth Branch – a record setting 730 people attended the event at the Cowboys stadium in Arlington. Needless to say – we thank all our members and guests who made this event a success. Special kudos to all the volunteers who helped out with the logistics. It was a job well done. If you are reading this message, chances are that you are already members of ASCE but for those of you who aren’t, I urge you to fill out the membership application ...

I would like to start by thanking each volunteer who helped out with the ASCE Golf Tournament and Education Day last month. You make us all proud. Half of 2009 has gone by and before we know it, our next year’s board will be taking oath to serve our membership under the leadership of our incumbent President, Ms. Rachel Hayden. If you are interested in serving for ASCE next year, please contact Rachel or me now. Our membership is growing stronger because of our volunteer(s) efforts and we ...

Successful May Luncheon Meeting We had a successful branch meeting this month. Our younger members and their director Nicole Watson did a great job at coordinating the meeting logistics. Jon Stigliano made an excellent presentation on personal success titled “Path to Personal Empowerment”, followed by an Ethics Update on Board Rules by David Howell, PE. I received great feedback from a number of our members who liked the program, kudos to all the young members for making it a total ...

This month is Younger Member month so this message is not from your usual President Faisal Syed but from the Younger Member Director, Nicole Watson. Dallas ASCE has seen many positive changes this year including the updated website and online registration; the younger members are working hard to keep up with the advancement of the branch to deliver volunteer opportunities and fun social events to the young and young at heart. The Younger Members are hosting the May meeting to promote ...

The spring season is just around the corner and so is the ASCE Golf tournament. The Dallas and Fort Worth Chapters joint tournament has been scheduled for April 27th at the Bear Creek Golf Course. Younger members host this event annually to raise money for the student scholarships. Show your support for this worthy cause and join us at this event to have a fun filled day. So plan on bringing your clubs and have at it. You never know, you may even win a prize. This month we would be ...

The year for our Branch is well underway. We have had very successful meetings this year despite the economic down-turn spiral. Our last meeting was attended by over 300 members and we appreciate that support. It is our members who define us as an organization. I personally, am proud to be a part of this fine organization. We had over 20 members represent us at the Future Cities Competition – sponsored by National Engineers Week – on January 24th at UT Arlington. Andrew Etchison, Anu ...

February 2009 I hope that the New Year has started well for everyone. As you may have noticed, your fellow ASCE board members have been busy trying to improve on our member services. We launched our new website last month that has a host of new user friendly functionality. You can now view the branch upcoming programs on-line and make registrations and payments for our monthly meetings at your own convenience. I personally want to thank all volunteers for helping with this initiative but ...