ASCE Plot Points Podcast: Recent Episodes
American Society of Civil Engineers
A new school year is upon us.
That is a very exciting proposition for civil engineering students worldwide, for ASCE, and for everyone lucky enough to use and enjoy the infrastructure these young engineers will design and build in the future.
But what’s it like being a civil engineering student in 2024? What’s the most exciting part?
“Being a civil engineering student at any time had to be amazing, but being a student, particularly in 2024, is fantastic because of all the new opportunities and technology out there,” said Maxwell Fletcher, a third-year civil engineering student at the University of Florida.
“We try to push the boundaries of what’s possible with what we know. So being able to use new technology, new modeling software, and even AI to improve our work is truly incredible.”
Fletcher is one of 27 ASCE Student Ambassadors this school year, ready to share with the world all the coolest parts about being a civil engineering student in 2024. ASCE Student Ambassadors represent ASCE on their campuses and through social media, promoting Society events and resources that can help their fellow students advance their careers.
It’s an exciting group of future leaders and an exciting time to be a civil engineering student.
“We’re in an age where civil engineering is, honestly, boundless,” Fletcher said. “I’m very excited for what the future holds for my career and everyone else I’m in school with.”
Fletcher joined fellow ASCE Student Ambassadors Mariana Vega, a civil engineering and surveying student at New Mexico State University, and Cing Kim, a civil engineering student at Illinois Tech, on the ASCE Plot Points podcast to discuss their favorite aspects of 2024 civil engineering student life.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way civil engineering gets done.
Ayanna Howard, Ph.D., serves as the dean of The Ohio State University College of Engineering and has been on the cutting edge of AI research for more than three decades. Named one of the most powerful women engineers in the world by Business Insider and a top 50 woman in tech by Forbes, Howard also will deliver the keynote at the ASCE 2024 Convention Oct. 6-9 in Tampa, Florida.
In episode 169 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Howard talks about her history researching AI and what civil engineers can expect from the technology now and into the future.
Christine Rice, P.E., M.ASCE, is a project engineer for Wood Rodgers in Sacramento, California, and former governor for ASCE’s Region 9.
But as of last week, her resume might have a new top line: game-show contestant.
Rice competed on the June 3 episode of “Weakest Link,” hosted by Jane Lynch on NBC.
She brought all of her civil engineering knowledge and experience with her. Would it be enough to prove that she was not the weakest link?
In episode 168 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Rice details her “Weakest Link” experience and explains how being a civil engineer turns out to be a huge help on a game show.
May in Washington D.C., means United For Infrastructure Week.
ASCE marked the occasion by releasing a new economic study called Bridging the Gap, analyzing the additional potential costs to both the U.S. GDP and the American taxpayer if IIJA levels of infrastructure investment aren’t continued beyond 2026.
Infrastructure Week also is a great opportunity for collaboration. Case in point: ASCE and the Global Infrastructure Investor Association, an organization representing the private sector on a global scale.
In episode 167 of ASCE Plot Points, ASCE President Marsia Geldert-Murphey talks with Jon Phillips, CEO of GIIA, about the effects of IIJA on America's infrastructure and where the United States stands on the global stage in terms of attracting private investment dollars.
Diniece Mendes is director for freight mobility at the New York City Department of Transportation and serves on the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute’s Board of Governors.
She’s also – as of this spring – a movie star.
Mendes is one of five ASCE members to feature in the new IMAX film Cities of the Future, playing on giant screens around the world.
In episode 166 of ASCE Plot Points, Mendes talks about the movie experience, living and working in New York, and what she sees as the most important things that civil engineers need to do to bring the cities of the future to life.
Los Angeles is No. 1 on the 2024 list of ASCE Best Places for Civil Engineers.
That’s three straight years for L.A., if you’re keeping track at home.
So what’s the city’s secret to success? What’s so special about the civil engineering scene there?
Ruwanka Purasinghe, P.E., M.ASCE, civil engineering associate for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and president-elect of the ASCE Los Angeles Section, has some answers.
In episode 165 of ASCE Plot Points, Purasinghe talks about, yes, what makes Los Angeles such a great place for civil engineers.
Aaron Shavel is New York through and through. Born and raised there – and now works as a project manager for TCE, specializing in rail infrastructure.
And New York breeds a certain kind of toughness.
Where did Shavel learn his civil engineering toughness?
From his civil engineering mom.
In episode 164 of ASCE Plot Points, Shavel talks about growing up around his mom’s civil engineering projects as a kid and why he thinks now is a golden age for civil engineering.
Erin Novini has blended chemical engineering with environmental engineering as an engineering specialist for consulting firm Trihydro since 2005.
And in that nearly two-decade span, she’s seen sustainability develop in the corporate world quite a bit.
In the conclusion of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee’s sustainability miniseries, Novini discusses her career, her work, and how she sees sustainability playing in the corporate space.
It's part two of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee’s sustainability mini-series on the ASCE Plot Points podcast.
Christopher Chini started his undergrad studies at Texas A&M majoring in computer science. But found he wanted to make a more tangible, direct impact on communities and on the environment.
Today, he’s a research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Labs and a former chair of the EWRI Sustainability Committee.
And in episode 162 of ASCE Plot Points, Chini talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen about his sustainability work.
This Earth Day, the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute’s Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee is a launching a sustainability mini-series on ASCE Plot Points.
Three podcasts this week; three different sustainability professionals discussing how they’ve navigated their careers to keep issues of sustainability at the forefront.
Up first is Emily Grubert, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, associate professor of sustainable energy policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
Is civil engineering leadership about people? Or is civil engineering leadership about technical expertise?
Yes.
Civil engineering leadership is all of that and more in 2024.
Lauren Taylor is a great example of civil engineering leader in the modern era, blending people skills with project management.
Taylor Taylor works for WSP, based in Austin, Texas, as the Texas planning and advisory services lead.
Last month, she was named an ENR Top 20 under 40 young professional.
In episode 160 of ASCE Plot Points, Taylor discusses her approach to civil engineering leadership and why she loves it.
“We all want to do something that matters,” Isabella Salgado says.
She is a civil engineer for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and the social activities chair for the ASCE Los Angeles Younger Member Forum.
And one way she’s found recently to connect to something larger is advocating for the profession as part of the ASCE Legislative Fly-In.
In episode 159 of ASCE Plot Points, Salgado talks about her eye-opening trip to Washington, DC (including meeting one of her idols), and how she’s following in the footsteps of her civil engineering mother, Minerva Rodriguez.
Travis St. Louis and Michael Palmer are evangelists of sorts for modular construction and design.
Each took their backgrounds in architectural engineering and moved into the modular construction practice from different angles – St. Louis on more of the civil engineering side as an enclosure engineer and associate principal for Simpson, Gumpertz, and Heger based in Oakland, California; and Palmer more on the business side as head of strategy and real estate for the Volumetric Building Companies, headquartered in Philadelphia.
In episode 158 of ASCE Plot Points, St. Louis and Palmer discuss all things modular, and why it might be the future of construction.
Alyssa Sooklal, P.E., M.ASCE, has accomplished a lot early in her career.
She works as a water resources engineer for McCormick Taylor in Baltimore, and serves as president of ASCE’s Maryland Younger Members Group.
But it hasn’t come without moments of frustration or insecurity.
Office politics are a real thing, especially when you’re a woman in the civil engineering industry – and especially if you’re a woman sensing competition with other women in your industry.
It’s not always easy to navigate.
In episode 157 of ASCE Plot Points, Sooklal discusses how she’s worked to avoid those situations and focused on building partnerships not rivalries.
Can you be a good parent and a good engineer at the same time?
Ravi Shah thinks so. Or at least he’s trying his best to do both.
Shah is a longtime active ASCE member in Orange County, California, where also works as a senior project manager for Mark Thomas.
And more recently, he’s a father.
In episode 156 of ASCE Plot Points, Ravi Shah talks about work-life balance and what he’s learned about juggling priorities.
Even in this era of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, every project can use more money.
It’s why grant writing is such a valuable skill in the world of civil engineering.
Rebecca Neilon is a senior transportation engineer in Dewberry’s Sacramento office.
And over the years she has developed a reputation of sorts as a go-to for grant writing. She has proven herself as someone who delivers the goods – she writes proposals and she wins grants.
In episode 155 of ASCE Plot Points, Rebecca Neilon outlines the skills it takes to consistently win grants to help fund your project.
In episode 154 of ASCE Plot Points, we celebrate the season of gratitude by hearing what civil engineers are thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Shofiq Ahmed was a 2023 ASCE New Face of Civil Engineering honoree.
So it’s clear that the traffic engineer for HDR, born in Bangladesh and now based outside Washington, DC, has made quite a name for himself.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
In episode 153 of ASCE Plot Points, he reflects on his journey and talks about how he’s adjusted his goals and plans along the way to stay on the path of success and happiness.
A new book from ASCE Press called IRP 8, Infrastructure System Resilience: An Engineering Framework for Assessment, Management, and Governance, breaks the big picture of system resilience into interlinked elements, making application much easier for practitioners.
It's a strong case for incremental progress in the face of complex and complicated problems.
Craig Davis is a founding director of ASCE’s Infrastructure Resilience Division and the book’s lead editor.
In episode 152 of ASCE Plot Points, he explains the eight elements of infrastructure system resilience and how practitioners can begin to employ this framework in their projects.
The best thing you can do for your career is to make consistently smart, thoughtful decisions that align with what you are trying to accomplish in this life.
But what exactly are you trying to accomplish? What makes you happy? Who are you?
Nalah Williams is still early in her career, but she’s already got a great understanding of herself. She’s the owner Golden Mane Property Management in Dallas, Texas; she’s been active in the ASCE Dallas Branch as deputy treasurer and younger member chair; and she’s a past governor of the Construction Institute’s Young Professionals Council.
All of this has been done with an eye on who she is, what she likes, what she doesn’t like, what she’s good at – crucial learning opportunities as she builds her own unique career arc.
In episode 151 of ASCE Plot Points, Williams talks about the experiences that have helped her shape her career and how knowing who she is has guided those decisions.
ities of the Future, a new film for IMAX and giant screens, is on its way.
The second in a partnership between ASCE and MacGillivray Freeman Films, following 2017's rousing success Dream Big: Engineering Our World, the film is scheduled to premiere in early 2024.
Cities of the Future, inspired in part by ASCE's Future World Vision initiative, takes viewers into the future of what's possible for our built environment. Several ASCE members feature in the film, including Paul Lee, a young engineer from Los Angeles who has spent his career fighting climate change through different renewable energy and sustainability projects.
In episode 150 of ASCE Plot Points, Lee talks about his work and what it has been like filming a new movie all around the world.
Julia Williams has never done anything exactly as you might expect.
So when she got her Ph.D. in English, she took a professor job at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and has spent the past decades teaching writing and communication skills to STEM majors.
And now she’s written a book about her experiences innovating and shaking things up in academia. It’s called “Making Changes in STEM Education: The Change Makers Toolkit.”
In episode 149 of ASCE Plot Points, Williams talks about her new book and why teaching communication skills to STEM majors is so important.
Matthew Low is the chief operating officer for Hoyle Tanner and Associates, based in Manchester, New Hampshire, and with regional offices in Florida and throughout New England.
But he didn’t always have his eye on leadership. He grew into it – learning where his specific interests and talents lay and working to build his skillset from there.
In episode 148 of ASCE Plot Points, Low talks about his career path into leadership and why taking proactive steps in your career always is the best plan.
The competition for civil engineering talent right now is well-documented.
And in an industry still coming out of the pandemic shake-up, that means innovation and efficiency are paramount.
In episode 147 of ASCE Plot Points, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Donn Digamon, a state bridge engineer, and Ahsha McQuain, a civil engineer, talk about how they’ve continued innovating and motivating during the often-tumultuous 2020s.
The 2023 ASCE Architectural Engineering Institute International Student Design Competition challenged student teams to consider a real building – the five-story Kaleideum North in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – and innovatively design it as a living building as it is retrofit into a new children’s museum.
This includes all kinds of considerations – including green design elements, energy performance optimization, and embodied carbon reduction.
And this year, the multidisplinary team from Penn State took first place in two categories – building integration and construction – and second place in the other three categories.
In episode 146 of ASCE Plot Points, Penn State team lead Jordan Kubenik talks about how the Nittany Lions managed such a massive project and how it’s helped her get a jumpstart on her career this summer.
It’s another week of work for Jose Abinazar, a project designer for Gannett Fleming in Miami, Florida.
But the journey to get to this work week wasn’t so simple.
His civil engineering college experience in Venezuela was interrupted; his family fled political turmoil and moved to Miami; Jose had to learn a new language, find a job, find a new school, and start all over again.
But he made it work.
In episode 145 of ASCE Plot Points, Abinazar reflects on his civil engineering story and why he won’t ever stop looking for the next chapter to write.
With the first ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships approaching this weekend, June 10-12 at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville, there is an interesting drama playing out with the University of South Alabama concrete canoe team.
Longtime faculty adviser for the South Alabama ASCE student chapter Eric Steward, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, made a promise to his students a decade ago. If a South Alabama student team ever advanced to a Society-wide competition, he said, he’d commemorate the accomplishment with … a tattoo.
Ten years later, South Alabama has made the finals in steel bridge and concrete canoe.
In episode 144 of ASCE Plot Points, Steward discusses the value in ASCE student competitions and how this tattoo promise is going to play out.
As noted in a recent Civil Engineering magazine article, the civil engineering industry is still sorting out whether work-from-home arrangements established at the outset of the COVID pandemic remain viable as life moves forward into something like normalcy.
For Christopher Seigel, a civil engineer with Sci-Tek Consultants in Philadelphia, working from home has been a net positive.
In episode 143 of ASCE Plot Points, Seigel discusses all angles of working from home for civil engineers and why he thinks it may simply be the way of the future.
This week’s episode of the ASCE Plot Points podcast is the first of what we’re calling Student Sessions. Three ASCE student ambassadors – Alysha Curtis of Fresno State, Peter Yu of the University of Washington, and Evan Brittenham of Western Kentucky University – talk about what thrills them and what intimidates them as they get ready to trade the grad cap for a hardhat.
ASCE has been publishing its Best Places to Be a Civil Engineer rankings for four years now, based on a combination of salary data, civil engineering job opportunities, and cost of living.
And over that span, the city that has risen the most up the list might surprise you.
It’s a city known for its climate, its beaches, and now its civil engineering.
It’s San Diego, California, and in episode 141 of ASCE Plot Points, Vanessa Eslava, A.M.ASCE, a transportation engineer for T.Y. Lin, talks about what makes her hometown so special.
Dimitrios Athanasiou, Ph.D., E.I.T., A.M.ASCE, is a senior associate of environmental and earth sciences at Exponent in Bellevue, Washington; he has a Ph.D. from Texas Tech in civil engineering; and he’s the co-chair of the ASCE EWRI Seattle Chapter.
But he began his education with a bachelor’s degree back home in Greece in physics.
So he has an interesting perspective on any comparison between the theoretical and the applied.
In episode 140 of ASCE Plot Points, Athanasiou talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen of the ASCE EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee.
Kevin Brown, P.E., M.ASCE, is a construction services manager at TranSystems in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor at the College of New Jersey.And as he’s entered into the leadership phase of his career, he’s approaching these opportunities with generosity and thoughtfulness.In episode 139 of ASCE Plot Points, Brown outlines his journey from student to teacher and talks about how he's trying to fill gaps for the next generation of civil engineers.
Infrastructure advocacy takes center stage this week with the ASCE Legislative Fly-In in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Matin, P.E., M.ASCE, Orlando office principal for S&ME and chair of the ASCE Public Policy and Practice Committee, is one of the many ASCE members headed to Capitol Hill this week looking to keep the IIJA momentum going.
In episode 138 of ASCE Plot Points, Matin talks about how IIJA funding is affecting work going on in Florida and what’s next for infrastructure advocacy.
You never know how those engineering skills you develop in your career might translate in other areas of your life.Case in point: Jaffer Almosawy, P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE.He’s a project manager for GCW Inc. in Las Vegas, specializing in water and wastewater design.But recently, he’s also become known as ASCE’s Minister of Love.What exactly does that mean?In this special Valentine’s Day episode of ASCE Plot Points, Almosawy explains.
Issues of workforce dominate the conversation around civil engineering in 2023.And one of latest workforce trends is the notion of quiet quitting.Jennifer Sloan Ziegler, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, is an engineer and project manager for Cypress Environment and Infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, and an ASCE Region 5 governor.In episode 136 of ASCE Plot Points, Ziegler talks about quiet quitting and why she thinks it might be an essential strategy for the modern civil engineer.
Sustainability has come a long way over the course of Antoinette Quagliata's career – from project add-ons to default requirements.
A manager of sustainability services for Dewberry, Quagliata, ENV SP, talks on episode 135 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast about the changes she's seen and how current sustainability tools are making her work better than ever.
Brian Brenner, P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor of the practice at Tufts University and a principal engineer with Tighe & Bond in Westwood, Massachusetts. He’s published three collections of essays through ASCE, and he has a new monthly column, “More Water Under the Bridge,” on Civil Engineering Source.Remarkably, all these accomplishments – the teaching, the work, the writing – springs from the mind of a 4-year-old. Well, that is to say, Brenner fell in love with bridges as a toddler has managed to maintain that childlike wonder for his work ever since.In episode 134 of ASCE Plot Points, Brenner breaks down his bridge engineering origin story and why finding the humorous side of things is his natural writerly point of view.
Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, returns to the ASCE Plot Points podcast to discuss his new book, "The Blessings of Disaster." In part one, he argued why learning from extreme weather events and other disasters is essential. In part two, he outlines how such learning can be done.
Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, has a new book out today, “The Blessings of Disaster,” that argues the best way forward – if not the only way – is by learning from the extreme weather events and other disasters that beset us.
In episode 132 of ASCE Plot Points, Bruneau discusses his new book, the “Three Little Pigs” fable, and why we must find blessings in disasters.
The ASCENT Tower in Milwaukee – at 25 stories – is the world’s tallest timber building.
In episode 131 of ASCE Plot Points, the architect behind the ASCENT, Jason Korb of Korb and Associates, talks about the unique challenges inherent to the ASCENT and how collaboration and innovation helped make history possible.
Duncan Wardle, former head of innovation and creativity at Walt Disney Company, will serve as the closing speaker at the ASCE 2022 Convention, Oct. 26 in Anaheim, California. In episode 130 of ASCE Plot Points, Wardle talks about innovation and how to do it.
Colette Easter is not a native Kentuckian. But she’s lived and worked there a long time now, and she cares about the state.
An engineer with the Metropolitan Sewer District in Louisville, she played a huge leadership role in the 2019 ASCE state infrastructure report card for Kentucky. So when floods tore through parts of Eastern Kentucky this summer, it spoke to Easter both professionally and personally.
In episode 129 of ASCE Plot Points, Easter talks about the work she’s doing in Louisville to ensure water resilience for her county, and why that resilience so often starts with public awareness.
Sarah McEwen has worked as a water resources engineer in Jackson, Mississippi, for nearly a decade.
Shawn Miller, entering his senior year as a civil engineering student at Jackson State University, has called the city home his entire life.
In episode 128 of ASCE Plot Points, the two ASCE leaders share stories from the recent water crisis as the city seeks a pathway toward resilience.
Stu Walesh is an ASCE distinguished member; a longtime civil engineer specializing in water with experience in the public sector, the private sector, and academia.
Through it all, he's approached every day as a chance to learn something new.
In episode 127 of ASCE Plot Points, Walesh talks about how he developed that growth mindset and how it helps create positive disruption.
Every career journey has stops along the way. And for many people, those are just called jobs.
But for the lucky among us, those stops along the way eventually add up to a destination job.
But for Melissa Hilsabeck, EIT, A.M.ASCE, she’s found that destination job very early in her career.
She’s a capital projects coordinator in the construction management division for the Port of Long Beach.
On episode 126 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Hilsabeck talks about her career journey and the many exciting projects happening at the port.
These days it takes a lot of different people with a lot of different skills to make civil engineering happen.
It really comes down to teamwork and technology.
On episode 125 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Bentley Ruggles, a senior project manager for Dewberry, talks about how virtual reality technology is changing the way projects get done.
Efficiency is essential these days.
There isn’t enough time or money for anything less.
And efficiency is borne of innovation.
The Office of Public Transportation in Alabama is one such innovation – a partnership between the state department of transportation and the University of Alabama in Huntsville with the simple goal of improving transit for the citizens of Alabama.
In episode 124 of ASCE Plot Points, two Alabama Office of Public Transporation leaders, Mehrnaz Doustmohammadi and Michael Anderson, discuss the collaboration and if the model could be a good fit in other parts of the country.
Joel Figueroa-Vallines, P.E., F.ASCE, is a structural and forensic engineer and president of SEP+A Engineering Consulting, headquartered in Orlando.
He left home to drive south for Surfside, Florida, last summer in the aftermath of the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium. He wound up staying for three weeks, helping where he could.
In episode 123 of ASCE Plot Points, Figueroa-Vallines reflects on the tragedy a year later and how he’s seen it change the industry.
Big-picture thinking, long-term planning - they seem to be at a premium these days. But not in Reno, Nevada. Not when it comes to clean water. Danny Rotter is an engineering manager for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority in Reno, and he works as part of a team that is using scenario planning and detailed data analysis to ensure the region's clean water future all the way out to the year 2100. On episode 122 of the ASCE Plot Points, Rotter talks about how that process works and why it's so important.
Civil engineering careers can take many shapes.
You can work for a giant firm. You can work for a smaller firm.
But what about those medium-sized firms?
On episode 121 of the ASCE Plot Points, Sam Potts, a transportation engineer in Los Angeles, California, details the benefits of working for a medium-sized firm.
Society members recently voted Marsia Geldert Murphey as the ASCE 2023 president-elect.
Clearly, her accomplishments and vision for the organization spoke volumes.
But what many members might not know is that six years ago, Geldert-Murphey wasn’t running for ASCE office; she was just hoping to get out of bed, after an accident left her in a coma.
In episode 120 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Geldert-Murphey reflects on how that accident changed her life and her journey into ASCE leadership.
The ASCE Society-wide concrete canoe competition returns this weekend for the first time since 2019 – June 3-5 at Louisiana Tech University.
In episode 119 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, two senior project leads – Ryan Carrusca and Natalia Hoeppner or the University of British Columbia and Lipscomb University respectively – talk about their teams’ journeys and hopes for the competition.
May is National Wildfire Awareness Month.
Doug Taylor knows. The former president of both the ASCE San Francisco Section and Fresno Branch spent six years as the Region 9 disaster preparedness chair. He's helped get civil engineers trained and certified to serve as site inspectors in the aftermath of wildfires.
In episode 118 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taylor talks about how wildfires continue to affect his homestate of California and what civil engineers can do to help.
Holly Piza, P.E., M.ASCE, is the research and development director at Mile High Flood District in Denver and the 2022 president of ASCE’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute.
In episode of 117 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Piza talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen of the EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee about her career path.
As project design and construction continue to develop and change, the importance of quality control only increases. Tara L. Cavalline, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, Dennis Morian, P.E., M.ASCE, and Clifford J. Schexnayder, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, have authored a book to help engineers keep pace with changing construction landscape. It's called "Construction Quality in the Alternate Project Delivery Environment," and, in episode 116 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, the authors discuss some of the key points from their research.
ASCE’s Transportation and Development Institute’s Technical Committee on CAV Impacts has prepared a new ASCE publication called Disruptive Emerging Transportation Technologies.
In episode 115 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, one of the book's co-editors Heng Wei, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Cincinnati, discusses some of the key technologies and their implications for civil engineers.
Tanesa Kassa is a structural detail designer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
That wasn't exactly where her career started, though.
She's been adding new skills and learning new technology for two decades, adapting her skillset to the changing engineering environment.
In episode 114 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Kassa shares her journey and discusses the importance of being a lifelong learner.
Elyssa Dixon, P.E., M.ASCE, is an environmental engineer who is very active in ASCE – she is the chair of ASCE’s Committee on Younger Members and the presidet-elect of the Seattle Section. And more recently her focus has been on mental health. She started her own business – called Fleece and Forests – to share her training as a mindfulness and meditation coach.
In episode 113 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Dixon discusses stress in the civil engineering profession and some straegies specifically geared for civil engineers to help mitigate anxiety.
Last December, the ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure brought sustainabilty thought leaders from around the world together. And now, ASCE has published a book collecting selected papers from the conference.
In episode 112 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, the book's co-editor Michael Bloom, P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE, discusses the special collection and what he calls a "tipping point" for the state of sustainable infrastructure.
It's what many civil engineers strive for early in their career: the promotion into a management role.
But how do you navigate the job after you've earned it?
In episode 111 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Assunta Daprano, A.M.ASCE, a project engineer and deputy project manager at AECOM in Philadelphia, discusses the transition into a management role, especially at a young age.
There is perhaps no transition period in one's career more rich with emotion – excitement, anxiety, optimism – than the months just before college graduation.
Cameren Lewis, S.M.ASCE, a fifth-year civil engineering student at Drexel University, is at just such an inflection point.
In episode 110 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Lewis discusses his civil engineering journey and what he hopes for as he prepares to enter the workforce this summer.
Entering the civil engineering workforce is very different from life as a student.
Matthew Jacobson, EIT, ENV SP, A.M.ASCE, knows. He works as a civil analyst for Kimley-Horn and Associates in Los Angeles, less than a year after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona.
In episode 109 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Jacobson discusses that transition from student to professional, offering advice on how to make it work as smoothly as possible.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law last November.
But that doesn't mean ASCE's infrastructure advocacy work is complete.
Far from it.
Eric Czerniejewski, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, was among the 225 ASCE members who attended the 2022 Legislative Fly-In last week to keep the advocacy momentum going.
Czerniejewski is director of traffic engineering for the Corradino Group in Miami, a past ASCE Region 5 governor, past president of the Broward County Branch, and past vice president of the Florida Section.
In episode 108 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Czerniejewski talks about his nearly two decades of work on infrastructure advocacy with ASCE and how the conversation has changed over the years.
Shirley Clark, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, D.EWRI, M.ASCE, is a professor of environmental engineering at Penn State Harrisburg and vice president of ASCE's Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Recently, her work has included research into the potential connections between wastewater and COVID.
In episode 107 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Clark talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen, of the EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee, about her work and career.
ASCE launches the Future World Vision desktop app today, Feb. 22, at the new Future World Vision website.
In episode 106 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Jimmy Bennett, a project engineer in Minneapolis who is among the core team working on Future World Vision from the outset, talks about the new platform and how Future World Vision can help engineers expand their work every day to incorporate vital big picture thinking.
Vatsal Shah, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, M.ASCE, had a nugget of wisdom he’d sometimes to refer to: “Change is uncomfortable, but you only grow when you’re uncomfortable.”
The philosophy certainly was put to the test these last two years, as the pandemic and a family health scare turned his life upside-down.
In episode 105 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Shah discusses how the last two years have reframed his priorities and his career.
Maxx Taga is an onsite integration manager and facility manager for NASA in Lompoc, California.
It's the latest step in a career that has taken many twists and turns but is firmly a product of Taga's make-your-own-luck approach. If he wants to know about something, he finds out. If he wants to do something, he tries it. Even if it's new. Even if it's intimidating at first.
In episode 104 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taga discusses his career and how other young civil engineers might make some luck of their own in their career pursuits. It's the latest step in a career that has taken many twists and turns but is firmly a product of Taga's make-your-own-luck approach. If he wants to know about something, he finds out. If he wants to do something, he tries it. Even if it's new. Even if it's intimidating at first.
In episode 104 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taga discusses his career and how other young civil engineers might make some luck of their own in their career pursuits.
RoadBotics won five awards at the 2018 ASCE Innovation Contest.
Since then, the company has only grown.
In episode 103 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, RoadBotics CEO Ben Schmidt talks about his company and how he's navigated the pandemic and continued innovating through a changing industry.
Natalie Palmquist is unique.
She has had a plan for her life’s work since she was a teenager. And she’s living out that plan.
She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in civil engineering, got her master’s in international development studies at the University of Grenoble Alpes in France, and recently started a position with Samaritan’s Purse.
The driving force behind all of this? Her faith as a Christian.
In episode 102 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Palmquist talks about how faith and civil engineering intersect.
Aimee Corn wasn't sure where her career would lead, even after she fell in love with civil engineering. But she's happy with the way it worked out: dams. Corn, P.E., M.ASCE, is a civil structural engineer for Gannett Fleming in Denver, Colorado. She's also in her fourth term on the ASCE Structural Engineering Institute Board of Governors. In episode 101 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, she talks about her career, why she loves dams, and where she sees the industry going.
Applied research is one of the most exciting topics in all of civil engineering. It also can be very complicated to secure the necessary funding. In episode 100 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Monique Head, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE, associate professor and associate chair in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Delaware, talks about what the funding landscape looks like in light of the recent bipartisan infrastructure law.
It's one thing to acknowledge that the recent bipartisan infrastructure law will change the civil engineering industry. But, looking deeper, what do those changes mean for the everyday work of civil engineers? How will their lives and careers change?
In episode 99 of ASCE Plot Points, Del Shannon, P.E., M.ASCE, principal and senior vice president for Schnabel Engineering, discusses those potential changes as well as the skills civil engineers may need to further develop to better align themselves with the new work that will be coming from the law's infrastructure investment.
Kristina Swallow, P.E., Pres.18.ASCE, worked for years to advocate with ASCE for infrastructure investment. Now, as director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, she is excited about the opportunity presented by the recent bipartisan infrastructure law to improve her home state.
In episode 98 of ASCE Plot Points, Swallow discusses the various ways the new law will reshape the civil engineering profession. And the student ambassadors discuss their favorite engineers in civil engineering history.
It's an enticing question to ponder. What would Robert Moses do? How would he navigate the infrastructure landscape of 2022?
John Williams, the CEO of Autocase and board chair for the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, discusses in today's finale of a three-part series.
Williams is speaking at the 2021 ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, Dec. 7, in a session called "Post-Black-Swan-Event Infrastructure: Lessons Learned and Plans for the Future."
What is anti-fragile infrastructure? And what's the business case for its design?
John Williams, the CEO of Autocase and board chair for the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, answers both questions in today's second part of a three-part series.
Williams is speaking at the 2021 ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, Dec. 7, in a session called "Post-Black-Swan-Event Infrastructure: Lessons Learned and Plans for the Future."
John Williams is speaking at the 2021 ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, Dec. 7, in a session called "Post-Black-Swan-Event Infrastructure: Lessons Learned and Plans for the Future."
So, today kicks off a special three-part series, Williams, the CEO of Autocase and board chair for the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, talks about some of the key ideas from the session. But the conversation also becomes almost a roadmap toward a new civil engineering philosophy for 2022, from Robert Moses to modern ideas of sustainable infrastructure.
The holiday season is a great time to catch up on podcasts, and bridge engineer Luis Duque, P.E., M.ASCE, has a great podcast for your queue.
It's called Engineering Our Future, and he talks about the show on Episode 94 of ASCE Plot Points.
Mel Butcher is someone who believes that, as she says, "Everyone has something to offer this world to make it a better place."
It's the driving philosophy behind Underdog Engineers, her new community-based learning space for early career engineers.
A group lead in Carollo Engineers' Private Sector Group, Butcher talks today on Episode 93 of ASCE Plot Points about Underdog and what young civil engineers should be doing to find the right job for them.
Community has been the driving force in Donya Amiri's career.
Especially now.
After more than a decade working in the public sector, Amiri has started her own consulting firm, AIM Professional Engineers in Northern California.
On episode 92 of ASCE Plot Points, Amiri talks about her new business and how her childhood in Afghanistan helped shape her civil engineering dreams. Plus, the ASCE student ambassadors are back to talk sustainability.
Civil engineering is a tricky balancing act between relying on what has worked for infrastructure in the past and predicting what infrastructure will need decades into the future.
A new book prepared by the ASCE Task Committee on Future Weather and Climate Extremes, Impacts of Future Weather and Climate Extremes on United States Infrastructure: Assessing and Prioritizing Adaptation Actions, helps civil engineers thread that needle.
On episode 91 of ASCE Plot Points, co-authors Jason Giovannettone, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE, and Mari Tye, Ph.D., C.Eng, M.ASCE, talk about their new book and how it can help civil engineers make intelligent infrastructure decisions for the future.
Claudia Gunsch is the Theodore S. Kennedy Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, where she also serves as the associate dean of research and infrastructure for the Pratt School of Engineering. She says her favorite part of engineering is "defining the problem, solving the problem." In a sense, it's the same process she's applied to finding the right career path of her.
On episode 90 of ASCE Plot Points, Gunsch speaks with Brianne Duncan and Lauren Redfern of the EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee.
Katie Bowman, P.E., M.ASCE, is a graduate research assistant at the University of Memphis, vice president of the ASCE West Tennessee Branch, and a newly elected governor-at-large for Region 4.
None of it has come easily, though.
On episode 89 of ASCE Plot Points, Bowman talks about the twists and turns that have led her to career happiness.
One of the most useful aspects of ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure is the way it takes in a lot of complex information and turns it into a very simple, easy-to-understand grade.
So for instance, the rail category received a grade of B on the 2021 edition of the report card.
But of course as with anything, it’s important to dig a little deeper. On episode 88 of ASCE Plot Points, Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, helps to break down the nuance behind that grade.
The nation turns its attention to Capitol Hill this week, as the House of Representatives reconvenes for what may be one of the busiest weeks of legislative work in recent memory. Meanwhile, the focus of Capitol Hill’s attention turns to infrastructure with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is slated for a vote this Thursday.
Regardless of the result this week, it’s a huge step forward for ASCE and its decades of advocacy for infrastructure investment.
Rebecca Shelton is one of the real champions of that advocacy work, as a co-chair of the Georgia Infrastructure Report Card and is a member of the ASCE Committee for America’s Infrastructure.
On episode 87 of ASCE Plot Points, Shelton talks about her work and what a potential infrastructure bill would mean for civil engineers.
Hurricane Ida hit the United States earlier in the month to tragic effect – damage, displacement, and even death.
Today, on episode 86 of ASCE Plot Points, Jim Heeren, a senior associate and environmental engineer for Dewberry and president of ASCE’s North Jersey Branch, and Ronnie Schumann, vice president of quality engineering and technical services for Integrated Logistical Support Inc. in New Orleans and a governor-at-large for ASCE Region 5, talk about how Ida has affected their communities and their profession.
This episode of ASCE Plot Points is supported by Maplesoft. Visit maplesoft.com/mapleflow.
Paul Mlaker is an ASCE Distinguished Member with more than 40 years of service with the United State Army Corps of Engineers, now in the role of Engineer Emeritus for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.
And 20 years ago, he led the ASCE team investigating the damage done by the Sept. 11 attack at the Pentagon.
In episode 85 of ASCE Plot Points, Mlakar looks back on that investigation, Sept. 11, and how the profession has changed.
This episode of ASCE Plot Points is supported by Maplesoft. Visit maplesoft.com/mapleflow.
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It's difficult to believe that it’s been 20 years since the tragic attacks of Sept. 11. For the people who lost loved ones, it’s a story of unimaginable grief. For the country, and our collective conscience, it’s a story of fundamental change. And of course, amid all the hurt and hope and resilience and loss, it’s a civil engineering story too.
ASCE PLOT POINTS SEASON 4 EPISODE 11 Wanting to help save the world is an admirable goal. Figuring out just how you can plug that mission into your career path is the first step. Marjorie Bedessem is a senior engineer for Tri Hydro and the vice-president of ASCE’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute. And she’s excellent case study in navigating different career tracks to maximize
Season 4, Episode 10: Burçin Becerik-Gerber, a professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Southern California and director of CENTIENTS (Center for Intelligent Environment),
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 9: It’s amazing to think that even in the oldest professional in the world, civil engineering, there remain new boundaries to push. Erica Fischer is doing just that in the field of structural fire engineering design.
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 8: Are civil engineers doing enough to combat climate change? It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. Or maybe it’s a complicated question with a simple answer. Either way, Emily Grubert,
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 7: Cybersecurity is a hot topic these days – and one that most people would agree is important for our modern society to regulate and prioritize. But is cybersecurity something civil engineers need to concern themselve...
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 6: Avery Bang is probably most familiar to civil engineers for her star turn in the ASCE movie Dream Big. But by day, she’s the president and CEO of Bridges to Prosperity, an organization that collaborates with industr...
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 5: Mathew Picardal does a little bit of everything when it comes to popular civil engineering communication. He works as a structural project manager for DCI Engineers. He’s also started a YouTube channel called the St...
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 4: Melissa Fischer is a supervising engineer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. But lately, she’s probably better known as a novelist. Her novel, “The Advocacy,” has earned rave reviews – Kirkus Reviews called the protagonist, Louisa Lehmann “a delightful, complicated character” and the Southern Literary Review called the book “profound.” Fischer talks about the novel, why it
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 3: S&C Associates is a small engineering firm in Sun Valley, Idaho, providing an array of essential services to the community. Sherri Newland, principal engineer and owner,
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 2: Transportation is a lot different in 2020 than it was in 2019, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The key question now is what changes wrought by the coronavirus will still be affecting transit systems next year and i...
ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 1: Work looks a little bit different these days. Especially for those civil engineers who are balancing their jobs with their duties as parents, often working from home with their children one room over.
ASCE Plot Points wraps up the “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion” series, talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,
ASCE Plot Points continues it series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,
ASCE Plot Points continues it series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,
Today on ASCE Plot Points marks the start of a new series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, who will share their experiences within and insights about the civil eng...
Today on ASCE Plot Points marks the start of a new series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, who will share their experiences within and insights about the civil eng...
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Plus an extra three. Community Call 33 closes the series, and fittingly it features ASCE President K.N. “Guna” Gunalan. The president discusses his
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Plus an extra three. Community Call 32 reaches out to David Wieller, president of ASCE’s Lehigh Valley Section and the water and municipal regional
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days.
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 30 takes us into non-lockdown mode in Nebraska. Marie Stamm, P.E., M.ASCE, is a civil engineer for Schemmer Associates in Omaha,
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 29 brings us to the northern part of Italy, battered by the coronavirus in March and still very much in recovery
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 28 takes us to Georgia, one of the states moving to start reopening certain parts of its economy. Kelly Farabee is
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 27 goes to Seattle, one of the first areas in the United States to grapple with a coronavirus outbreak. Geotechincal engineer
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 26 considers the ongoing ASCE work (even during a pandemic) to grade America’s infrastructure. Jacob Forrester talks about his work chairing
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 25 closes our mini-series talking with young civil engineers working in Los Angeles. Mario Martinez is a field engineer for the
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 24 continues our City of Dreams mini-series, talking to three young civil engineers working in Los Angeles. Jeena Jayamon is a
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 23 begins a mini-series within the series, reaching out to three young engineers working in the Los Angeles area. Today we
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 22 goes to David Totman, past-president of ASCE’s Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute. He’s the vice president of asset management for
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 21 goes to Joe DiPompeo, president-elect of ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute. DiPompeo founded Structural Workshop LLC in 2004 – a structural
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 20 goes to Chicago, where Adam Blumstein is a staff civil engineer for Burns & McDonnell. He and his team have
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 19 finds us talking with Chad Morrison, president-elect of the ASCE Rhode Island Section. Morrison has a heavy workload, with the
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 18 goes to Alfredo Falcon, a project manager for the LUSEO Group in Miami and the Structural Engineering Institute chair for
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 17 reaches out to ASCE’s 2018 president Kristina Swallow, now serving as the director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, to
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 16 goes to Region 10 Director Elias Boutros Sayah. Based in the United Arab Emirates, he was visiting the United States
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 15 reaches out to Gabrielle Grompone, incoming chair of the ASCE Construction Institute’s Young Professionals Council and a project engineer at
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 14 features a unique spin on educational outreach courtesy of Jonathan Brower. The Dallas-based structural engineer has been organizing and running
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 13 considers the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, specifically to the smaller civil engineering firms. Mike Howell started Arrow Engineering,
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 12 brings us to New Jersey by way of Seattle and Louisville. Sophie Lipomanis, one of ASCE’s inaugural class of student
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 11 takes us to South Carolina, where civil engineers are famililar with staying resilient in the face of hurricanes. The coronavirus,
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 10 concerns the intersection of civil engineering and public policy. We talk to Peyton Gibson, who recently chaired the committee that
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 9 goes to Distinguished Member Tony Bartolomeo, the former CEO and president of Pennoni. Bartolomeo’s leadership experience gives him a unique
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 8 reaches out to Anthony Fasano to talk about professional development during the coronavirus pandemic. Fasano is the founder of the
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 7 takes us to St. Louis, but in fact, it takes us all the way to New Zealand. Marsia Geldert-Murphey,
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 6 finds us talking to Mel Butcher, the private sector group midwest lead at Carollo Engineers, specializing in industrial water
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 5 looks for happier news amid the stress. Cherylyn Henry, a structural engineer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and longtime active
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 4 goes to Robin Kemper, ASCE’s past president, living and working in New Jersey, one of the country’s hardest hit
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 3 goes to Tony Cioffi, whose work as assistant resident engineer for the Kew Gardens Interchange Phase 4 project in
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 2 goes to Vivian Chong, a senior civil engineering student at UCLA. She talks about how the final quarter of
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the United States to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 1 goes to Mike Paddock, a deputy director with Engineers Without Borders. Also the author of the ASCE News “Engineering
An entrepreneur starts with an idea, it's true.
But a successful entrepreneur pairs the idea with a plan
Stressed about election season? Worried you won’t find a candidate who represents all that you believe? Maybe it’s time for you to eliminate the proxy and run for office yourself. Marsha Anderson Bomar did. She’s in her fourth term on the City Council in Duluth, Georgia, and talks today about how civil engineering and public office intersect (2:05). We get a civil engineering “Origin Story”
What keeps a community safe after an extreme event?
An interdependent system of systems.
Resilience starts with keeping those lifeline systems connected and working together
When it comes to inspiring the next generation of civil engineers, representation is so very important. Jose Castro, an assistant engineer in water resources for Michael Baker International in Irvine, California, tells his story of both how he was inspired to pursue civil engineering when he was a student and how he now inspires students through outreach work (1:52). In Extracurricular, we hear from Ashlyn
Planning for retirement is a crucial component to any personal finance strategy. But it’s not easy. When do you start? How much money is enough? Nicolai Oliden, in the second part of a two-part podcast series, helps answer those questions (1:06). Then in Origin Stories, we meet ASCE Virginia Section Past-President Daren Williams and hear how his father and the Navy helped shape his career,
No one likes to talk about money. It often feels immodest, awkward, maybe even embarrassing. So how do you get advice about managing your money and developing an investment strategy? Nicolai Oliden, a roadway project engineer for Ethos Engineering and former president of the Phoenix Younger Member Forum, helps young engineers have those difficult conversations about personal finance (1:18). And in Member Memos, we ask
Maybe you’ve recently been offered the chance to go work a career fair or talk to some students at a local school. And maybe you’ve thought, “Sure, it might be fun, but what would I even say? Why would those kids want to hear my story. I’m nobody special.” But maybe you’re totally wrong. Your presence for just one afternoon can have a huge effect
Job goals don’t always have to be centered around salary or status. Often, it’s more about personal happiness and finding the right fit. For Bianca Casem, a project engineer at Swenson Say Fagét in downtown Seattle, that means sharing an office with her dog (0:35). And in today’s Extracurricular segment, Chris Hanna, project engineer at Pennoni, discusses his passion for live music (8:56). Listen to
Margarita Kruyff is not a civil engineer. But she works with civil engineers every day in her job as the assistant director of the Environment and Sustainability Department for the City of Miami Beach and also serves as chair of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Miami-Dade Chapter. So she is uniquely positioned to provide insights on what it’s like to work and communicate
ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute issued the “Prestandard for Performance-Based Wind Design” early this year. Performance-based design continues to be one of the four focus areas (along with resilience, life-cycle cost analysis and innovation) of ASCE’s Grand Challenge. Don Scott, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, the prime investigator for the prestandard development team, talks about both the prestandard and, more broadly, the power of performance-based design to close
Guillermo Díaz-Fañas, C.Eng, Ing., P.E., M.ASCE, has been giving back and making a difference all his life. Today he talks about the nonprofit he helped start, Qu-AKE: Queer Advocacy and Knowledge Exchange, for LGBTQ+ professionals working in the built environment (1:16). In the Changing the World segment, Hector Colon de la Cruz discusses his work on ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card for Puerto Rico (12:50). And
Making mistakes, unfortunately, is part of being human. But how do you handle mistakes on the job, especially if that job is something with such high stakes as civil engineering? Mike Howell has been helping engineers own and learn from their mistakes for years. He talks about how to stop trying to be perfect and start being human (2:50). In the debut of a segment
One of the most important and divisive transportation trends of 2019, dockless scooters have taken U.S. cities by storm. Kristin Musulin, senior editor for Smart Cities Dive, breaks down the positives, problems and possibilities (1:04). In today’s Origin Story, we hear from Greg Kuklinski about how his love for civil engineering goes all the way back to his days in the crib (10:34). And in
Carolyn Emerson talks about the challenges she saw for women in civil engineering more than a decade ago and what progress she has seen since
You have to know yourself before you can be yourself. For Clint Martin, that meant taking on the Appalachian Trail thru-hike for nearly six months in the woods before starting his first full-time civil engineering job. He talks about how the experience helped make him a better civil engineer (1:20). We hear an Origin Story from Vanessa Eslava, a civil engineer in San Diego who
Alex McDowell, an award-winning production designer for dozens of Hollywood films, talks about the way he is blending storytelling and data-driven research for ASCE's Future World Vision
Mental health is not something you can simply snap your fingers and fix. And it’s not something you should ignore either. On today’s episode of “ASCE Plot Points,” Elyssa Dixon speaks candidly about the steps she’s taken to make herself healthier and h...
Previously on ASCE Plot Points … We met civil engineers from around the world. We got a better picture of what civil engineers looks like – through their work, their personalities and their stories. In fact, we met so many amazing people and heard so many great stories, we needed to hit pause and take a break. But we’re back. Season 2 of ASCE Plot
The only thing more stressful than making a plan is not making a plan. Especially when it comes to your career. On today’s ASCE Plot Points, Kelly Doyle Keselica explains how mapping out your own personal vision can provide a guideline for your life (1:06). In this week’s Civil Engineers Are Not Boring segment, ASCE Past-President Kristina Swallow details her unique, daring, and definitely not boring hobby (12:02). And finally, ASCE’s
Every generation sees the world through a different lens. But has the smartphone revolution made the current generation gap more difficult to navigate than previous changes? On today’s episode, Muhammad Elgammal discusses the situation from his unique perspective: young professional in the field/wise teacher in the classroom (2:33). In the Career Minded segment, Maria Lehman, business development director for Parsons’ New York region, talks about
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been a staple of teacher training for decades, providing a guideline for working with young students. But what if you took the theory and applied it to what a community needs to reach its full potential? In a sense, that’s what civil engineers do every day. On today’s episode, we hear from Logan Johnson, the Neighborhood Development Project Management
It being Valentine’s Day week, it seemed like a good time to find out how civil engineering won your heart. In today’s ASCE Plot Points, we hear Origin Stories of true love from five civil engineers: Molly Bennett, a senior staff engineer for the City of Cheyenne, WY (2:24); Sam Hovde, a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville (4:44); Elyssa Dixon, an environmental
Even if your job or role at work isn’t explicitly to consider big-picture planning, it’s still probably a good idea to stay aware of a larger context beyond just your desk. We’re here to help you improve your big-picture thinking skills by asking civil engineering leaders how they manage the big picture in their work. Today, we talk with Roger Millar, the secretary of transportation
Effective communication is more essential to civil engineering than ever. The great irony, one you’ve likely recognized, is that as technology and social media make communicating with other people easier than ever, the ability to truly connect with someone only gets more difficult. Jaffer Almosawy, a civil engineer for GCW Inc. in Las Vegas and a 2018 ASCE New Face of Civil Engineering, navigates the
When you were a little kid, everybody asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And your answer truly could be whatever you wanted it to be. Baseball player? Sure. Firefighter? Yep. Ballerina. Why not? The more ambitious your dream,
At its core, civil engineering is a service-driven profession. So it shouldn’t be surprising that so many young civil engineers enter the profession motivated to help their communities, near and far. On today’s episode of ASCE Plot Points, we look at that culture of kindness. The executive director of Engineering Without Borders USA, Cathy Leslie, talks about her work, about EWB-USA, and what she sees
It’s the perfect New Year’s resolution. It improves your physical fitness. Saves you money. Helps the environment. What activity could do all of these things? Riding your bike more often, of course. Jeremy Chrzan can help. He’s the multimodal design practice lead for the Toole Design Group in Silver Spring, MD, and on today’s episode of ASCE Plot Points, he talks about his work connecting the