Friday, 20 April 2007

An Outpouring of Support

This has been a trying week for our entire nation and the civil engineering community.  Since my last post, it has been confirmed that eight students from the civil and environmental engineering department, all of whom were in G.V. Loganathan's Advanced Hydraulics class, are victims of Monday's tragic events.  Each of these students was dedicated to engineering, some having traveled across the world to receive a quality education at Virginia Tech.  Their stories are so touching, and the outpouring of support for them and their families has been so great, that ASCE felt it was important to share. We have created a condolence book for friends, colleagues and those who want to share their memories of these eight students and their professor, and offer their sympathies to all who are suffering.  This condolence book can be viewed at http://live.asce.org/blog/1/virginia/.

 

I also want to thank all of you who have e-mailed me directly, or posted to this blog, regarding this tragedy.  These e-mails have come from all over the country and across the world, including Japan, Canada, Wyoming, Korea, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, California, Bangladesh, Egypt, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Iran and Georgia, and many others. In many of these e-mails you have offered poems, prayers and assistance to the Virginia Tech Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.  I have been in contact with the head of that department, Bill Knocke. Bill expressed his appreciation for all the support he has received from the ASCE community and will let us know what we can do to assist.  As soon as we hear what is needed from Virginia Tech's CEE department, ASCE will communicate that information to its members.

I close this blog entry with an excerpt from a condolence book posting from the ASCE Delaware Section Younger Member Forum. "The tragic loss of so many young, intelligent students and such a well respected and knowledgeable professor will surely be felt for years to come throughout our profession. Our thoughts are with all of you during this incredibly difficult time."