President's Blog

This is my second trip to China. My first trip was in 1978 at the invitation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We landed in Beijing and traveled by bus to the Friendship Hotel.  I recall that during that trip, we did not pass another vehicle on the road.  At that time, the most popular way to travel was by bicycle and every highway was essentially a sea of bicycle traffic. I also remember that the presentations I gave during that visit had to be given at night using a 35 mm slide projector because there were no windows with shades in the building, making it impossible to darken the buildings during the daytime. 

Almost 30 years later, here I am again in Beijing. Traffic patterns have changed immensely, mirroring congestion problems faced in the U.S. The glaring sun I faced in 1978 which made it difficult to give slide projector presentations is a distant memory as it is masked by the significant air pollution that plagues Beijing. In fact when we get up each day there is such a haze that you cannot see the tops of the tall buildings.  At first I thought this would dissipate during the day, but in my three days here it has not. We have yet to see the sun. 

These changes make me think about global environmental sustainability. What role should American civil engineers play in pollution control in countries like China?  What sacrifices are we prepared to make to keep the sun shining over Beijing?  

I've been fairly quiet on the blog lately...but with good reason!  I am currently traveling throughout Asia as part of my ASCE international trip. Right now I am in Japan, but over the next two weeks, I will visit China and Taiwan as well.

One of the first things I did in Japan was give a talk to about 200 researchers at the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management in Tsukuba. My talk focused on present challenges faced by ASCE as well as key issues for the current state and future of the Society and the civil engineering profession. In my talk, I emphasized the idea that each individual is in charge of his or her own preparation for the future and that ASCE is committed to helping our members prepare.  I also emphasized how specialized education plays a crucial role in being properly prepared for a future in the civil engineering profession. During my talk, I had an interesting question from a young engineer. She wanted to know what guidance I could give her if she wanted to have a successful career in research. I told her it was an interesting question and the first bit of guidance I could offer was to get a Ph.D. In my opinion, obtaining a Ph.D. could be considered entry-level education when it comes to a career in research. She responded that she already had a Ph.D from a university in the U.S. This led me to believe that many of the researchers present that day already have a top notch education in research, yet they still yearn for more guidance on how to be successful in a research career. These are the types of civil engineers I have been talking to in Japan and I really admire their drive to excel in their professional careers.

What sort of career do you aspire to have and what steps do you feel you need to take to get to that level of specialization?

June is a significant month for ASCE as it marks the beginning of hurricane season and over the past couple of years, these extreme forces of nature have had quite an impact on our profession!

The failure of the Hurricane Protection System (HPS) around New Orleans in August 2005 was the largest engineering failure in my lifetime...and probably the largest in the history of the United States. I call this an engineering failure because some isolated portions of the HPS failed before reaching their designed loads, which raises a lot of questions for the civil engineering community. Certainly there are lessons to be learned that apply directly to the New Orleans area, but many of these lessons are general in nature and should be shared and could be applied to other locations and to structures besides levees.

It is critical that we constantly share new information and knowledge when it comes to improving our existing systems and structures to sustain future natural disasters. To that end, ASCE is hosting a 13-part webinar series on just that topic during June-September of this year. Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and the Implications for the Civil Engineering Profession will explore the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and show how the technical elements surrounding this disaster can apply to the work done by civil engineers in all regions in the United States which are vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding. Sharing this information with fellow civil engineers across the country is critical in coming up with solutions to infrastructure issues should forces of nature strike again! For more information on these webinars, visit http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/katrinaJune071.pdf.

What are you doing to prepare yourself for the upcoming hurricane season? What new knowledge have you learned lately? How can you add more value?