President's Blog

At the ASCE Board of Directors Meeting on July 21 in Kansas City, we had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by Larry Frevert, P.E., president of the American Public Works Association.

Frevert's presentation focused on concerns related to our rapidly deteriorating infrastructure and its impact on the quality of life.  He praised ASCE for our efforts, including our Report Card and our emphasis on infrastructure investment. Frevert directed our attention to America 2050, a committee created by the Regional Plan Association representing New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  He believes its approach is very much on the right track, and strongly recommended that we learn more about the committee by visiting its Web site, america2050.org.

America 2050 recognizes that there is a global threat to America's economic prosperity.  We are falling behind our competitors who have long-range strategies, whereas we lack a vision.  The America 2050 strategy outlines public and private policies and investments to accommodate growth in the 21st Century.  If followed, the America 2050 strategy will produce five major outcomes:

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the World Justice Forum in Vienna, Austria, at the invitation of the American Bar Association. Held July 1 through 5, the forum brought together leaders representing disciplines of business, education, engineering, faith, human rights, labor and other related fields.  The forum was intended to launch new partnerships and initiatives to advance a global "Rule of Law," and to help all disciplines to achieve their goals.  Although the Rule of Law was a relatively new concept to me, it's something that has been a part of the legal community for centuries. Its basic principles are:

·  The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
·  The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
·  The process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient.
·  The laws are upheld, and access to justice is provided by competent, independent and ethical law enforcement officials, attorneys or representatives, and judges, who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

One of the primary objectives of the Rule of Law is to ensure that all peoples have greater access to justice and how this access can help reduce poverty.  Worldwide, there are more than 3 billion people who do not have access to justice and do not live under the principles of the Rule of Law.

You might ask "why is the American Society of Civil Engineers interested in this?"  The answer is very simple -- corruption.

In architectural and engineering communities worldwide, corruption is so rampant that more than $500 billion a year is believed lost.  The opportunities make it more prevalent within the construction industry, but it is also frequent in the architectural and engineering community, where it can start with subtle influences such as finding the right official to bribe. Fortunately, most cases of corruption are exposed and the individuals brought to justice. Transparency International, a German-based organization, rates nations by level of public and private corruption. Out of almost 200 nations ranked, the United States is 20th. Finland and New Zealand are least corrupt, while Myanmar and Somalia are the world’s worst.

ASCE was invited to participate because of our Global Anti-Corruption, Education and Training Project (ACET).  In addition to Transparency International, we have been working with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, the World Economic Forum Partnership Against Corruption, and others.  Our objective is to develop and distribute a comprehensive education and training program devoted to the importance of individual integrity among all participants in the performance of engineering/construction projects.  With the program nearing completion, we hope to have it available at our annual meeting November in Pittsburgh, including a new DVD, PowerPoint presentations and other materials.

I challenge each of you to look in your community to see if the principles of the Rule of Law are present.  Do poor and disadvantaged individuals in your area have adequate access to the legal system?  Not just when matters end up in court, but with other issues such as wrestling with debt, clashing with landlords and other legal entanglements.  Do you see signs of corruption in the system? 

As civil engineers, we believe that we should be building a better quality of life.  That doesn't simply mean the physical infrastructures that surround us, but all elements of the quality of life.

A recent article in The Sun, Baltimore's newspaper, focused on research into factors that explain the differences between boys and girls in math and reading test scores.  These scientists examined math and reading scores on standardized tests given to thousands of 15-year-old students in more than 40 countries. They also examined how each country dealt with gender equality issues.  Typically, females scored lower in math than males, but girls did better in reading than boys.

In countries that have very progressive gender equality policies such as Norway and Iceland, girls performed almost equally with boys on math skills, according to The Sun’s report on the research.  The United States ranked somewhat in the middle, with boys outperforming girls, while other nations such as Turkey had relatively low test scores for girls as compared with boys. Throughout the world, girls have scored higher in reading, and that advantage has become even greater in those countries with a higher emphasis on gender equality.

This study generally tracks earlier studies.  The findings of college professors in Maryland indicate that the gap in math between the genders has been shrinking over time.  With the widespread acknowledgement that both sexes need to learn math, attitudes are changing.  In 2007, more than 125,000 girls and 142,000 boys took the college board’s Advance Placement Calculus Exam.  Ten years ago, the number taking the exam was half that size, but in roughly the same gender proportions.  On the traditional SAT, girls are still scoring lower proportionally, but more of them are taking the exam.

For many educators, the differences in math, while important, aren't nearly as serious as the differences in reading skills.  Boys are scoring lower in reading tests and as compared with girls, the gap is increasing.  Maybe part of our emphasis in education should include social sciences and reading for men as well as sciences and mathematics.  Our Body of Knowledge clearly identifies the social sciences as a key element that engineers need in order to practice at the professional level in the future.

I never thought of water as a crop until I read an article by Justin Lawson, P.E., in the June issue of PE, the Magazine for Professional Engineers. On average, an American uses 175 gallons of clean water per day, but for cooking or drinking uses barely a gallon. Therefore, more than 99 percent of the water goes down the drain.  There are estimates that 50 percent could be reused as gray water by harvesting it to irrigate plant life and other such uses.

Even with detention basins and vegetated swales, most of the rainwater travels along an open or closed system until it releases the discharge into a stream or river. Why not harvest this rainwater?  In a roof collection system, this water could easily be used with proper treatment. Creating larger storage impoundments for stormwater upstream is another harvesting technique, one that has not been utilized extensively in this country.

We engineers need to learn these techniques and advocate for more sustainable water environments. This advocacy begins with elected officials and regulators in our local communities. At the federal level, there has been a bill to establish a program within EPA's Office of Research and Development to promote water use efficiency and conservation. The second bill would promote R&D and create a demonstration program for the reuse of water produced during oil and gas extraction.

Has your local community begun promoting water harvesting and reuse? This is a step to building a culture of sustainability that is needed in this country as our limited resources continue to be exhausted.