President's Blog

For a recent National Science Foundation workshop on research directions in civil and environmental engineering, Ralph R. Peterson, chairman and CEO of CH2M Hill and 2005 OPAL Award winner, presented a white paper on the global influences that will shape tomorrow’s engineering workforce. Drawing on his 40-plus years of witnessing changes in our profession, Ralph looked ahead to identify five key factors.

The first is changing populations in industrialized/developed countries. We tend to focus on our own demographics in the United States, but in Japan, one out of five people will be 70 years old by 2020. The populations of other western countries are also aging and shrinking. Meanwhile, developing countries’ populations are growing rapidly. This places new demands on infrastructure, goods, and economic growth as well as putting pressure on energy, natural resources and environmental issues. Ralph noted that a few years ago, CH2M Hill was considering offshoring as a means of finding less expensive engineering talent. They now believe that the challenge is not in obtaining lower cost talent, but applying the knowledge and talent resources to a greater advantage and having them become an integral part of the project management and leadership roles that have been traditionally held by American and Western European engineers.

The second force is economic globalization and industrial consolidation. Ralph cited Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM, who has stated that their firm's strategy is about "putting people in jobs anywhere in the world based on the right costs, the right skills and the right business environment."

The third factor is integrated project delivery and risk management. The stovepipe stages of the typical engineering construction project need to be knocked over, Ralph said. The integration of project delivery through visualization tools and building information management system will accelerate project delivery and will integrate the various stages of the project to create value for project owners.  Ralph also said he expected to see more projects adopt design-build, design-build-operate or design-build-own-operate-transfer (DBOOT) approaches.

The fourth factor is limitations on energy and natural resources as well as climate change. Currently, humans worldwide consume 13 terawatts of power a year. By 2030, global growth will demand another 10 terawatts a year, according to estimates. The problems resulting from this phenomenal energy growth and demand may be the primary concerns the world will face in the coming years. Ralph offered solutions such as clean coal technology, biofuel, nuclear energy, but all of these will take time and investment.

Ralph's final factor is that of stakeholder and social responsibility. More and more decisions can’t be simply made based upon an engineering/economic analysis. The social consequences and involvement of our stakeholders will be critical to the success of future projects. Nations and their citizens will demand that corporations act with a social conscience. Ethical responsibilities and expectations will be paramount. Stakeholder communication collaboration will be as significant as the pure technical aspects of a project.

Many of these points are similar to those that Ralph expressed during our summit on the civil engineer of 2025. Although that was about two years ago, I believe that they are just as valid today and will continue to be major factors influencing our engineering profession.

Back in 2002, the National Academy of Engineering issued a report, "Raising Public Awareness of Engineering," which demonstrated quite dramatically that the engineering community does not have a coordinated campaign for raising public awareness. Six years later, the academy's new study, "Changing the Conversation," shares the basic premise that the various engineering societies still are not speaking with one voice, even though hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent. This latest effort focused on three objectives:

·  Identifying a small number of messages to improve public understanding.
·  Measuring the effectiveness of the messages.
·  Publishing the results of the measurement effort.

The academy retained various firms to develop and test messages. The effort focused on youth (9 to 11 years old), teens and adults overall. A committee composed of key members of various societies, universities and the private sector oversaw the effort, including ASCE Executive Director Pat Natale.

Several different messages were created, including "Ideas in action," "Life takes engineering" and "A timeless imagination." These all represented various themes to help key audiences and the overall public better understand the role of engineering.

The focus groups were questioned to determine their awareness and understanding of engineering and to begin testing the message themes. Among students, the majority have a general understanding that civil engineers design and build, but don't understand what they really do. They have a positive impression of the profession, but think that they may not be smart enough for it. Many believe that engineering is sedentary and involves very little contact with other people. Also, salary was a career objective, but "making a difference" was also important.

A number of other messages were tried, including "Engineers shape the future" and "Engineers connect signs to the real world,"  as well as a set of taglines with concepts like "Turning ideas into reality," "Because dreams need doing," "Design to work wonders," "Life takes engineering," "Power to do," and "Bolder by design." One of the messages that tested best was "Engineering makes a world of difference."

The study produced a number of interesting conclusions. One in particular was that the image of engineering is by and large very positive. Another that stood out was that the continued focus on math and science is not necessary and can be a turn-off.

I urge all of you to obtain a copy of this important work, fully titled "Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering." (It is also available for reading online at the National Academies Press' Web site here.) ASCE is prepared to participate with our sister society in its very vital and important effort. Improving the public understanding, and in particular encouraging more students to pursue engineering degrees, is a key objective of mine and of the Society.

In 2010, the FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa. In preparation for the global soccer championship tournament, the nation is spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its infrastructure. A significant portion is dedicated to new stadiums or reconstructed stadiums in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg. Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting a number of these that are under construction. They are clearly technological and architectural achievements.

A significant portion of expenditures is going to airport improvements to handle the anticipated international guests. A new greenfield airport is being built just north of Durban. This project has been in the planning stages since the 1970s. The approaching World Cup has provided the impetus to get the project completed.

Numerous highway, rail and bus improvements are also taking place. Although not a direct result of the 2010 World Cup, South Africa is constructing a new commuter rail line called the Gautrain, from Johannesburg to Pretoria. Conceived in the 1990s, the project has received the funding to move ahead. Nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) of railway will be built, with 10 stations. Much of the line will be either at or above grade, while underground tunnels will account for 15 kilometers (9.3 miles). To achieve its goals, the project has the world’s largest precast yard, where all of the pieces for the 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) in viaduct segments are being constructed. The total cost is in excess of U.S. $6 billion.

The economic impact of this expanded public transit will be significant. Attention is being given to development around the 10 stations. It is hoped that the Gautrain line will provide a major commuter alternative for traffic traveling between Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, and Johannesburg, their major economic center and largest city.

Much of the spending is on projects that will provide transportation, air and other infrastructure benefits long after the World Cup. The question remains, "Will sufficient visitors be attracted to South Africa so that the planned economic stimulus will be realized?" One clue to the answer could be found in a South African Airways magazine article that described the impact on Germany after it hosted the global soccer tournament in 2006. Germany saw its tourist bookings increase by a third, while unemployment was reduced by 20 percent, fostering strong impressions around the rest of the world that Germany reinvented itself, according to the article. Clearly, Germany's World Cup experience has been the model for the South African effort. Hopefully, all of this investment will provide the anticipated dividends.

Recently, I read an Engineering News Record blog entry about a book we've published at ASCE, "Don't Throw This Away! The Civil Engineering Life," by Brian Brenner, P.E. A professor at Tufts University, Brenner teaches structural engineering as well as bridge history and aesthetics. Having spent much of his career with the Parsons Brinckerhoff firm, he received the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Presidents Award in 2000 and ASCE's Thomas R. Torrens Award in 2005.  During his tenure at Parsons Brinckerhoff, he wrote a number of short essays for their technical magazine, PB Network. "Don't Throw This Away" is a collection of many of those short essays plus some others.

I was extremely impressed by the diversity of Brenner's writing. He delves into a number of his civil engineering experiences in ways that are funny as well as thought provoking. Other essays touch on his personal life, one of which was about being called "babysitter-in-law." He recounts that while attending the wedding of a now-adult child for whom his wife used to baby-sit, his wife of course was remembered by the new spouse, family and friends, but everyone else referred to him as the "babysitter-in-law." 

I particularly enjoyed four short essays that inspired the book’s title, "Don’t Throw This Away." We are all pack rats, some of us moreso than others. I remember early in my career visiting the office of Baltimore’s department head for water and sewer. His desk was a series of feet plus high stacks of papers. The stacks covered every square inch of his desk except for a 10-inch opening right in front center of his desk. If you wanted to see his face, you had to sit squarely in front of the center of his desk. Anything to the side, your view was blocked. What was utterly amazing was if you asked him a question about something, he could reach into one of those dozens of stacks and pull out the precise piece of paper that you needed to proceed with the project.

Brenner also shares that uncanny ability to relate the simple aspects of modern life to civil engineering. His stories of hamsters gone wild and how that relates to civil engineers currently "grappling with the difficult set of questions related to sustainability" is fascinating. I would urge everyone to get this book. It is a quick read, and is just the right book for an airplane trip or a relaxing vacation day. As I mentioned, it is available through ASCE Press; click here if you're interested.