President's Blog

While in South Africa, we visited many construction sites and spoke with many engineers and public officials. The most enjoyable and rewarding visit was to a rural science center in Richards Bay, a new town developed over the past two to three decades to take advantage of the significant mineral deposits in the region and an excellent natural port. It is a site of the world's largest coal export terminal, a major aluminum manufacturer and a number of ore facilities, including Richards Bay Minerals that produce slag and other materials. It has a significant rural population made up of many impoverished families.

Created 10 years ago, the science center has grown from its lone founder to a staff of 20 and has increased their space tenfold. The purpose of the science center, which is entirely privately financed, is to introduce students to science, math and technology. Without this center, these students would not have exposure to these areas. Many of their homes do not have electricity and none have computers. Nor do many of the schools have electricity or computers. As such, this is their first introduction to information technology. The center serves more than 30,000 visitors and reaches another 70,000 students with its own science bus. They conduct a bridge-building contest out of materials similar to balsa wood and have a water distribution challenge. Local engineers from time to time serve as mentors at the facility. They also conduct training for schoolteachers to help them understand the relevancy of science and math.

A particular interesting program that they use is the Technology Research Activity Center, called TRAC South Africa for short. It is a national non-profit program, the objective of which is to support physical science, mathematics, and technology education in South African secondary schools. The program focuses on providing information technology-based equipment, computer and sensory devices supported by curriculum-relevant worksheets to enhance and simplify the execution and understanding of the practical components of the physical science curriculum. 

TRAC programs are running in more than 20 locations throughout South Africa.  In addition to the science- and math-based activities, the program provides information on what an engineer and engineering technicians do, plus offers guidance material for students' secondary education. It focuses on all facets on engineering, from civil to environmental, geology, metallurgy, agricultural, biomedical and many others. It is through these efforts and those of other science centers throughout South Africa that the long process of building a science, technology, engineering and math-literate citizenry has begun.

 

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If that is the case, ASCE has been flattered by the South African Institution of Civil Engineers. On my recent visit to South Africa, they presented a copy of their Infrastructure Report Card for 2006. Clearly, they had sought the advice of our Government Relations staff in the preparation of their Report Card. The small handout follows very closely ASCE's presentation. They identified nine broad areas to be rated. One that they had that ASCE doesn't is hospitals and clinics.

In addition to the small handout, SAICE developed a 16-page 8½" x 11" booklet that explains in depth their Report Card, which deals with the "built environment infrastructure, buildings and engineering infrastructure that are part of the nation's capital stock." They go on to state that the infrastructure is a public asset and that all South Africans have a stake in its upkeep and operation and all share in the expense of its construction and maintenance.

SAICE gave an overall grade of D+ to their built environment infrastructure, primarily because of poor and/or lack of maintenance. They state the government should not changes its focus on new infrastructure, but the challenge is to do this and at the same time maintain both the old and new, and upgrade and replace that which is overloaded or has become obsolete. They further state that a well maintained infrastructure underpins the quality of life and economic development.

Their report's commentary also addresses a severe shortage of engineering skills in South Africa. They point out an interesting statistic about the number of people per engineer. In China, there are 130 people per engineer; in the United Kingdom it's 311; in Germany, 217; in Australia, 455; and in the United States, we have one engineer for every 389 people. However, South Africa has only one engineer for every 3,166 people. Clearly, without the engineering skills and resources, maintaining their infrastructure will continue to pose a major challenge.

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.

We only have to look at the prices at the gas pump to know that we have an energy crisis in this country. It extends not just to the United States, but worldwide. On my recent visit to Canada, their news programs were filled with the rising cost of gasoline. Currently is it about $1.50 per liter Canadian, which equates to more than $5.68 per gallon here. It was not that long ago that gas prices in Canada were on a par with or even lower than the United States.

The National Society of Professional Engineers' annual meeting in late July had energy as its major focus. There were a number of presentations on wave energy, emerging technologies of hybrid vehicles, the critical role of innovation in energy and microbial fuel cells, to name a few. As a backdrop to their conference, a recent edition of their magazine included "The Evolution of Energy," an article by Eva Caplan-Leiserson. A number of officials from the U.S. Department of Energy were quoted in the article, including current department Secretary Samuel Bodman, who made the situation plain: "Securing our energy future is one of the most pressing challenges of our time."

At a recent National Academy Summit on America's Energy Future, Bodman got more specific. "We need transformational discoveries that fundamentally change the rules of the game," he said, since the current solutions of biofuels and expanded "plug-in" hybrid vehicles raise additional concerns about the loss of food supply and increases stress on our electrical system. To promote new innovative solutions, the Energy Department started an Energy Frontier Research Center program that will provide grants to organizations to pursue basic research in solar energy, electrical energy storage, biofuels, hydrogen production and more.

Robert Marley, P.E., deputy director of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, believes that we can improve technologies based on past successes. He is confident that we can find better methods of converting cellulose into fuel, more efficient means of making hydrogen using photons from solar energy, better energy storage for hybrid electric cars and improved means of using coal without CO2 emissions.

Stephen Specker, president of the Electric Power Research Institute, believes that our message to the public should be "We can do it, but it won’t be easy." My challenge to civil engineers is for us to get into the game. We need to be working with other engineers and planners in whatever way possible to foster the concept of energy independence.  My challenge to you as ASCE members is this: what should we be doing?

I recently came across a surprising item in the Times Digest, a compilation of news articles put together by the editors of The New York Times, with the headline "High-Tech Japan is Running Out of Engineers."

It appears that in Japan, there is a significant decline in individuals pursuing engineering degrees. They call it the "flight from science." The decline is so significant that various sectors have launched efforts to encourage more students to pursue engineering degrees by making engineering look sexy. Moreover, many companies are importing more foreign workers or outsourcing engineering positions. Does any of this sound familiar?

Japan's engineering expertise lifted that nation from its post-war defeat to the economic power that it is today. Unfortunately, like many Americans, college students are choosing fields like finance and medicine that provide more compensation. They are also pursuing careers in art and other creative outlets.

It appears that this decline actually started about two decades ago, but has accelerated rapidly in recent years. One estimate puts the shortfall in their digital industry at almost a half-million engineers. Couple this problem with Japan's low birth rate and a quick solution is not at hand. Perhaps they too could benefit from some of the recent messaging campaigns developed by the National Academy of Engineers and other engineering organizations.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending Engineers Without Borders-USA’s International Conference in Seattle. With a theme this year of Sustainable Engineering and Global Health, interest in the annual event was high. Organizers originally planned for a turnout of just over 500 and finally cut off registration at more than 700. It was gratifying to hear the profuse thanks given ASCE for its support of EWB-USA. Everyone I spoke with, including the EWB-USA board, students and young professionals, were very grateful for ASCE’s contributions to EWB-USA.  Our members who were there felt like they could not express enough gratitude for the Society’s help with EWB-USA.

The keynote speaker was William Gates, Sr., co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He spoke about the scope of the Gates Foundation’s charitable activities, efforts that meshed with the goals of Engineers Without Borders, including ongoing attempts to eradicate diseases in underdeveloped countries. A number of workshops and presentations examined the merits of specific projects in counties around the world -- “lessons learned” efforts.  On Friday evening, a reception and awards ceremony was held at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Among the historic aircraft, Steve Forbes, an environmental engineer and member of ASCE from San Antonio, was presented with the Founders Award, EWB-USA’s highest honor.

EWB offers the opportunity for students, younger and older engineers to provide a global community service that embraces the spirit of what civil engineering and other relevant professions are about.  Many of the members of EWB-USA are architects, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers.  Health professionals and others also make significant contributions.

There are many opportunities for you to be involved. You can be a professional reviewer or technical advisory committee member and use your years of experience by reviewing a project before it is implemented in a community. You can help coordination and provide liaison and communication between chapters. You can provide technical expertise in a particular area.  Non-engineers help with critical behind-the-scenes work. There are more than 200 EWB-USA student and professional chapters.  I urge you to visit their Web site, www.ewb-usa.org, to find out more information about Engineers Without Borders.

We all have our perceptions of China. For some of us, those perceptions may relate to our involvement in various conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam. They can be influenced by the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square or by current events. We all have our own mental image of what we would expect to find on a visit to China.

I had the opportunity to meet with an organization called The Promotion Center for Emergency Assistance of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is quite a long title for what in the United States would be known as FEMA. While both organizations have a common goal of emergency management assistance, they are very different organizations. The PCEA, while it has the focus of emergency management training and assistance, is also heavily involved with the development and provision of private sector emergency management assistance.

A suborganization of PCEA is the China Emergency Assistance Investment Company.  It was developed to be an integrative management platform and is the leading enterprise in China’s emergency assistance industry. It is committed to the construction of China’s emergency management assistance system, using industry and private sector resources. Their goal is to secure private sector investment in equipment, resources, and personnel to do the emergency response. China has many natural disasters, but also has significant disasters resulting from coal mine accidents. They are looking to the United States and private sector companies to partner with them to identify the best practices and equipment in order to reduce their coal mine accident fatalities. But what is significant about this organization is that it is totally profit-driven. They need to invest in profit-making ventures. They are not tax-supported. For instance, they would contract with a company to build helicopters in China. These helicopters could be used in tourist and other activities, but when an emergency occurred, these helicopters and associated personnel would be immediately dispatched to the scene of the disaster. If I heard these gentlemen say “profit” once, I heard it at least a dozen times. They want to enter into profit-making ventures that will allow them to enhance and expand their emergency system network.  They are looking for firms with a broad point of view to assist them in what they believe are limitless opportunities.

The Chinese model is one of business partnerships whose profits allow further expansion of the emergency management system. They view their organization as working in concert with the public, through education and contributions that the public would make (similar to a contribution to the Red Cross or United Way for which the individual gets a tax credit) and the private sector. The organization is only a few years old and is run by businessmen who were very successful in previous careers. 

Clearly, this is not the China that I expected to find.

In an upcoming ASCE News column on sustainability, I mention the United Nations Millennium Goals. I am certain that many of you do not know what these eight goals are.  I know I did not until just recently. They were developed by a coalition group of the United Nations and range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.  Specifically, they are:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development

We are half way to the target date of 2015 and a recent report provided a comprehensive global assessment of progress to date. The report, published by the United Nations, is very optimistic on meeting the poverty, universal education, child mortality, disease control and women's political participation goals. Unfortunately, the number of underweight children is not decreasing rapidly enough. Also, one half million women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth each year and the rate of AIDS and related illness is not decreasing sufficiently to meet the target. Also, half of the population in the developing world lack basic sanitation and by 2015, more than 600 million people will still lack clean water and sanitation. Most economies have also failed to provide employment opportunities for their youth and young people. Climate change will have serious economic and social effects which will impede progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. 

What can civil engineers do to help achieve the UN Millennium goals?