ASCE Region 8 | June 2019
“Help you matter more and enable you to make a bigger difference”
Region 8 Director's Column
Aloha and mahalo for your membership in ASCE. Hope you are all enjoying the start of your summer.

Did you know Region 8 has a website? Visit http://regions.asce.org/region8/ .

The ASCE Society-level elections have concluded. Both the Society President-Elect and Region 8 Governor elections were nail-biters. Congratulations to Jean-Louis Briaud for being elected as our next Society President-Elect. Congratulations to Mark Lamar, Arizona Section, and Matt Roblez, Utah Section for being elected as our next Region 8 Governors. We look forward to working with them as they transition into office in October.

If you have an interest in serving as Region 8 Governor, there will be three openings for terms beginning in October 2021. Candidates can be from any state in our Region except for Arizona because they already have the maximum allotted two positions on the Region 8 Board of Governors (BOG). Two Governor positions will be elected. One Governor position will be appointed to fill a need on the BOG. The need, defined by the BOG could be for various traits such as market sector, specialty discipline, ASCE experience, etc. If you want more information or are interested, please contact any of the current BOG members.

Each year, ASCE recognizes the outstanding efforts of our Sections and Branches with awards that are presented at the Multi-Region Leadership Conferences. Nominations are due in October and are administered by the Leader Training Committee. For the 2018 program, a Section and a Branch from Region 8 received two of the four awards.

The Truckee Meadows Branch of the Nevada Section was recognized with the Outstanding Section/Branch Award for Small Sections/Branches (less than 500 members). Included among their outstanding accomplishments were an excellent newsletter and communication tools for their members, an Awards and Student Recognition Banquet that had over 200 attendees, multiple scholarships to high school and university students, and technical lunch meetings and workshops that draw between 15 and 20 percent of their membership. Congratulations to President Randall Rice and the Truckee Meadows Branch.

The Hawaii Section was recognized with the Outstanding Section/Branch Award for Medium Sections/Branches (between 500 and 1000 members). Included among their outstanding accomplishments were preparation for their first Infrastructure Report Card release, semi-annual YMF Professional Engineer Exam Refresher Courses, multiple scholarships to high school and university students, successful student transition to younger member activities, and numerous student outreach programs such as high school CE clubs, popsicle stick bridge building competitions for middle school students and fundraising to purchase Dream Big DVDs for all public elementary and middle schools in the State. Congratulations to FY2018 President Lara Karamatsu and the Hawaii Section.
Maylinn Rosales, Nevada Section President, accepting on behalf of Truckee Meadows Branch. Eric Arakawa, Hawaii Section President, and Lara Karamatsu, Hawaii Section Past President, accepting. Presented by Society President Robin Kemper.
Last month, I attended a Society Program and Finance Committee meeting to discuss the budget for FY20. Our membership numbers have drastically declined even during though the economy is strong. The declining membership has a direct impact on the many valuable programs that ASCE provides to our membership and the civil engineering profession. With the declining membership dues revenue, hard decisions will need to be made by the Board of Direction on which programs to cut to balance the budget.

To help our great organization thrive, I encourage and challenge each of you to recruit at least one new dues-paying member in the next year. Successful membership recruitment needs to be personal. Don’t just forward someone information about ASCE in an email. Make a phone call. Recruit over lunch. Share stories about why ASCE has been valuable to your professional career. Section, Branch, YMF leaders – work with your Membership Committee Champion to find out which firms have little to no ASCE members and set up meetings with their principals to encourage them to sponsor their civil engineers. Both the Society and Region 8 are developing membership recruitment contests that will launch in FY20. Let’s try to increase our membership by at least 25 percent.

Make plans to attend the ASCE Annual Convention in Miami, Florida, from October 10 to 13. Let’s support our fellow Region 8 member Guna as he is installed as our next Society President. For more details on the Convention, visit https://www.asceconvention.org/ .


Mahalo for being a member of ASCE and for all that you do to help our great profession. #Region8isgreat!!!

Mahalo and Aloha,
Tony C.G. Lau, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE
Society Director, Region 8
Recent Region 8 Award Winners
  • The Brigham Young University ASCE Student Chapter was recently notified that they had been selected by the Committee on Student Members to receive the 2019 Robert Ridgway Student Chapter Award for “excellence in the effective and meritorious conduct of its affairs as a student chapter of ASCE through the ability and professional diligence of the Chapter officers, members and faculty advisors.” Congratulations to the BYU Student Chapter!

  • The Society’s Committee on Student Members has also awarded the 2019 Daniel W. Mead Prize for Students to Alec Escamilla, S.M. ASCE, for his paper, “Treating All People Fairly: The Newest Canon and a Timely Reminder.” Congratulations to Alec on this achievement!

  • Congratulations to James Anspach of the Oregon Section who was selected as the 2019 recipient of the G. Brooks Ernest Technical Lecture Award. Each year, the Cleveland Section of ASCE selects an individual to receive the G. Brooks Ernest Technical Lecture Award. The award is named for the late G. Brooks Ernest who served as President of the Society and President of Fenn College (now known as Cleveland State University’s Washkewicz College of Engineering). Dr. Brooks was a graduate of, and a faculty member of, the Case Institute of Technology (now known as Case Western Reserve University). This award is given annually to an outstanding individual of national or international prominence who demonstrates leadership and inspiration in the education of engineers.
Nevada Section Update
ALOHA from the 9 th island! The Nevada Section has had a great year so far, below are some highlights from our members:
Southern Nevada Branch (SNB) : 
  • Successfully released the NV report card at CLV City Hall
  • Participated in the 2019 Legislative Fly-in with 4 members
  • Participated in WSBL in Hawaii with 2 members
  • Continues to host their popular monthly luncheons with local jurisdictional agency speakers
  • Participants range between 35 and 60 attendees monthly 
  • Proudly awarded two $1000 scholarships to UNLV Students embarking on a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the annual Engineering Week Awards Banquet
  • Participated in the ASCE National Conference where Ed McGuire was awarded the ASCE President's Medal
  SNB Younger Member Forum (YMF ):
  • Continue to host their monthly luncheons. 
  • Hosted technical tours including the Las Vegas Stadium (Raiders)   
  • Participated in outreach activities through Future Cities, Inspire STEAM Expo and Mathcounts
  • Volunteered with Green up and Magical Forest
  • Held the 3rd annual kickball professionals vs students game
  • PE Review Course
  • Hosted networking socials
  • Sean Robinson won the ASCE Edmund Friedman Award and was named one of ENR Southwest 2019 Top Young Professionals
   Capital Branch:
  • Participated in WYRMC/WSBL in Hawaii
  • Continues to host their popular monthly luncheons
  • Proudly sponsored community STEM programs at local schools
  • Provided professional learning opportunities to members and engineering community with Technical Classes/Workshops

Truckee Meados Branch (TMB)
  • Awarded 2018 Outstanding Small Branch award at WSBL.
  • Awarded 2018 Commendation Award for 2018 Outstanding Section and Branch Website
  • Held the Annual Awards and Student Recognition Banquet with a record 218 attendees!
  • Held 19th Annual Marv Byars’ Memorial Golf Tournament with over 110 players, 20-40 UNR students and YMF coordinators
  • Provided over $5,200 in funding to the UNR student chapter via our charity golf tournament; this helps to fund MidPac participation and travel expenses.
  • Provided $1,200 to a UNR student from the Chuck Yeager Endowment
  • Added new retention opportunities for our member base
  • Continues to host their popular monthly luncheons with average attendance of more than 50 people.
  • Hosted various technical tours including the Tesla Gigafactory
  • Participated in the ASCE National Conference where Dr Itani was presented the Roebling Award and Kelly Kesellica was awarded the William H Wisely American Civil Engineer Award. 
TMB YMF
  • Volunteered at the Northern Nevada Food Bank
  • Hosted Networking Socials (x4)
  • Hosted a resume Workshop with Reno professionals and the UNR Student Chapter
  • YMF Ice Skating Social with UNR Student Chapter
  • Hosted an Office Crawl
  • Hosted a Tahoe Ski Trip (joint event with 3 other YMF chapters from California)
  • PE Review Course
  • Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility Technical Tour
  • Camping Trip (joint event with 4 other YMF chapters from California)
Mid-Pacific Student Conference Report
The Mid-Pacific Student Conference was hosted this year by San Jose State University (SJSU) from April 18-20, 2019 with a majority of the events held on campus except for the concrete canoe competition, which was held at Calero Reservoir. Seventeen colleges and universities participated in the conference, including one from Canada and five from China. The opening meeting speaker was Aziza Amiri, SJSU alumni, 2018 New Face of Civil Engineering-Professional, and San Jose Younger Member Forum Past President, who remarked how ASCE is a great asset to up-and-coming engineers. Region 8 was well represented by the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR), which always brings enthusiasm and energy to the conference. UNR placed second in the concrete canoe competition with first place in final product, women’s sprint and slalom, and men’s slalom; second place in men’s sprint; and third place in design paper, oral presentation, and coed sprint. SJSU did an excellent job as the host even as they lost their trailer in a ditch and needed a tow on their way to Calero Reservoir. Thank you to everyone who participated and we'll see you next year at University of California, Berkeley.
Judging of UNR concrete canoe display
Conference participants, friends, and family observing swamp testing
UNR post swamp test 
Region 8 Calendar of Upcoming Events

  • Society Board of Direction Summer Meeting, Reston, VA, July 12 – 13, 2019

  • Region 8 Board of Governors Fall Meeting, Reno, NV, September 5, 2019

  • Region 8 Fall Assembly Meeting, Reno, NV September 6 – 7, 2019

  • 2019 Society Leader Orientation , Reston, VA, September 20 -21, 2019

  • 2019 Society Presidents and Governors Forum, Reston, VA September 22 – 23, 2019

  • 2019 Society Annual Convention, Miami, FL, October 10 – 13, 2019


Visit  Region 8 Events  for more information.