“Help you matter more and enable you to make a bigger difference” |
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Region 8 Director's Column |
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In This Issue
- Region 8 Director's Column
- Southern Idaho Section Update
- Region 8 Calendar of Upcoming Events
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Aloha and Mahalo for your membership in ASCE. I appreciate your dedication to and support of our civil engineering profession and the development of leaders to help us all matter more.
The Society’s big event in March was the release of the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The previous report card was released in 2017.
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Good news was the overall grade increased slightly from a D-plus to a C-minus. Bad news was the long-term infrastructure investment gap increased from $2.2 trillion to $2.59 trillion. Even with an improved GPA, 11 of the 17 categories still rated in the D range. For additional details, visit https://infrastructurereportcard.org/.
Thanks to the Committee on America’s Infrastructure (CAI) and to the government relations staff that produced the report card and the release event. CAI is chaired by Kristina Swallow, ASCE 2018 President and Past Region 8 Director, Nevada Section. CAI members from Region 8 include:
- CAI Emeritus Chair and ASCE 2013 President Greg DiLoreto, Oregon Section
- Region 8 Governor Tor Anderzen, Alaska Section
- Greg Robertson, Oregon Section
- David Swallow, Nevada Section
- Jeff Talley, Arizona Section
- Jennifer Belknap Williamson, Oregon Section
The Society’s Legislative Fly-In was held the day after the report card release reinforcing the message and solutions with personal contacts on Capitol Hill. Over 250 ASCE members participated in the virtual legislative fly-in including 35 from Region 8. Each state in Region 8 sent at least one representative to the fly-in. Thank you for your participation and for meeting with your congressional delegations.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Society leadership made the difficult decision to convert our in-person Multi-Region Leadership Conferences (MRLC) into a virtual event for 2021. Instead of the typical three separate MRLCs, there will now be one event. The MRLC is schedule for April 7 to 10. There will be virtual sessions for two hours each day from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT. The MRLC typically consists of the three concurrent conferences – the Workshop for Section, Branch and Institute Leaders (WSBIL), the Younger Member Councils (YMCs) and the Workshop for Student Chapter Leaders (WSCL). Because each of three YMCs needs to hold their annual business meeting independent from the other two conferences, they plan to schedule their business meeting as a separate event from the MRLC event. The Western Regional Younger Member Council will announce their annual business meeting information at a later date.
Did you know that you can win prizes for yourself and your Section by recruiting new members and past members? The Society has continued their Member-Get-A-Member (MGAM) program for 2021. Refer potential members through the MGAM website at https://info.asce.org/mgam. For each of your referred colleagues that joins ASCE using the ASCE referral email, you will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. If you have the most successful referred members at the end of 2021, you will receive a $500 Amazon gift card. For additional rules, visit the MGAM website.
In addition to the personal recruitment contest, your Section can win too. The Society’s Section Membership Drive (SMD) will award the top three Sections with the highest percentage growth with cash prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 respectively. The SMD works in conjunction with the MGAM program. For SMD rules and current standings, visit https://info.asce.org/smd. As of March 15, three Region 8 Sections are in the top 10 with Southern Idaho Section in 2nd place with 0.61% growth, Montana Section in 8th place with 0.22% growth, and Utah Section in 10th place with 0.17% growth. Similar to the MGAM program, the SMD contest ends on December 31, 2021. The defending 2020 SMD champion is the Hawaii Section.
Because increasing ASCE membership of all civil engineers is our Society’s number one goal, Region 8 is also continuing our Region 8 Membership Drive contest. The Region 8 Membership Drive awards the Section or Younger Member Group (YMG) with the highest percentage increase in dues-paying members between Fall Assembly dates. Our Fall Assembly is typically held in the August/September timeframe. The winning large and small Sections will receive $1000 each. The winning YMG will receive $500. Region 8 Governor Fausto Burruel is our Region 8 Membership Chair and is overseeing this year’s contest. Each of the Section Presidents received their starting membership counts for the 2021 contest at the Fall Assembly meeting.
Speaking of the Region 8 Fall Assembly meeting, the Region 8 Board of Governors decided to schedule our 2021 Fall Assembly meeting for September 24 and 25 in Flagstaff, AZ. The Board of Governors will have its Fall meeting on September 23. Additional details will be provided as the dates get closer.
Only six more months until my term as Society Director is over. I would like to visit with as many Region 8 groups as I can before my time as Director is up. Please send me an invite to your next virtual Section, Branch, YMG, and Student Chapter meeting at tlau_1987@hawaiiantel.net.
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
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Southern Idaho Section Update |
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The Southern Idaho Section of ASCE is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. We have one branch, Snake River Branch in Eastern Idaho and one YMF located in Boise, Idaho. Our section also includes three student chapters: Boise State University, Idaho State University, and Brigham Young University-Idaho. We recently started a Geotechnical Institute in our section. Read about our new institute, student chapter scholarships, virtual events with the Utah Section and an update on our section conference going virtual!
Geotechnical Institute
Southern Idaho’s Geotechnical Institute is one of the first institutes within the section and is now entering its 3rd year. Lead by President Daniel Ciani, the main goal is to bring the geotechnical engineering community in the valley together and provide a venue for exchange of knowledge and experience. The Southern Idaho G-I Chapter has been selected as one of the locations for the 2021 Cross-USA Lecture Series where Liz Smith, a senior principal at Terracon, will be presenting April 20th.
Southern Idaho Student Scholarship
The Southern Idaho Section is proud to award Samantha Kerr and Rachel Brownell with the 2020 Student Scholarship. Both are actively involved in the student ASCE chapter for their schools and will be graduating with their bachelor’s in civil engineering. The board was highly impressed with the resume, letter of recommendation and personal statements from these amazing women. Congratulations to Samantha Kerr from Idaho State University (Left) and Rachel Brownell from Idaho State University (Right)!!
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Virtual Events
Due to changing times, the Southern Idaho Section is taking the opportunity to dive into social media and online meeting platforms. We have developed our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram pages to reach out to connect with other ASCE sections, members and non-members.
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Our goal is to use social media platforms as a tool to make more connections and host online events. Be sure to connect with us on Social Media! Search ASCE Southern Idaho Section on any of the platforms mentioned and stay up to date on our announcements and events. Over the last year, the Southern Idaho Section has teamed with the Utah Section to provide virtual happy hours. These events are geared towards keeping people engaged in ASCE activities while networking with engineers from other sections. The only rule to these happy hours is no ASCE talk. This rule was developed to encourage casual conversation and participation, so it did not seem like a traditional ASCE lecture meeting. Our goal is for members to have fun and enjoy virtual games like Jackbox, Trivia Nights, and even the most recent Blackjack night hosted by Region 8.
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2021 SIS Virtual Conference
After cancelling the Spring 2020 Conference, the Southern Idaho Section is very excited to be planning a virtual conference for June 7th-10th 2021. The conference will take place from Monday - Thursday from 12 pm - 2 pm each day and will offer approximately 8 PDH’s.
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This conference is free and open to anyone including non-ASCE members. The schedule will consist of a variety of presentations from all engineering disciplines. An advantage of hosting a virtual conference is we’re able to pull in presenters and presentations from all over! So if you are interested in presenting in our conference, please send a short abstract and presenter’s bio to southernidahoasce@gmail.com by April 30th 2021.
Our board enjoyed getting to meet other sections and branches at the 2021 Winter Assembly Meeting in Vegas this past February and hope to continue to grow those connections through the virtual world until our next assembly meeting in the Fall!
Lauren Nuxoll, PE, M.ASCE
Southern Idaho Section President
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Region 8 Members Award Spotlight |
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Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Kaminsky, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE of the Seattle Section for being selected by ASCE’s Construction Institute to receive the 2021 Daniel W. Halpin Award for Scholarship in Construction. She was recognized for outstanding contributions in construction engineering and management, through groundbreaking research in the pursuit of equity for vulnerable populations around the globe through the construction of socially sustainable civil infrastructure.
Congratulations to Oregon State University ASCE Student Chapter for being selected by the ASCE Committee on Student Members to receive the 2021 ASCE Distinguished Chapter Award for Region 8. This award is made annually to the most outstanding Student Organization in the Region based on activities recorded in the Student Chapter's 2020 annual report.
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Region 8 Calendar of Upcoming Events |
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- Regions 8 and 9 MRLC, Virtual, April 7-10
- Rocky Mountain Student Conference, April 8-10, 2021 - Virtual
- Mid‐Pacific Student Conference, Fresno, April 13-16, 2021 - Virtual
- Pacific Northwest Student Conference, April 15-17, 2021 - Virtual
- 2021 Society Board of Direction Spring Meeting, April 30 - May 1, 2021 - Virtual
- 2021 Society Board of Direction Summer Meeting, Reston, VA - Possibly Virtual - July Dates TBD
- Board of Governors Fall Meeting, Flagstaff, AZ, September 23, 2021
- Region 8 Board of Governors Fall Assembly Meeting, Flagstaff, AZ September 24 and 25
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