ASCE has honored Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, with the 2020 Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. Energy Award for significant contributions to fields related to energy consumption by the transportation system, through extensive research on how electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles impact energy consumption and how an inclusive energy perspective can better fit within the broader urban environment. Kockelman is a professor at the University
ASCE has honored Larry W. Mays, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, with the 2020 Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award for his contributions to water resources engineering for arid lands, focusing on water infrastructure systems, water resources sustainability and ancient water systems. Mays is one of the most accomplished researchers, authors, teachers, mentors and engineers in the world. These facts are evidenced by more than 120 peer-reviewed
From skyscrapers and dams, to bridges and drinking water, civil engineering is integral to our quality of life. Civil engineers build modern civilization and are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of the public, while harmonizing the built and natural environments. In short, civil engineers are society’s unsung heroes. That’s why it is important to celebrate the difference civil engineers make in our world.
Want to turn those job applications into job interviews? It’s all about crafting the perfect resume. The way you present your work history and abilities isn’t just important; it can be the paramount reason you get that callback for an interview. ASCE assembled an 11-member expert team of resume coaches for its Spring 2020 Resume Workshop. Together, they bring a diversity of experience and wealth of
The annual ASCE New Faces of Civil Engineering provide reassurance to anyone concerned that the profession’s future will remain in good hands. These 10 young professionals have each accomplished more in the first decade of their careers than most people manage in a lifetime. There is the structural engineer who was a top-ranked tennis star in his home country as a teenager. There’s the environmental
Thalia Valkanos can’t be accused of playing things too safe. Or to use a football metaphor, given her (self-proclaimed) status as ASCE’s resident NFL expert, Valkanos doesn’t send in the kicking team when it’s fourth-and-goal in her career. She’s playing for touchdowns. Consider that during the last decade, she has switched majors, changed career paths, uprooted her life for a new city where she knew
Brian Phan’s parents had a simple, if daunting, plan as they made their way out of poverty in Vietnam back in the early 1990s and moved their young family to Los Angeles. “Their goal was to allow their kids to do well in school, get good grades if they can, and hopefully accomplish that American dream,” Phan said. Of course, the Phans had few if
It was during the ASCE 2018 Convention. Robin Kemper, earlier that day inducted as the Society president, invited friends and colleagues up to her hotel suite to celebrate the occasion. Sometime before midnight, there amid the skyscrapers of downtown Denver, someone convinced Joanna Smith to play the piano. And with that, a gathering of civil engineers became a party. Pretty soon Smith was playing Beatles
The Caribbean is one of the most hazard-prone regions in the world. So, for Daniel Campbell, growing up in the small island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, he didn’t necessarily go looking for a career in disaster mitigation – it found him. In just about the worst kind of way. “There was a retaining wall failure in my country in September 2008,” Campbell
Dana Al-Qadi had every intention of becoming a physician someday. And not just like a lot of kids do in elementary school when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” She was literally in college studying to be a doctor. But then … She had just returned to campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from a trip to see
