Two dam failures in Michigan in mid-May have led to calls for investigations as to the causes of the calamitous events as well as an examination of why the dams’ owner did not make critical upgrades in time to preclude the disaster. Although no fatalities or injuries resulted from the failures, widespread flooding forced the evacuation of thousands of central Michigan residents and significantly...
ASCE has honored Randall P. Bass, P.E., with the 2020 Rickey Medal for his mentorship of young civil engineers in the field of dam engineering and safety assessment, and for numerous presentations to the Georgia Geo-Institute chapter of ASCE.
Bass has more than 40 years of experience in the planning, design, construction, regulation and inspection of dams, spillways and other water storage and control, and...
On the Ohio River near the village of Olmsted, Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed one of its largest civil works projects since construction of the Panama Canal. This achievement, of what the Corps classifies as a megaproject, has now eliminated economically significant and unpredictable bottlenecks from the hub of the nation’s inland waterways transportation system.
In recognition of that accomplishment, Olmsted...
Todd L. Barber, P.E., F.ASCE, the principal dam safety engineer for the Southern Company Hydro Services group, headquartered in Atlanta, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Barber is renowned for his 23 years of practice in dam safety and geotechnical engineering. His broad expertise covers all aspects of hydroelectric dam safety, including stability analysis, structural assessment, hydraulic studies, spillway gate...
Gordon A. Walhood Sr., an ASCE Fellow who helped design New Mexico’s Cochiti Dan during a career spent with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, died on Jan. 18. He was 96.
A longtime resident of Albuquerque, NM, Walhood, P.E., F.ASCE, received his B.S. in civil engineering from North Dakota Agricultural College (now NDSU) in 1941, and was a member of Sigma Phi Delta.
Upon graduation,...
One of ASCE’s longest tenured members has died, a professional who continued giving of his engineering abilities to projects in Alabama long after retirement.
Richard Shaul Woodruff, who joined ASCE in 1937 as a student at the University of Alabama College of Engineering, died in Birmingham at the age of 103.
He achieved ASCE Life Member status in 1978, before the oldest of today’s Younger Members...
James Richard “Jim” Nichols, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, longtime leader of the Freese and Nichols consulting firm in Fort Worth, TX, has died at 92.
Nichols joined ASCE in 1949 as an undergraduate student at Texas A&M, and was elected a Distinguished Member in 2004 for his many career achievements.
Nichols worked to provide dependable water supplies for drought-ravaged cities of West Texas. He helped create water districts, raised project...
