Alex McDowell, an award-winning production designer for dozens of Hollywood films, talks about the way he is blending storytelling and data-driven research for ASCE's Future World Vision.
The world is rapidly changing. There are exciting new opportunities and difficult challenges ahead for civil engineers: alternative energy, autonomous vehicles, climate change, smart cities, high-tech construction and advanced materials, and policy and funding are just a few.
To educate our members and spark dialogue on the latest and future practices in the civil engineering field, ASCE’s Future World Vision will be highlighted at the...
The year is 2070. Imagine that sea-level rise has so altered coastal infrastructure that floodwaters have forced cities offshore, to developments that float on top of the ocean.
Chris Luebkeman is an Arup Fellow, based in their San Francisco office, with the rather daunting title of director for global foresight, research and innovation.
Is he a fortune teller? Can he predict the future?
Not exactly. But he has his finger on the pulse of change, embraces the challenges, and stresses that we must all find our new role in these new times.
Recently, he delivered...
What do civil engineering college graduates need to know?
It’s an important question throughout the history of the profession. But given the rapidly changing variables, as considered in ASCE’s Future World Vision, the question is arguably more critical now than ever before.
Certainly, it was the question at the core of the 2019 ASCE Civil Engineering Education Summit, May 28-30 in Dallas.
Kevin Hall, Ph.D., M.ASCE, the...
Climate change is one of six key trends driving ASCE’s Future World Vision scenario-planning model. Already, right now, in the present world vision, climate change – specifically sea-level rise – is driving demand for flooding solutions in Southeast Florida.
Civil engineers in the region, along with local governments and cooperative efforts like the Southeast Regional Climate Change Compact, the Resilient Utilities Coalition and the Florida...
Mikhail Chester was at a crossroads of sorts.
He’d done plenty of good work in the sustainable engineering space – life-cycle assessment, climate change adaptation, resilience and the like – and won ASCE’s Huber prize in 2017 for these efforts. But there was something missing, some kind of unifying, synthesizing approach to tie it all together.
“A few years ago I stepped back and asked myself,...
David Odeh can’t help but chuckle at the irony inherent in his statement.
“The one thing we can say with certainty,” Odeh says, “is that whatever future scenario we predict, that scenario will not be the future.”
Odeh, a technical region director on the ASCE Board of Direction, is referring to Future World Vision, ASCE’s bold, comprehensive scenario-planning tool that helps civil engineers strategize for an...
Gerald E. “Jerry” Buckwalter will join the ASCE staff in a new role, Chief Operating and Strategy Officer, effective June 4.
Buckwalter will be responsible for helping to shape the Society’s strategic direction and operational effectiveness. Among his key early responsibilities will be continued oversight of ASCE’s new Future World Vision project. He will also oversee several areas of internal operations, including finance and administration, engineering...
