Topic: Resilience

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Are Civil Engineers ‘Essential’ Personnel?

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a new consideration of the word “essential.” With much of the United States under shelter-in-place orders this month, different states have deemed different services and different professionals as being essential to the continued day-to-day life of society. So where does civil engineering stand in that debate? Are civil engineers essential? ASCE has spoken plainly that, yes, civil engineers should be considered essential...

Shipping Containers Serve as ICU Pods for COVID-19 Victims

A NONPROFIT COALITION of architects, engineers, doctors, and other experts has launched a method for turning freight shipping containers into intensive care units (ICUs) to treat patients with COVID-19. Called CURAs (connected units for respiratory ailments), the pods are as easy to set up as medical tents but provide the added protection of negative air pressure, according to a March press release issued by Carlo...

COVID-19 Community Calls 16: A Family Split Across Two Continents

Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 16 goes to Region 10 Director Elias Boutros Sayah. Based in the United Arab Emirates, he was visiting the United States in...

Army Corps Converts Civic Spaces to Hospitals for COVID-19

AFTER COVID-19 took hold in Wuhan, China, leading to a lockdown of the city of 11 million on January 23, Chinese officials made headlines by announcing that the country had built two hospitals with a total of roughly 2,300 beds in less than two weeks. The prospect of something similar playing out in the United States seemed far-fetched. But in March the epicenter of the...

Engineers Respond Quickly to Teleworking

AS COVID-19 SPREAD across the world and state and local governments closed down businesses to encourage social distancing, engineering firms faced two challenges: keeping their employees safe and continuing to work for their clients—many of whose projects were deemed essential. The solution was simple: have everyone work from home. But the execution was complex. Combining longstanding processes with new measures meant ensuring that everyone had the...

What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Our Infrastructure

Brad Allenby, Ph.D., Aff.M.ASCE, Mikhail V. Chester, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE, and Thaddeus Miller, Ph.D., are engineers, professors and groundbreaking researchers at Arizona State University. In today's Member Voice article, they write about how the COVID-19 pandemic has already taught us important lessons about adapting and transforming our infrastructure systems. <> The rapid progression of COVID-19 is revealing challenges for infrastructure as the institutions that manage and deliver critical...

COVID-19 Community Calls 13: Leading a Small Business Through a Pandemic

Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 13 considers the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, specifically to the smaller civil engineering firms. Mike Howell started Arrow Engineering, a...

COVID-19 Community Calls 11: Keeping Essential Utilities Online

Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 11 takes us to South Carolina, where civil engineers are famililar with staying resilient in the face of hurricanes. The coronavirus, though,...

COVID-19 Community Calls 9: Assessing the Civil Engineering Industry’s Post-Pandemic Potential

Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession. Thirty days. Thirty phone calls. Community Call 9 goes to Distinguished Member Tony Bartolomeo, the former CEO and president of Pennoni. Bartolomeo's leadership experience gives him a unique perspective...

Technology: Remote Bridge and Tunnel Maintenance Tech Made Free Due to COVID-19

IN RESPONSE to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Dynamic Infrastructure, a start-up based in New York City, has offered free use through the end of 2020 of its bridge maintenance technology to departments of transportation and public–private partnerships. The technology uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help bridge and tunnel managers inspect and manage their assets, according to Saar Dickman, the cofounder and chief executive officer...