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President's Message - November 2020

Hello Dallas Branch Members!

Happy ASCE New Year! I am extremely excited about the upcoming year for our Dallas Branch leadership and membership. Even though we are headed into uncharted waters this year as we continue to navigate through the challenges and unique opportunities of the current world situation, I believe that the ASCE Dallas Branch will continue to provide value to our members, advance civil engineering, and protect the public health, safety, and welfare.

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Jonathan Brower, and I am a structural engineer at L.A. Fuess Partners in Uptown Dallas. I attended Texas A&M University where I picked up my undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering with a focus in structural engineering. I was involved as a Student Chapter officer for three years while on campus at Texas A&M, and I joined the Dallas Branch as soon as I moved to Dallas in June of 2012 to start working at L.A. Fuess. I have served the Dallas Branch in a variety of capacities from Membership Chair, Education Outreach Chair, Social Media Chair, CE Club Champion, Technical Director, Branch Director, and now as your President! I could not be more excited to lead this Branch this year, and more than anything I simply hope that a little bit of my passion for ASCE and our civil engineering profession rubs off on each of you.

While I would love nothing more than to stand in front of all of you in person as your Branch President, the status of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to push us into a virtual format. Based on the current public health guidelines from Dallas County and the mandates that have come down from ASCE HQ, we will not be meeting in person through at least the end of 2020. The Dallas Board of Directors will continue to monitor the situation into 2021 and will clearly communicate our plans moving forward via our Branch newsletter, Branch social media platforms, and Branch website. We appreciate your patience and support as we work through this fluid and complicated situation.

This month will be our annual Joint Meeting with the Society of Military Engineers (SAME) Dallas Post. I would like to extend a warm welcome SAME Dallas Post President Michael Sterling and all our colleagues in the Dallas Post membership as our two organizations come together again. Our main speaker this month will be Patrick Miles, P.E. of Freese and Nichols, who will be talking about a dredging feasibility study they recently completed for the City of Dallas at White Rock Lake. As someone who lives less than a mile from White Rock Lake and regularly runs around the lake on weekends, I am especially excited to hear about a civil engineering study that is happening right in my backyard!

This month we will also be changing the method of PDH distribution for our virtual Branch Meeting. The video presentation will be completely FREE to watch via our Branch YouTube channel. However, if you would like to receive a PDH certificate you will need to “register” for the meeting via our Branch website before the YouTube Live Premier or up to two weeks after the video presentation premiers online. Registration will cost you $10, and the proceeds from these PDHs will be split evenly between our ASCE Dallas G.B. Mann Scholarship and a local non-profit. Please know that this nominal fee we will be charging for the PDH certificates will be going towards a good cause and will help advance our civil engineering profession and society forward!

As always, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. I am here to serve you to the best of my abilities, and I look forward to growing as an engineer, leader, and member of society with each of you. Stay safe and I hope you have a joy-filled Thanksgiving later this month.

-Jonathan Brower, P.E.

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