Articles

2020 ASCE Texas Section Updates

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TEXAS CIVIL ENGINEER – NEWS FROM ASCE TEXAS SECTION

Coming Soon: Younger Member Networking Roulette

ASCE Texas Section’s Younger Member Committee is developing a new way to interact virtually, “Networking Roulette.” Participants will be paired with one of their fellow ASCE Texas members to virtually meet, chat and get to know one another. It’s a simple, but powerful way to bring people together and create new connections. This program aims to foster better connectivity and new relationships between our various ASCE Texas Branches. Participants will receive their first pairing within a few weeks of signing up, then they’ll meet their pair at your convenience via phone, Zoom, Teams, etc. Each quarter Participants will be randomly matched with someone outside of their branch/discipline and invited to get to know each another. More details coming January 2021!

Save the Date: ASCE Texas Legislative Drive-In

Every other spring, ASCE Texas Section holds its Legislative Drive-In program, concurrent with Texas Legislative Sessions. This intensive program provides our members with an inside look at the public policy process. The Section’s Government Affairs Committee invites you to join them on February 22 through 26, 2021 as they hold the ASCE Texas Legislative Drive-In. This virtual event will include briefing sessions on key legislation and ASCE’s legislative priorities, along with training on lobbying and influencing your elected leaders over the course of one week. All attendees will be asked to schedule meetings with their respective elected officials. Registration coming soon. Please check this site in the coming weeks: www.texasce.org/our-programs/legislative-drive-in/

Status Update: Texas Infrastructure Report Card

Infrastructure is a critical issue impacting Texas’s economy, society, security and future. The Texas Section’s goal is to craft a report card depicting the condition and performance of Texas’s infrastructure in the familiar form of a school report card – assigning letter grades based on the physical condition and needed investments for improvement.

ASCE Texas Section’s Infrastructure Report Card Committee is in the final stages of developing the 2021 Report Card for Texas’ Infrastructure. This 55-member committee divided in subcommittees based on their engineering expertise and drafted 12 infrastructure chapters. They have also assigned grades using available data and following ASCE’s strict procedures for creating state report cards. The IRC Committee received the ASCE Texas Section’s 2020 President’s Special Recognition Award during CECON 2020 in November for their outstanding work.

The report will be released in conjunction with the 2021 ASCE Texas Legislative Drive-In. Please visit www.texasce.org/irc to learn more about past reports.

2021 ASCE Texas Student Symposium Is Going Virtual

The next Student Symposium will be held virtually on April 15-17, 2021 hosted by the ASCE Student Chapter at The University of Texas at Austin. The annual event fosters close association between engineering professionals and over 400 university students. The Student Symposium combines the Texas-Mexico Student Conference’s concrete canoe student competition as well as a variety of other student competitions, a career fair, and seminars into one event. The planning team is also working with ASCE’s Committee on Student Conferences and Competitions to adjust the rules for a virtual environment. They look forward to your support and encourage you to save the date for the Student Symposium. And don’t forget, the Student Symposium Career Fair is a must for all those seeking new hires >> both full-time graduates and part-time interns!

More News from ASCE Texas Section: Texas Civil Engineer

View industry and Section news online, for free at www.texasce.org/news. Recent articles include a message from Section President Sean P. Merrell PE, PTOE, RAS, F.ASCE; a fun get-to-know Yan Linwood PE – one of four Section Directors at Large; and an article on the History of Rainfall Studies.