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President's Message - May 2012

Greetings from San Antonio!  OK, I am not in San Antonio any longer, but had a nice time at the Spring Meeting in April. The San Antonio Branch did a great job in organizing the event with professional development and ethics courses on Thursday, technical sessions on Friday, and student member concrete canoe races on Saturday.  There were numerous activities scattered throughout the meeting including a very motivational speech during the awards luncheon by former San Antonio Mayor, Henry Cisneros.  If you have never attended a Texas Section meeting or conference, I recommend it.  It is worth it in any city, but it will be really easy within the next 18 months as two of the next three meetings are local.

•    Fall 2012, Fort Worth, November 7-10, 2012
•    Spring 2013, Corpus Christi, March 19-23, 2013
•    Fall 2013, Dallas, September 11-14, 2013

One of the many goals of Section Meetings is to promote the exchange of technical ideas through various presentations on a wide range of tracks such as Construction, Materials, Environmental and Water Resources, Transportation and Development, Geotechnical, Structural, Forensics, and many others. Not only can you attend these presentations, but you can submit a paper in advance of Section meetings and if selected have an opportunity to make a presentation on your paper.  More information, and a Call For Papers can be obtained from the Texas Section website or by contacting the Section Vice President - Technical, Bob Pierry, at 214-725-8932 or [email protected].  Bob is a member of the Dallas Branch, so you can also look him up at many of our Branch meetings.

In addition to the exchange of technical information at the Sections Meetings, our Branch routinely holds technical seminars following most Branch Luncheons. Due to the wide breadth of civil engineering, the topics vary considerably, but throughout the year you will find a topic that meets your interests, expertise, and needs.

At the joint Dallas/Fort Worth meeting in July, the selection of post-luncheon technical seminars will be increased to include six different topics plus an ethics presentation. This will be a great opportunity to dig a little deeper into a technical topic of your choice and to catch up on TBPE professional development requirements. So hold the date of July 9, 2012, at the Arlington Hilton.  More information will be forthcoming and is included in this newsletter. Also, you can contact Ed Penton, Branch Technical Director with ideas or questions (214-638-0145 or [email protected]).

See you at our next meeting on Monday, May 14, 2012.

Douglas L. Smith, P.E.
President
ASCE Dallas Branch, 2011 - 2012