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President’s Message – July 2013

Howdy! We are finally at the point in the planning process for the 2013 Texas Section Fall Conference and Centennial Celebration (occurring in Dallas on September 11-14) where we have all the details and registration available to the members. Please go to www.texas-centennial.com to find out all the details and to register for the conference. There is an early bird rate until August 1, so do not delay and registernow. We have set lofty goals and have a lot of minimums to meet for this meeting, so we are planning on the Dallas Branch members especially to show your support and attend this once in a life time Centennial Conference. You will not be disappointed in the technical, social and professional activities we have in store for you.

We had a very educational presentation last month during the joint meeting with the Fort Worth branch in Hurst. Mr. Tom Shelton and Mr. Chad Edwards from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) spoke to us about Transportation needs and funding options for the future. This month we have a topic and speaker that goes along with our monthly Centennial Theme of Discover Civil Engineering. Dr. Carlos Aiken is a Professor of Geosciences from UT Dallas will talk about 3D LiDAR mapping in Dallas. Thank you to our monthly meeting sponsor: Jacobs Engineering.

We had a great turn out at the ethics webinar last month at Halff Associates. We raised over $540 at this event to help fund the Dallas Branch G.B. Mann Scholarship Fund. We will be giving out three $1,000 scholarships at the branch meeting this month based on the recommendations from the scholarship committee. Thank you to the many students that applied and to the scholarship committee for reviewing the applications.

Centennial Habitat House Volunteer Registration is looking for volunteers to help break ground on the construction of the ASCE Centennial Habitat for Humanity house this fall. Habitat for Humanity’s goal is to provide safe, affordable housing for families in need. We are looking for volunteers on weekends from Sep.14 to Nov. 9. Visit here for more information and for details on how to register.

Speaking of volunteers, we are losing one of the best volunteers this branch has to offer. Matt Ludwig, the Dallas Branch education chair, is being transferred to the east coast later this summer. Matt has done an excellent job promoting civil engineering to local students by starting up one of the first high school civil engineering clubs in the country. Please let Matt know how much you appreciate his hard work next time you see him. Also don’t forget to congratulate our very own branch Vice President Angela Matthews, for winning the 2013 TSPE Young Engineer of the Year. #GOANGELA

Our Dallas Branch Technical Director, Ed Penton has recently been very busy. He has worked diligently with the other branch technical chairs to create 5 new Dallas Branch Technical Insitutes. Way to go Ed!!

Lastly, I wanted to update you on my current status. I have recently left the City of Frisco where I served as the Senior Traffic Engineer over signal operations for the past 3 years. I would like to thank them for the support they have given me while serving the Dallas Branch. I’m excited to be starting back up at Brown & Gay Engineers in Frisco, where I worked previously for over 8 years. Please note my new email address will be [email protected].

I hope to see all of you at our July Branch meeting on the 10^th.

Sean P. Merrell, P.E., PTOE
President
ASCE Dallas Branch, 2012 - 2013