Articles

President's Message - June 2016

For those of you with kids in school, I know you are just as excited as I am that school is finally out for the summer! I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer!

I would like to take a moment to recap our May meeting by thanking a few folks. I’d like to start by thanking our Younger Members who volunteered to lead the May meeting. Younger Member (YM) month is important to our Branch as it allows our up and coming YMs the opportunity to gain experience leading the Branch’s Board and luncheon meetings as well as promote all the fantastic things they are doing throughout the year. Thanks YMs for all your hard work and dedication in helping the next generation of civil engineers as they begin their careers. Keep up the great work!

We also recognized our 2016 Life Members at the May meeting. A Life Member is an individual who has made a lifetime commitment to ASCE and the civil engineering profession by remaining a member for the full length of their professional career. Thank you for supporting and committing to ASCE throughout your career! 

Finally, we had students in the Civil Engineering (CE) Club at Woodrow Wilson High School join us at the May meeting. The students in attendance were the top performers in the club and I hope you were able to talk to them. Each year I am inspired after meeting the students. They have so many innovative ideas and they leave me encouraged by how they envision the future of a better world. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating that the CE Club is a fantastic outreach program that the Branch continues to help grow. I hope you will join us in encouraging the future generations to become civil engineers. 

Moving on to our upcoming events, I would like to talk about our Branch’s signature event this year. The Dallas Branch will be hosting the Annual ASCE DFW Joint Meeting in Arlington on July 11, 2016. Over the years this meeting has continued to grow as it provides members from both the Dallas and Fort Worth Branches the opportunity to network with fellow members across the Metroplex, listen to great speakers and topics, and earn up to 5 PDHs. I’m excited to announce that we will have Commissioner Victor Vandergriff as our keynote speaker at our luncheon to give us a TxDOT update. Each Institute will once again provide three 1-hour technical sessions in the morning giving you up to fifteen sessions to choose from. Following the luncheon, we will have an ethics seminar given by David Howell, PE with TBPE to wrap up the day. Registration will open following our June meeting. Please stay tuned for more information to be published regarding speakers and topics. I look forward to seeing everyone there as we make this the biggest year yet!

Our next meeting is on Monday, June 13, 2016. Our speaker will be Khaled Naja, Executive Vice President for the Airport Development and Planning Division of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Before and after the lunch, the Institutes will once again have Technical Sessions providing a great opportunity to earn up to three (3) PDHs each month. I look forward to seeing you there!

Brad Hernandez, PE
President
ASCE Dallas Branch, 2015-2016