President's Message - The E-Generation
By Josue Vaglienty, P.E.
By Josue Vaglienty, P.E.
The “Dream Big” feature film is finally out at IMAX theatres…
Read More »Secretary's Column - Celebrating Engineering
By Elizabeth Ruedas, EIT
By Elizabeth Ruedas, EIT
It is officially awards season, and not just for the entertainment…
Read More »University Outreach - Student Night
By Tom Broz, P.E., S.E.
By Tom Broz, P.E., S.E.
At the November 17, 2016 OC Branch History and Heritage/…
Read More »In This Issue
President's Message - The E-Generation
By Josue Vaglienty, P.E.
By Josue Vaglienty, P.E. The “Dream Big” feature film is finally out at IMAX theatres across the country! But the event was not intended to be a single showcase event. Nor was it just for Engineer’s Week. The intent of the film is to engage a whole generation of young students by capturing their imagination and to inspiring them to become engineers…hopefully civil engineers! ... I, for one, am a believer. The future of our country’s infrastructure (both existing and future) will land firmly in their hands. Our job as engineers of today is to serve as a catalyst to help them along the way – on their way to becoming the E-Generation!
Secretary's Column - Celebrating Engineering
By Elizabeth Ruedas, EIT
By Elizabeth Ruedas, EIT It is officially awards season, and not just for the entertainment industry, but for the engineering industry too! Engineers have a lot to celebrate and we have done just that the entire month! Locally, for example, we did so at our ASCE OC Branch Awards Dinner. Worldwide, we celebrated Engineers Week and released the Dream Big Film as well. February has been an action-packed month that has been filled with events that not only celebrate engineering projects and individuals, but also share how engineers help make a difference with the rest of the world.
University Outreach - Student Night
By Tom Broz, P.E., S.E.
By Tom Broz, P.E., S.E. At the November 17, 2016 OC Branch History and Heritage/ Student Night dinner held at the Lyon Air Museum, the three local ASCE Student Chapters from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), and the University of California, Irvine (UCI) made “State of the Chapter” presentations.
Community Service - ASCE OC and EWB Members Partner for Professionals for San Diego Zoo Safari Park
By Jason Goff, P.E.
By Jason Goff, PE ASCE Orange County Chapter (ASCE-OC) and EWB-Orange County Professionals Chapter (EWB-OC) formed a partnership to modify five existing bridges at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Two of the bridges, known as the Tiger Bridge and Gorilla Bridge and multi-span bridges of the abandoned monorail system; the remainder of the bridges are 50 foot long single span bridges. The bridges will be retrofitted with guardrails for public/pedestrian use to provide access to other parts of the park not previously accessible to the public. Click to hear about the latest project progress.
New Members - January 2017
By Mimi Luk
Please join the Board of Directors in welcoming the newest members to ASCE OC! We look forward to getting to know you and hope to see you at an upcoming meeting.
Geo Institute - Interaction of MSE Abutments Under Seismic Loading
By By Mr. Michael Givens, PhD, PE, PG, ASCE OC Geo-Institute First Director, and Mr. Clint Isa, PE, ASCE OC Geo-Institute Chair
By Mr. Michael Givens, PhD, PE, PG, ASCE OC Geo-Institute First Director, and Mr. Clint Isa, PE, ASCE OC Geo-Institute Chair The ASCE-Orange County Geo-Institute (GI) hosted a dinner on November 3, 2016 at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) University Club. The dinner, which was attended by nearly 40 people, consisted of a presentation about research on the seismic performance of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) bridge abutments recently performed at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The presentation included information regarding UCSD’s geotechnical capabilities and a discussion about the motivation, background review, and experimental results for shake table testing and numerical modeling of a MSE abutment. The presentation was given by Mr. John McCartney, PhD, PE, who is an Associate Professor at UCSD; Prof. McCartney’s research student, Mr. Yewei Zheng, was also in attendance.
K-12 Outreach - Volunteering at the McPherson Magnet School Science Fair
By Nathan Forrest, P.E.
By Nathan Forrest, P.E. On Monday, February 13th, Josue Vaglienty and I had the opportunity to volunteer to help judge students' science projects at the McPherson Magnet School science fair. We learned about this opportunity and need through the ASCE OC K-12 Outreach Committee. This committee works hard to allow civil engineering professionals to have a classroom presence in Orange County as well as helping educators to present engineering concepts in their classrooms.
Member Spotlight: Chad Harden and The Art of Engineering Podcast
By Chad Harden, P.E.
By Chad Harden, P.E. As chair of the local SEI chapter, I was invited to share my insights on a passion of mine – podcasting. As I begin each podcast, let me say, “Welcome to The Art of Engineering podcast – I am your host, Chad Harden, chair of the SEI Orange County Chapter of ASCE and structural engineer with Michael Baker International.” The public sees the end result of a public improvement, and our clients see the thousands of plan sheets they have paid for. Each of these is a respected medium of art - such as the “structural art” of buildings and bridges, and the obvious line on paper can be respected. But, what about our daily sketches and communication, where we work so hard to communicate ideas across disciplines and experience? Keep reading to hear more about the Art of Engineering!
Submit Your Own Article
By
Do you have an interesting topic you would like to share? We are always looking for new and relevant content to distribute to our members relating to Civil Engineering in Orange County (no ads!). If you have an idea please feel free to submit it to the Newsletter Committee! You will receive a confirmation email; however, no futher acknowledgement will be sent. There is no guarantee of publication.
Sustainability Committee - Transit Oriented Development
By
Charlotte Wu, PE, ENV SP Sustainable Transit Oriented Development (TOD) creates walkable communities centered around train systems, along with benefits such as increased local economy, less air pollution, higher quality of life, and healthier life styles.