ASCE OC Branch: History & Heritage / Student Scholarship Night
- Eric Pheifer, PE
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Our 2025 History & Heritage / Student Scholarship Night was a great success!
The event was hosted at the Norma Hertzog Community Center in Costa Mesa (a prior recipient of an ASCE OC Award: 2021 Architectural Project of the Year) on November 6. The event started with a career fair, followed by a dinner presentation that included the history of aviation in Orange County, student chapter presentations, and the awarding of $18,000 in scholarships to university students.
Approximately 170 people attended the event this year, including a mix of students, professionals, and ASCE OC Past Presidents and Life Members. Yaz Emrani, Chair of the Region 9 Board of Direction and ASCE OC Branch Past President, performed the Installation of Officers for 2025–2026 and informed everyone about the upcoming release of the California Infrastructure Report Card. Student chapter presidents from our ASCE Student Chapters at CSUF, CSULB, and UCI gave excellent presentations on their upcoming activities.
Since the theme of the event was aviation, I donned my pilot costume and presented on aviation history in Orange County. The history and heritage portion of the dinner program covered the humble beginnings of John Wayne Airport as a grass flight training facility; the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro—a master jet base built during World War II that is now the home of the Orange County Great Park; and MCAS Tustin, known for the Tustin Blimp Hangars, which were icons of timber engineering prior to the North Tustin Hangar fire in November 2023. We also gave away several aviation‑themed raffle prizes during the event, including flight simulator training and indoor skydiving.
Thank you to our event sponsors, annual sponsors, volunteers, and all attendees for making this event possible. Congratulations to all of the students who won scholarships, and congratulations to CSUF as the Most Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year!
About the Author:
Eric Pheifer is a Principal / Vice President at Biggs Cardosa Associates, and is currently serving as the President for the ASCE Orange County Branch. Eric can be contacted at EPheifer@BiggsCardosa.com.