ASCE OC President's Column: Quarter 2 2026 Update

Summer is officially here! The ASCE Orange County Branch was excited to close out Spring 2026 with some fantastic events, and we are looking forward to the remainder of our 2025/2026 Fiscal Year.

Our Annual Awards Night was hosted at The Charleston in Fullerton on May 6. We received many award nominations for individuals and projects and were pleased to get several event sponsors and a sizable turnout of roughly 200 people. A huge thank you to our Past President, Nestor Godinez, for organizing that event with help from our Social Committee and many others. ASCE Orange County Branch award winners are eligible to receive awards at the ASCE LA Section and ASCE Region 9 levels. We hope that a number of our winners are recognized at the regional and statewide levels. Please stay tuned for details about those upcoming award ceremonies.

The Annual Golf Tournament is Friday, June 26 at Tustin Ranch Golf Club. This is an event I look forward to each year as a great opportunity to spend some time with colleagues and friends, and – in my case – lose a lot of golf balls! I hope to see many of you there. Thank you to our Programs Committee Chair and Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI) Chair, Jason Fix, for organizing this event. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the many sponsors who set up booths, host competitions, etc. for the event.

Our Institutes and Committees continued the year with a variety of excellent events. With respect to Institutes: T&DI hosted a Caltrans District 12 Update on March 17, the Geo-Institute had a presentation on Jet Grouting for Structural and Hydraulic Control in Urban Foundations on March 26, and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute covered a City of Santa Ana Flood Reduction and Stormwater Infiltration Project on April 2, just to name a few events. The 3rd Annual Charity Pickleball Tournament was hosted by the Community Service Committee on June 13, and was a great opportunity to compete while raising charity funding. The University Outreach Committee hosted an event titled “Specialization Stations” where university students learn about a variety of civil engineering disciplines from practicing professionals. Our Younger Member Forum (YMF) continued with a strong line-up of many events throughout the past few months. Please see the articles throughout this newsletter for additional details on those (and other) events.

We are in the process of nominating our Executive Board for the 2026/2027 Fiscal Year – whose roles will become effective October 1, 2026 – and will continue to work hard to host a variety of fun and informative events over the next few months.

Thank you to all of our volunteers, sponsors, and event attendees for your continued support of the ASCE Orange County Branch!

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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.