Welcome Past, Present, and Future Civil Engineer & Advocates,

It is an absolute pleasure to serve as your 2018 – 2019 President for the ASCE North Carolina Section. I started my ASCE career during my undergraduate days at the University of Pittsburgh. Once my career at Kimley-Horn relocated me to Raleigh, I decided to continue my professional growth and immediately got engaged with the professional society again. The initial involvement and desire to contribute within the NC Eastern Branch lead to my Eastern Branch Representative role and eventually shifted my volunteer time to the NC Section board that I am once again privileged to be a part of today.

In such a “business is boomin’ ” and busy time for our industry, I and your Section Board hope to help promote the success of each and every one of our branches, YMGs, and members by creating an inviting, supportive, and responsive environment. Through our bi-annual conferences and monthly meetings, hearing the needs of each part of our section, it is my goal to help all ASCE members prosper in whatever civil engineering field it is they love and contribute to opportunities to learn and grow for the greater good of the public. I also want to impart, as members of such an honorable profession, that we should consciously put into daily practice the eight cannons of the ASCE Code of Ethics:

1) Hold Safety Paramount

2) Service with Competence

3) Issue True Statements

4) Act as a Faithful Agent

5) Reputation by Merit

6) Uphold Professional honor

7) Continue Professional Development

8) Treat All Persons Fairly

Everyone’s time is limited and an extremely valuable investment and therefore anyone that decides to invest theirs into any part of the ASCE NC Section, we hope to make it both fulfilling and worthwhile.

Thanks again for this opportunity and feel free to contact me at kfree.ASCE@gmail.com.

Best regards,

Kyle Freehart, P.E., A. M. ASCE

Apply to Attend the 2019 Legislative Fly-In: Deadline November 19

Now is the time to apply to attend the 2019 Legislative Fly-In on March 12 and 13, 2019! The deadline to submit your application is November 19, 2018. You must be an ASCE member in-good-standing and a Key Contact to apply. You must fully complete the online application to be considered.

Join 200+ fellow Key Contacts in Washington, DC for two days of legislative training and meetings on Capitol Hill. The 2019 Fly-In program includes: 

• Meetings on Capitol Hill with your Members of Congress or their staff

• Briefing sessions on key legislation active in Congress.

• Training on lobbying and influencing elected leaders

• Networking with ASCE peers from across the country

• Tips on maintaining relationships with your elected officials once you return home

• A Younger Member Program

• Presentation of the 2019 Outstanding Civil Engineer Advocate of the Year Awards.

The best participants are members active in the Key Contact Program or those interested in advocating on behalf of ASCE and our Priority Issues. We ask that Fly-In attendees be willing to continue to foster relationships with legislators and their staff when they return home. If you have any questions about the Fly-In program, please reach out to ASCE’s Government Relations Team at govwash@asce.org. 

Future City starts with a question: How can we make the world a better place? To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. Past topics include stormwater management, urban agriculture, public spaces, and green energy.

The 2018-2019 theme is Powering Our Future! Teams will design a resilient power grid for their future city that can withstand and quickly recover from the impacts of a natural disaster.

Participants will complete five deliverables:

1. a virtual city design (using SimCity)

2. a 1,500-word city essay

3. a scale model built from recycled materials

4. a project plan

5. a presentation to judges at Regional Competitions in January, 2019

Regional winners represent their region at the Finals in Washington, DC in February, 2019. After completing Future City, student participants are not only prepared to be citizens of today's complex and technical world, but also poised to become the drivers of tomorrow.

There are mentor positions available throughout North Carolina. We are proud to say that ASCE has supported the North Carolina region with volunteers since it began in 2003. We hope you will continue this tradition this year. The Call for Mentors pamphlet details the competition and mentor responsibilities.

The areas needing mentors as of 2018-10-25 are as follows:

• Rocky Mount – 2 Schools and 6 Mentors needed.

• Durham – 2 Schools and 2 Mentors needed.

• Charlotte – 2 Schools and 4 Mentors needed.

• Henderson – 1 School and 3 Mentors needed.

• Winfall – 1 School and 3 Mentors needed.

• Morganton – 1 School and 2 Mentors needed.

• Lumberton – 1 School (1 Mentor Assigned wanting one more)

• Greensboro – 2 Schools and 2 Mentors needed.

• High Point – 2 Schools and 2 Mentors needed.

• New Bern – 1 School and 1 Mentor needed.

• Wilmington – 1 School and 3 Mentors needed.

The North Carolina Section's Awards Committee is seeking nominations for the following awards:

2018 Project of the Year
2018 Engineer of the Year
2018 Young Engineer of the Year
2018 Student Chapter Member of the Year

The Awards Committee requests that North Carolina Section Members of ASCE please submit recommendations for each award. In making recommendations, please submit appropriate biographical and/or documented data as requested in the award statements. There are no special forms. A resume, letter of recommendation, and any other pertinent information will be acceptable.

Please review the enclosed information and submit recommendations. It is preferred that recommendation packages are submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or PDF, and submitted electronically. It is requested that each ASCE Section member submit to the Awards Chair in one e-mail message.

The deadline for recipients of recommendations is by COB Monday, August 20th, 2018. If you have any questions about the awards process, please contact us at ncasce.awards@gmail.com.
 

The Structural Engineers Association (SEA), the AIA, and ASCE are teaming up to create a Design Professional Organization volunteer response program with North Carolina Emergency Management.

The group is looking for an ASCE representative to serve on its Structural Engineers Emergency Response (SEER) Committee.  Time commitment consists of conference calls once per month with a plan to back down to once per 6 to 8 weeks once the group gets better organized.

This year SEER is organizing a day-long training session and is working with the state regarding registering volunteers and obtaining credentials to get them through security checkpoints.

For more information please contact Rob Stevenson at 919-832-5587, ext. 11, or   rstevenson@lhcengineers.com

ASCE representatives are needed to serve on the Structural Engineers Emergency Response (SEER) Committee.

This is a joint venture between ASCE, the Structural Engineers Association (SEA), and the AIA, to create a Design Professional Organization volunteer response program with North Carolina Emergency Management. 

We are organizing a day-long training session and talking with the state about registering our volunteers and obtaining credentials to get us through security checkpoints.  We are doing conference calls once per month and plan to back down to once per 6 to 8 weeks once we get better organized.

If you or someone you know is interested, please contact Rob Stevenson at (919) 832-5587, ext. 11, or rstevenson@lhcengineers.com.

Duke hosted the 2018 The Carolinas Conference during the first weekend of April.  UNC-Charlotte won the Concrete Canoe competition and NCSU won the Steel Bridge competition. Both schools now qualify to attend the respective national competitions. Congratulations to both teams and schools!

Image via NCSU

ASCE National's Geographic Services informed us that Dr. Paul Zia, Ph.D., P.E., Dist. M.ASCE, NAE and Dr. Sami H. Rizkalla, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE from the Eastern Branch of the North Carolina Section have been selected by the Structural Engineering Institute to receive the 2018 T.Y. Lin Award for the paper “Dapped Ends of Prestressed Concrete Thin-stemmed Members: Part 1, Experimental Testing and Behavior,” published in PCI Journal, March-April 2017.

Image via NCSU

We are exceptionally proud of Dr. Zia and Dr. Rizkalla and thank them for their numerous contributions to ASCE and the Civil Engineering profession.