The 2023 ASCE Architectural Engineering Institute International Student Design Competition challenged student teams to consider a real building – the five-story Kaleideum North in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – and innovatively design it as a living building as it is retrofit into a new children’s museum. This includes all kinds of considerations – including green design elements, energy performance optimization, and embodied carbon reduction. And this year, the multidisplinary team from Penn S...
Jul 17, 2023•11 min•Ep. 146
It’s another week of work for Jose Abinazar, a project designer for Gannett Fleming in Miami, Florida. But the journey to get to this work week wasn’t so simple. His civil engineering college experience in Venezuela was interrupted; his family fled political turmoil and moved to Miami; Jose had to learn a new language, find a job, find a new school, and start all over again. But he made it work. In episode 145 of ASCE Plot Points, Abinazar reflects on his civil engineering story and why he won’t...
Jun 19, 2023•21 min•Ep. 145
With the first ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships approaching this weekend, June 10-12 at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville, there is an interesting drama playing out with the University of South Alabama concrete canoe team. Longtime faculty adviser for the South Alabama ASCE student chapter Eric Steward, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, made a promise to his students a decade ago. If a South Alabama student team ever advanced to a Society-wide competition, he said, he’d commemorate the acco...
Jun 06, 2023•15 min•Ep. 144
As noted in a recent Civil Engineering magazine article, the civil engineering industry is still sorting out whether work-from-home arrangements established at the outset of the COVID pandemic remain viable as life moves forward into something like normalcy. For Christopher Seigel, a civil engineer with Sci-Tek Consultants in Philadelphia, working from home has been a net positive. In episode 143 of ASCE Plot Points, Seigel discusses all angles of working from home for civil engineers and why he...
May 22, 2023•13 min•Ep. 143
This week’s episode of the ASCE Plot Points podcast is the first of what we’re calling Student Sessions. Three ASCE student ambassadors – Alysha Curtis of Fresno State, Peter Yu of the University of Washington, and Evan Brittenham of Western Kentucky University – talk about what thrills them and what intimidates them as they get ready to trade the grad cap for a hardhat.
May 02, 2023•21 min•Ep. 142
ASCE has been publishing its Best Places to Be a Civil Engineer rankings for four years now, based on a combination of salary data, civil engineering job opportunities, and cost of living. And over that span, the city that has risen the most up the list might surprise you. It’s a city known for its climate, its beaches, and now its civil engineering. It’s San Diego, California, and in episode 141 of ASCE Plot Points, Vanessa Eslava, A.M.ASCE, a transportation engineer for T.Y. Lin, talks about w...
Apr 18, 2023•11 min•Ep. 141
Dimitrios Athanasiou, Ph.D., E.I.T., A.M.ASCE, is a senior associate of environmental and earth sciences at Exponent in Bellevue, Washington; he has a Ph.D. from Texas Tech in civil engineering; and he’s the co-chair of the ASCE EWRI Seattle Chapter. But he began his education with a bachelor’s degree back home in Greece in physics. So he has an interesting perspective on any comparison between the theoretical and the applied. In episode 140 of ASCE Plot Points, Athanasiou talks with guest hosts...
Mar 27, 2023•12 min•Ep. 140
Kevin Brown, P.E., M.ASCE, is a construction services manager at TranSystems in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor at the College of New Jersey. And as he’s entered into the leadership phase of his career, he’s approaching these opportunities with generosity and thoughtfulness. In episode 139 of ASCE Plot Points, Brown outlines his journey from student to teacher and talks about how he's trying to fill gaps for the next generation of civil engineers.
Mar 14, 2023•25 min•Ep. 139
Infrastructure advocacy takes center stage this week with the ASCE Legislative Fly-In in Washington, D.C. Sarah Matin, P.E., M.ASCE, Orlando office principal for S&ME and chair of the ASCE Public Policy and Practice Committee, is one of the many ASCE members headed to Capitol Hill this week looking to keep the IIJA momentum going. In episode 138 of ASCE Plot Points, Matin talks about how IIJA funding is affecting work going on in Florida and what’s next for infrastructure advocacy....
Feb 28, 2023•15 min•Ep. 138
You never know how those engineering skills you develop in your career might translate in other areas of your life. Case in point: Jaffer Almosawy, P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE. He’s a project manager for GCW Inc. in Las Vegas, specializing in water and wastewater design. But recently, he’s also become known as ASCE’s Minister of Love. What exactly does that mean? In this special Valentine’s Day episode of ASCE Plot Points, Almosawy explains.
Feb 14, 2023•9 min•Ep. 137
Issues of workforce dominate the conversation around civil engineering in 2023. And one of latest workforce trends is the notion of quiet quitting. Jennifer Sloan Ziegler, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, is an engineer and project manager for Cypress Environment and Infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, and an ASCE Region 5 governor. In episode 136 of ASCE Plot Points, Ziegler talks about quiet quitting and why she thinks it might be an essential strategy for the modern civil engineer.
Jan 31, 2023•15 min•Ep. 136
Sustainability has come a long way over the course of Antoinette Quagliata's career – from project add-ons to default requirements. A manager of sustainability services for Dewberry, Quagliata, ENV SP, talks on episode 135 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast about the changes she's seen and how current sustainability tools are making her work better than ever.
Jan 10, 2023•14 min•Ep. 135
Brian Brenner, P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor of the practice at Tufts University and a principal engineer with Tighe & Bond in Westwood, Massachusetts. He’s published three collections of essays through ASCE, and he has a new monthly column, “More Water Under the Bridge,” on Civil Engineering Source. Remarkably, all these accomplishments – the teaching, the work, the writing – springs from the mind of a 4-year-old. Well, that is to say, Brenner fell in love with bridges as a toddler has managed t...
Dec 06, 2022•17 min•Ep. 134
Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, returns to the ASCE Plot Points podcast to discuss his new book, "The Blessings of Disaster." In part one, he argued why learning from extreme weather events and other disasters is essential. In part two, he outlines how such learning can be done.
Nov 22, 2022•14 min•Ep. 133
Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, has a new book out today, “ The Blessings of Disaster ,” that argues the best way forward – if not the only way – is by learning from the extreme weather events and other disasters that beset us. In episode 132 of ASCE Plot Points, Bruneau discusses his new book, the “Three Little Pigs” fable, and why we must find blessings in disasters....
Nov 08, 2022•17 min•Ep. 132
The ASCENT Tower in Milwaukee – at 25 stories – is the world’s tallest timber building. In episode 131 of ASCE Plot Points, the architect behind the ASCENT, Jason Korb of Korb and Associates, talks about the unique challenges inherent to the ASCENT and how collaboration and innovation helped make history possible.
Oct 25, 2022•11 min•Ep. 131
Duncan Wardle, former head of innovation and creativity at Walt Disney Company, will serve as the closing speaker at the ASCE 2022 Convention, Oct. 26 in Anaheim, California. In episode 130 of ASCE Plot Points, Wardle talks about innovation and how to do it.
Oct 11, 2022•12 min•Ep. 130
Colette Easter is not a native Kentuckian. But she’s lived and worked there a long time now, and she cares about the state. An engineer with the Metropolitan Sewer District in Louisville, she played a huge leadership role in the 2019 ASCE state infrastructure report card for Kentucky. So when floods tore through parts of Eastern Kentucky this summer, it spoke to Easter both professionally and personally. In episode 129 of ASCE Plot Points, Easter talks about the work she’s doing in Louisville to...
Sep 27, 2022•13 min•Ep. 129
Sarah McEwen has worked as a water resources engineer in Jackson, Mississippi, for nearly a decade. Shawn Miller, entering his senior year as a civil engineering student at Jackson State University, has called the city home his entire life. In episode 128 of ASCE Plot Points, the two ASCE leaders share stories from the recent water crisis as the city seeks a pathway toward resilience.
Sep 13, 2022•14 min•Ep. 128
Stu Walesh is an ASCE distinguished member; a longtime civil engineer specializing in water with experience in the public sector, the private sector, and academia. Through it all, he's approached every day as a chance to learn something new. In episode 127 of ASCE Plot Points, Walesh talks about how he developed that growth mindset and how it helps create positive disruption.
Aug 30, 2022•14 min•Ep. 127
Every career journey has stops along the way. And for many people, those are just called jobs. But for the lucky among us, those stops along the way eventually add up to a destination job. But for Melissa Hilsabeck, EIT, A.M.ASCE, she’s found that destination job very early in her career. She’s a capital projects coordinator in the construction management division for the Port of Long Beach. On episode 126 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Hilsabeck talks about her career journey and the many exc...
Aug 16, 2022•18 min•Ep. 126
These days it takes a lot of different people with a lot of different skills to make civil engineering happen. It really comes down to teamwork and technology. On episode 125 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Bentley Ruggles, a senior project manager for Dewberry, talks about how virtual reality technology is changing the way projects get done.
Aug 02, 2022•16 min•Ep. 125
Efficiency is essential these days. There isn’t enough time or money for anything less. And efficiency is borne of innovation. The Office of Public Transportation in Alabama is one such innovation – a partnership between the state department of transportation and the University of Alabama in Huntsville with the simple goal of improving transit for the citizens of Alabama. In episode 124 of ASCE Plot Points, two Alabama Office of Public Transporation leaders, Mehrnaz Doustmohammadi and Michael An...
Jul 19, 2022•16 min•Ep. 124
Joel Figueroa-Vallines, P.E., F.ASCE, is a structural and forensic engineer and president of SEP+A Engineering Consulting, headquartered in Orlando. He left home to drive south for Surfside, Florida, last summer in the aftermath of the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium. He wound up staying for three weeks, helping where he could. In episode 123 of ASCE Plot Points, Figueroa-Vallines reflects on the tragedy a year later and how he’s seen it change the industry....
Jul 12, 2022•17 min•Ep. 123
Big-picture thinking, long-term planning - they seem to be at a premium these days. But not in Reno, Nevada. Not when it comes to clean water. Danny Rotter is an engineering manager for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority in Reno, and he works as part of a team that is using scenario planning and detailed data analysis to ensure the region's clean water future all the way out to the year 2100. On episode 122 of the ASCE Plot Points, Rotter talks about how that process works and why it's so impor...
Jun 21, 2022•15 min•Ep. 122
Civil engineering careers can take many shapes. You can work for a giant firm. You can work for a smaller firm. But what about those medium-sized firms? On episode 121 of the ASCE Plot Points, Sam Potts, a transportation engineer in Los Angeles, California, details the benefits of working for a medium-sized firm.
Jun 14, 2022•15 min•Ep. 121
Society members recently voted Marsia Geldert Murphey as the ASCE 2023 president-elect. Clearly, her accomplishments and vision for the organization spoke volumes. But what many members might not know is that six years ago, Geldert-Murphey wasn’t running for ASCE office; she was just hoping to get out of bed, after an accident left her in a coma. In episode 120 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Geldert-Murphey reflects on how that accident changed her life and her journey into ASCE leadership....
Jun 07, 2022•14 min•Ep. 120
The ASCE Society-wide concrete canoe competition returns this weekend for the first time since 2019 – June 3-5 at Louisiana Tech University. In episode 119 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, two senior project leads – Ryan Carrusca and Natalia Hoeppner or the University of British Columbia and Lipscomb University respectively – talk about their teams’ journeys and hopes for the competition.
May 31, 2022•12 min•Ep. 119
May is National Wildfire Awareness Month. Doug Taylor knows. The former president of both the ASCE San Francisco Section and Fresno Branch spent six years as the Region 9 disaster preparedness chair. He's helped get civil engineers trained and certified to serve as site inspectors in the aftermath of wildfires. In episode 118 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taylor talks about how wildfires continue to affect his homestate of California and what civil engineers can do to help....
May 24, 2022•13 min•Ep. 118
Holly Piza, P.E., M.ASCE, is the research and development director at Mile High Flood District in Denver and the 2022 president of ASCE’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute. In episode of 117 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Piza talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen of the EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee about her career path.
May 17, 2022•17 min•Ep. 117
