Job goals don’t always have to be centered around salary or status. Often, it’s more about personal happiness and finding the right fit. For Bianca Casem, a project engineer at Swenson Say Fagét in downtown Seattle, that means sharing an office with her dog (0:35). And in today’s Extracurricular segment, Chris Hanna, project engineer at Pennoni, discusses his passion for live music (8:56). Listen to
Margarita Kruyff is not a civil engineer. But she works with civil engineers every day in her job as the assistant director of the Environment and Sustainability Department for the City of Miami Beach and also serves as chair of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Miami-Dade Chapter. So she is uniquely positioned to provide insights on what it’s like to work and communicate
ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute issued the “Prestandard for Performance-Based Wind Design” early this year. Performance-based design continues to be one of the four focus areas (along with resilience, life-cycle cost analysis and innovation) of ASCE’s Grand Challenge. Don Scott, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, the prime investigator for the prestandard development team, talks about both the prestandard and, more broadly, the power of performance-based design to close
Guillermo Díaz-Fañas, C.Eng, Ing., P.E., M.ASCE, has been giving back and making a difference all his life. Today he talks about the nonprofit he helped start, Qu-AKE: Queer Advocacy and Knowledge Exchange, for LGBTQ+ professionals working in the built environment (1:16). In the Changing the World segment, Hector Colon de la Cruz discusses his work on ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card for Puerto Rico (12:50). And
Making mistakes, unfortunately, is part of being human. But how do you handle mistakes on the job, especially if that job is something with such high stakes as civil engineering? Mike Howell has been helping engineers own and learn from their mistakes for years. He talks about how to stop trying to be perfect and start being human (2:50). In the debut of a segment
One of the most important and divisive transportation trends of 2019, dockless scooters have taken U.S. cities by storm. Kristin Musulin, senior editor for Smart Cities Dive, breaks down the positives, problems and possibilities (1:04). In today’s Origin Story, we hear from Greg Kuklinski about how his love for civil engineering goes all the way back to his days in the crib (10:34). And in
Carolyn Emerson talks about the challenges she saw for women in civil engineering more than a decade ago and what progress she has seen since
You have to know yourself before you can be yourself. For Clint Martin, that meant taking on the Appalachian Trail thru-hike for nearly six months in the woods before starting his first full-time civil engineering job. He talks about how the experience helped make him a better civil engineer (1:20). We hear an Origin Story from Vanessa Eslava, a civil engineer in San Diego who
Alex McDowell, an award-winning production designer for dozens of Hollywood films, talks about the way he is blending storytelling and data-driven research for ASCE's Future World Vision
Mental health is not something you can simply snap your fingers and fix. And it’s not something you should ignore either. On today’s episode of “ASCE Plot Points,” Elyssa Dixon speaks candidly about the steps she’s taken to make herself healthier and h...
Previously on ASCE Plot Points … We met civil engineers from around the world. We got a better picture of what civil engineers looks like – through their work, their personalities and their stories. In fact, we met so many amazing people and heard so many great stories, we needed to hit pause and take a break. But we’re back. Season 2 of ASCE Plot
The only thing more stressful than making a plan is not making a plan. Especially when it comes to your career. On today’s ASCE Plot Points, Kelly Doyle Keselica explains how mapping out your own personal vision can provide a guideline for your life (1:06). In this week’s Civil Engineers Are Not Boring segment, ASCE Past-President Kristina Swallow details her unique, daring, and definitely not boring hobby (12:02). And finally, ASCE’s
Every generation sees the world through a different lens. But has the smartphone revolution made the current generation gap more difficult to navigate than previous changes? On today’s episode, Muhammad Elgammal discusses the situation from his unique perspective: young professional in the field/wise teacher in the classroom (2:33). In the Career Minded segment, Maria Lehman, business development director for Parsons’ New York region, talks about
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been a staple of teacher training for decades, providing a guideline for working with young students. But what if you took the theory and applied it to what a community needs to reach its full potential? In a sense, that’s what civil engineers do every day. On today’s episode, we hear from Logan Johnson, the Neighborhood Development Project Management
It being Valentine’s Day week, it seemed like a good time to find out how civil engineering won your heart. In today’s ASCE Plot Points, we hear Origin Stories of true love from five civil engineers: Molly Bennett, a senior staff engineer for the City of Cheyenne, WY (2:24); Sam Hovde, a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville (4:44); Elyssa Dixon, an environmental
Even if your job or role at work isn’t explicitly to consider big-picture planning, it’s still probably a good idea to stay aware of a larger context beyond just your desk. We’re here to help you improve your big-picture thinking skills by asking civil engineering leaders how they manage the big picture in their work. Today, we talk with Roger Millar, the secretary of transportation
Effective communication is more essential to civil engineering than ever. The great irony, one you’ve likely recognized, is that as technology and social media make communicating with other people easier than ever, the ability to truly connect with someone only gets more difficult. Jaffer Almosawy, a civil engineer for GCW Inc. in Las Vegas and a 2018 ASCE New Face of Civil Engineering, navigates the
When you were a little kid, everybody asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And your answer truly could be whatever you wanted it to be. Baseball player? Sure. Firefighter? Yep. Ballerina. Why not? The more ambitious your dream,
At its core, civil engineering is a service-driven profession. So it shouldn’t be surprising that so many young civil engineers enter the profession motivated to help their communities, near and far. On today’s episode of ASCE Plot Points, we look at that culture of kindness. The executive director of Engineering Without Borders USA, Cathy Leslie, talks about her work, about EWB-USA, and what she sees
It’s the perfect New Year’s resolution. It improves your physical fitness. Saves you money. Helps the environment. What activity could do all of these things? Riding your bike more often, of course. Jeremy Chrzan can help. He’s the multimodal design practice lead for the Toole Design Group in Silver Spring, MD, and on today’s episode of ASCE Plot Points, he talks about his work connecting the
