Taking Action to Build a Better World

The year 2007 was one of high visibility for ASCE, and our efforts to influence public opinion and infrastructure policy found reflection in the broader national agenda. This was evident in the greater concern voiced by citizens and policy makers over the failing state of our infrastructure. ASCE is well known as a source of expertise on this issue, and during the year we further increased the strength and reach of our influence.

The Society defined new strategic objectives to focus its resources and endeavors on issues of greatest benefit to our profession, society at large, and the public.

Choosing to chart our profession's future, ASCE published the report The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025, which sees civil engineers as master builders, innovators, integrators, and stewards of the environment. The report grew out of a conference held in June 2006 that brought together 60 civil engineering leaders from around the world. Strong leadership will be required if civil engineers are to realize this vision and maintain the trust that society has reposed in them as professionals devoted to enhancing the quality of life and furthering the goals of sustainable development.

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying voted in favor of a modification to section 130.10 of its model law. The purpose of the law is to provide guidance to states as they craft legislation pertaining to licensure. The change is expected to have a pronounced effect on engineering education by encouraging states to expand the body of knowledge requirements for the professional practice of engineering. ASCE and its members expended considerable effort in preparing the second edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future, which refines the goals, or "outcomes," that students and young professionals are to attain if they are to become licensed and reach their full potential as engineers in this century. The new edition outlines various paths for meeting the educational requirements. ASCE collected feedback from all levels of its membership, as well as from outside stakeholders, in preparing the new edition. As a leader in raising the bar for the entire engineering profession, ASCE has also been encouraging its sister engineering disciplines to develop their own bodies of knowledge.

This year another disaster reminded us of the importance of properly funding and maintaining our infrastructure. The tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August focused minds around the country on this problem. Although the exact cause of the tragedy has not yet been determined, the bridge had been classed as structurally deficient, and the event sharply raised public awareness of issues related to infrastructure stewardship. ASCE's infrastructure message resonated more loudly with the public--that years of deferred infrastructure investment and maintenance and the failure of public officials to act on infrastructure needs are placing public safety at risk and hindering our country's economic growth and competitiveness.

In the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, ASCE renewed its efforts to influence policy makers with regard to infrastructure. It reintroduced its infrastructure action plan -- Raising the Grades: Small Steps for Big Improvements in America's Failing Infrastructure -- to Congress through meetings with legislators and their staffs, grassroots efforts, and media campaigns. ASCE continued to spread the word about the infrastructure crisis by communicating with legislators, regulators, and the media.

ASCE's periodic assessments of the nation's infrastructure -- the most recent being the 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure -- have established the Society as a trusted source of information for the media and other organizations, as well as for policy makers, agencies, and representatives of local, state, and national governing bodies. ASCE sections in New Jersey, Delaware, and Florida developed their own "report cards" and involved the media in their release.

ASCE made significant progress on the public policy front. The Senate passed the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007, which would establish a national commission on infrastructure. Other major achievements included congressional passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, which became law in November when President Bush's veto was overridden, and House progress on bills dealing with dam rehabilitation. Congress also adopted a $4-billion fix on transportation funding, and ASCE presented key congressional testimony on three occasions after the Minnesota bridge collapse.

Raising awareness across the country is vital to building support for actions to address the urgent needs of our infrastructure. With grades of D and below, water infrastructure improvement must be a national priority. ASCE lent its support to Penn State Public Broadcasting in the production of Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure, a 90-minute documentary that will be shown on public television starting this fall. ASCE worked closely with PSPB to develop a national outreach campaign and various activities that will supplement the film.

Civil engineers as professionals are devoted to the fundamental principles of improving the well-being of society and protecting the environment. As part of this commitment, ASCE announced a partnership with Engineers Without Borders-USA that will give ASCE members opportunities for personal and professional growth as they apply their expertise to projects aimed at elevating living standards in communities in developing countries. To encourage this involvement, ASCE is offering its members an opportunity to join EWB-USA or renew their EWB-USA memberships at a significant discount.

We are working to elevate the profession and to make ASCE the first source to define technical and professional needs in civil engineering and related disciplines, including the specialty areas served by ASCE's Institutes and Technical Activities committees. We completed the first stages of upgrading the ASCE online experience for our members to make sure we are reaching key audiences as well as the public. Through our annual salary survey, ASCE advanced its commitment to ensuring that civil engineers enjoy increased recognition and that their compensation is commensurate with their responsibilities and duties regarding public health and safety.

To prepare our members for the global economy and make the international engineering community more accessible, ASCE continued to expand and build partnerships with organizations around the world, including the World Federation of Engineering Organisations and groups in the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries. Pat Natale and I traveled to Japan, China, Taiwan, and Finland in 2007 to meet with our civil engineering counterparts and explore ways to exchange information and strengthen our profession through joint initiatives. With the formation of Region 10, ASCE can now offer better service to members outside the country and ensure that input from these members is properly heeded.

ASCE offers extensive resources to members for lifelong learning, and in 2007 it engaged and educated engineers and future engineers in every stage of their lives and careers. ASCE's precollege outreach programs and resources have made significant gains through a variety of partnerships. Member involvement and interest in outreach programs involving schoolchildren at all grade levels have grown exponentially and remain a priority. ASCE partnered with the Salvadori Center, a nonprofit educational organization based in New York City, to bring engineering-focused teaching to middle school teachers in metropolitan classrooms. In 2007 ASCE also launched outreach initiatives in connection with the PBS series Fetch! and Curious George and raised public awareness of our profession's contributions through such projects as the museum exhibit Me, Myself and Infrastructure: Private Lives and Public Works in America, the TV series Design Squad, and public relations training for our members. ASCE's role in Curious George enabled teachers across the country to log on to a Web site to download lesson plans and request classroom visits from local ASCE member volunteers.

The West Point Bridge Design Contest continued to be a highly effective tool in ASCE's outreach activities involving middle school and high school students. Local contests provided opportunities for ASCE sections, branches, and student groups to interact with students in middle school and high school. In 2007, the sixth year of the contest, 13,565 teams submitted 44,958 designs.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the National Concrete Canoe Competition, which fosters creativity by challenging students to apply their classroom learning, ASCE developed a series of initiatives. These included a commemorative video, an educational outreach event, a call for "alumni" attendance at the competition, and a special reception for sponsors, alumni, and other vips.

Our Committee on Critical Infrastructure provides guidance and direction on a variety of activities related to homeland security, in particular, ensuring the safety and resilience of critical facets of our infrastructure. The committee established the ASCE Disaster Assistance Volunteer Directory in response to member interest in lending support to disaster response and recovery efforts. The directory contains data on ASCE members qualified to assist in responding to natural and man-made disasters.

A total redesign of the publications Web site was completed in 2007 to facilitate navigation by its various constituencies: authors, editors, reviewers, librarians, advertisers, and booksellers. Journal articles from 1990 were added to the ASCE Online Research Library, which currently includes 34,000 articles and more than 550,000 pages -- easily the largest compendium of civil engineering information on the Web. For the fifth consecutive year Civil Engineering won multiple awards--eight for editorial and design excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors and two for editorial and design excellence from Trade, Association and Business Publications International.

Our membership and collaborative marketing division keeps working to increase our global community of members while providing optimum value. ASCE continues to see a retention rate of more than 90 percent, and at the end of fiscal year 2007 our membership exceeded 141,000. One initiative ASCE undertook in 2007 to focus on the younger generation was redevelopment of the student Web site.

ASCE had another excellent financial year, in large part because of strong growth in our continuing education programs, our stable and growing membership base, and our successful publishing operation. We generated substantial resources for supporting our programs, activities, and members. These resources allow us to invest in major initiatives to advance the future of the profession.

As a thriving organization, ASCE is strategically positioned to take on the challenges of today's world and the world of tomorrow. Our Society in 2007 focused on raising the bar in the area of educational requirements, on stressing the importance of ethics in our profession, and on creating an environment that encourages the growth of talent. As civil engineers we must invest ourselves, our time, and our resources in the future or there will be no future. ASCE continues this commitment to help its members become leaders in the world of tomorrow.

2007 President W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE
Executive Director Patrick J. Natale, P.E., F.ASCE