American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE’s vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward building a better quality of life. Its world headquarters is in Reston, Virginia.

Vision and mission

ASCE envisions a world led, in part, by engineers who can assist in building a better quailty of life for everyone.

ASCE’s mission is to provide essential value to its members and their careers; to its partners and to the public.[1] ASCE seeks to provide value by:

• Developing leadership skills in its members and supporting civil engineer leaders;

• Facilitating advancment of the technology utilized by the profession;

• Encouraging and providing tools for lifelong learning within the profession;

• Advocating infrastructure and environmental stewardship; and

• Promoting professionalism and the civil engineering profession.[2]

History and heritage

ASCE was founded in 1852 when twelve members of the organization met at the Croton Aqueduct on November 5 and decided to incorporate what was then known as the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects.[3]

As part of understanding the history of civil engineering and promoting the civil engineering profession, a survey of the historic accomplishments of civil engineers is continually conducted by ASCE members. Such reviews of civil engineering accomplishments have produced various lists of the notable categories and projects of the profession.

Monuments of the Millennium

The society canvassed its members in 1999 to identify the ten civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century. They chose to recognize broad categories of achievements rather than individual projects:[4]

• Airport design and development, as exemplified by the Kansai International Airport
  Dams, as exemplified by Hoover Dam

• The Interstate highway system

• Long-span bridges, as exemplified by the Golden Gate Bridge

• Rail transportation, as exemplified by the Eurotunnel rail system

• Sanitary landfills and solid waste disposal

• Skyscrapers, as exemplified by the Empire State Building

• Wastewater treatment, as exemplified by the Chicago wastewater system

• Water supply and distribution, as exemplified by the California State Water Project, the subject of California Water Wars

• Water transportation

Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks

ASCE designates national and international Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

World Wonders

Similarly, in an effort to recognize a contemporary equivalent to the heralded ancient Seven Wonders of the World, the ASCE has designated the following Seven Wonders of the Modern World:[5]

• The Empire State Building (New York, NY, USA)

• The Itaipu Dam (Brazil and Paraguay)

• The CN Tower (Toronto, Canada)

• The Panama Canal (Panama)

• The Channel Tunnel (France and United Kingdom)

• The Delta Works, North Sea protection works (The Netherlands)

• The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, USA)

Other prominent candidates include:

• The Statue of Liberty (New York, NY, USA)

• The Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)

• The Forth Bridge (Scotland, UK)

• The Petronas Twin Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
  Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster (London, United Kingdom)

Peer reviews

ASCE provides peer reviews of public agencies and projects, at their request. Peer reviews are “a means to improve the management and quality of [public agency] services and thus better protect the public health and safety with which they are entrusted.”[6][7]

Controversy in New Orleans levee investigation

In October 2005, after the failures of the federally controlled levees in Greater New Orleans, Lt Gen Carl Strock P.E.,M.ASCE, the United States Army Corps of Engineers commander and chief requested that ASCE create an expert review panel (ERP) to peer review the Corps-sponsored Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), the body commissioned by the Corps to assess the performance of the hurricane protection system in metro New Orleans. Lawrence Roth P.E.,F.ASCE, Deputy Executive Director of the ASCE led the ERP development, served as the panel’s Chief of Staff and facilitated the panel’s interaction with IPET.[8] The role of the ERP – which is composed of 14 specialists who possess a range of technical expertise – is to provide an independent technical review of the IPET’s activities and findings. Roth stated at a National Research Council meeting in New Orleans, that “an independent review panel” such as the ERP “ensure[s] that the outcome is a robust, credible and defensible performance evaluation.”[9] All members of the ERP panel received Outstanding Civilian Service Medals from Lt. Gen Strock on February 12, 2007.[8] The ERP’s findings were released three months later on June 1, 2007 in a report entitled The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why.[10][11]

Shortly after the release of the ERP’s findings, ASCE administration was criticized by The Times-Picayune for an apparent attempt to minimize and understate the role of the Army Corps in the flooding. The Times-Picayune editorial called attention to a press release issued by ASCE which accompanied the ERP report that contained information not present in the report and information that conflicted with the report.[12]

On November 14, 2007 the ASCE confirmed the launch of an internal ethics probe of its staff and members based on complaints by a University of California-Berkeley professor, who served on a separate independent panel investigating levee failures. [13] President David Mongan, in a letter to the Times Picayune assured the citizens of metro New Orleans that ASCE takes “this matter very seriously and that appropriate actions are being taken.”[14]

Publications

ASCE sponsors a large number of civil engineering related professional publications in the United States. Journals published by ASCE include:

Journal of Environmental Engineering
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management

Awards

ASCE sponsors numerous awards for outstanding work in various areas of civil engineering, some of which are based on papers submitted to its many journals.

Wesley W. Horner Award

Initially created in 1968 by ASCE’s Sanitary Engineering Division, the award is named after former ASCE President Wesley W. Horner. The award is given to a recently peer reviewed published paper in the fields of hydrology, urban drainage, or sewerage. Special consideration is given to private practice engineering work that is recognized as a valuable contribution to the field of environmental engineering.[15]

Competitions

ASCE also sponsors competitions for student chapters. Each regional conference determines the events. Two major national competitions include:

Concrete Canoe Official Site

Steel Bridge (Co-sponsored with American Institute of Steel Construction) Official Site

External links

ASCE (Official Website)

Video about ASCE selected Seven Wonders of the Modern World. A virtual satellite tour made with Google Earth (02:38)