Austin Branch Newsletter
February 2008	Volume 12, Number 6
In This Issue… Meeting/Speaker Info President's Message UT Wins Steel Bridge Austin Children’s Museum 2008 YMC in Austin E-week classroom outreach Meeting Sponsor Info Outstanding UT Alum Award Bowl for Kids’ Sake History & Heritage YMF Update UT Austin Update UT Scholarships Capital Area Foodbank	February Branch Meeting – February 19, 2008 Topic TxDOT Financial Status and Funding Speaker Bob Daigh – Austin District Engineer When Tuesday, February 19th Social - 11:30 to Noon;  Lunch/Speaker - Noon to 1:00 PM Where Embassy Suites North - 5901 N. IH 35 Cost $15 with RSVP; $5 for Government/Students; Additional $5 without RSVP RSVP Click here to RSVP by Noon, Friday, February 15th \Meeting Sponsor
Quick Links… About Us Job Board Younger Member Forum
February Speaker: Bob Daigh, Austin District Engineer TxDOT Financial Status and Funding Robert B. Daigh, P.E. is the Austin District Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).  He is responsible for state transportation planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance in the 11 county Austin District.  This includes the $2.2 Billion Central Texas Turnpike Project. Previously, Robert served simultaneously as both the Deputy Director and Director of Turnpike Planning and Development for TxDOT’s Turnpike Division.  In 2003, he was the recipient of Texas A & M’s Gibb Gilchrist Award for outstanding service in highway engineering.  In 2005, he was awarded the Jack Griesenbeck Leadership in Regionalism Award from the Capital Area Council of Governments.  Robert is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
President’s Message by Kelly A. Barney, PE February is my favorite month!  Besides having personal attachments to this month, it is also an exciting month for engineers.  The third week of February (February 17-23) is known as National Engineers Week.  Engineer’s Week provides several volunteer opportunities for you to get involved in getting the younger generations interested in the math and sciences.  One event the Austin Branch does annually is to ask for volunteers at the Austin Children’s Museum.  This event is going to be held on February 16^th from 10:00am-2:00pm.  Visit our website to volunteer for this event and learn of other upcoming events that you can be a part of.  www.austinasce.org. I also want to give a special thanks to Robert W. Scholz, P.E. (chair) and his committee for successfully putting on the Central Region Younger Members Conference that was held in Round Rock this past weekend.  They did a fabulous job and thanks for all of the hard work and efforts. I also wanted to congratulate Melinda Luna’s History and Heritage article in the Winter 2007 issue of Texas Civil Engineer, Lost Civil Engineering Projects: The Alexander Dam.  It has been nominated for an American Public Works Association award by Jimmy B. Foster PE, City of Plano Director of Public Works. The award is one that recognizes the best single article published in the field of public works history. As the History and Heritage Chair, Melinda also informed me that our Austin Branch membership is at the highest point it has ever been at!  Back in 1951, there were only 69 members.  In 2006, we had 854 members.  Today, we have 1,097 members.  We are breaking records!  Thanks to all of our faithful members, new members and soon to be members!  If you would like to get involved in the Branch, please feel free to contact me at Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc. at 512-454-8711 or at kbarney@pape-dawson.com.  There is an opportunity waiting for you!
Sweet Victory: UT Steel Bridge Team Wins First Place by Ty Womble –Steel Bridge Co-Captain The UT-ASCE Steel Bridge Team finished 1st place overall at this year's Texas-Mexico Regional competition in Beaumont, Texas! In the January 19 tournament, the team won first place in every category: construction time, construction economy, lightness/weight, stiffness, and structural efficiency. In our 17 year history of participation, this is the first time that UT Austin has placed 1^st overall. Needless to say, we are very proud and utterly ecstatic! Two years ago our team placed 3^rd in the regional competition and 35^th place at Nationals. Last year we came in 2^nd place at Regionals and 6^th at the national competition. This year we are hoping to make a very good showing at the national competition which will take place in Gainesville, Florida on May 23-24, 2008. (Perhaps you can come and cheer us on?!) We would like to express our sincere thanks for their financial support we have received from many local engineering firms; the UT Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department; the Austin Branch of ASCE; and the University Co-Op. We are also grateful to have had use of the excellent facilities at the Ferguson Structural Lab on the Pickle Research Campus. And of course our sweet victory would not have been possible without the dedication of each of the participants on our team who collectively contributed well over a thousand man hours: team captains Josh Mouras and Ty Womble, Hol Gaskill, Charles Hammond, Alan Kreisa, Doug Steimle, Leslie Winans. Others involved include: Loren Campos, Ashley Evans, Marco Guzman, Kevin Moyer, and Michelle Wilkinson.
Volunteer for Engineer’s Day at The Austin Children’s Museum Saturday February 16, 2008 Help kids build a hoop glider and see how far it goes… Watch how high they can build a newspaper tower that supports a golf ball… Lend a hand to help them build all kinds of structures with spaghetti and marshmallows – you’ll be surprised at their creativity!  It’s not too late to volunteer for ACSE’s 7^th Annual Engineer’s Day at the Austin Children’s Museum!  To sign up, please visit our website at: http://www.austinasce.org/acm.htm  There will not be another ASCE meeting before this event, so please sign up and pass the word around to anyone else who may be interested!  Volunteers can choose a 3-hour shift in the morning or afternoon.  Training will be minimal and take place just before your shift.  You will also receive a certificate for PDH credit.  It’s also not too late to sign up as a sponsor to help support this great community event!  If your firm is interested in sponsoring the event, or if you have any questions, please email or call a PR Committee Member: you can email any of the PR Committee members: Linda Barlow at lbarlow@hvj.com; Sharon Hamilton at Sharon.Hamilton@CASEngineers.com; John Conquest at JDCONQUEST@mactec.com; Cesar Calderon at calderon@guerra.com; or Jennifer Otterson at JMOtterson@pbsj.com. Thanks so much to the sponsors who have already pledged to support this year’s event:  Austin Branch ASCE · Greater Austin Contractors and Engineers Association · Baer Engineering and Environmental Consulting, Inc. · Duke’s Root Control · EADOC · Earth Tech, Inc. · Encotech Engineering Consultants, Inc. · Halff Associates, Inc. · HVJ Associates · Jose I. Guerra, Inc · Kurkjian Engineering Corporation · LOPEZGARCIA GROUP · MWM Design Group · PBS&J · Urban Design Group
2008 Central Region Younger Member Council – A HUGE Success! by Robert Scholz, P.E. – 2008 Central Region Conference Chair The Central Region Younger Member Council/Conference (YMC) was held on Jan. 24-25 at the Austin Marriott North Hotel.  The event was hosted by our very own Austin Branch Younger Member Forum and was a huge success.  Forty ASCE younger members, representing 20 different central sections/branches within Regions 3, 6, and 7 attended the conference.  This includes representative states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. The event allowed for networking, professional development hours, education on ASCE organization and policies, leadership, ethics, and history lessons, and the all important social events.  The event also allowed for networking, socializing and educational opportunities with two other ASCE conferences, the Workshop for Section Leaders and Branches (WSBL) and the Workshop for Student Committee Leaders (WSCL).  Overall, approximately 250 participants came to Austin for this annual conference.  Special thanks to the committee members on this event, including Kim Patak (Vice-Chair), Jamie Farris, Brandon Hammann, and Charlotte Gilpin.  We would also like to thank our sponsors, who made this event the best in the Central Region’s history.  These are the ASCE Austin Branch, the Austin YMF, the Texas Section, ASCE Region 6, PBS&J, Klotz Associates, Longaro & Clarke, MWM Design Group, Pate Engineers, Freese & Nichols, HDR, Terracon, and URS.
E-week Discover Engineering wants YOU! by Laton Carr, E.I.T. – Eweek Chair Eweek's Discover Engineering (classroom visits) Program is upon us.  We have had several volunteers from ASCE sign up so far.  Way to go, ASCE!  Discover Engineering is still in need of volunteers this year due to a hearty response from schools who want engineers back in the classroom this year.  Volunteers go to classrooms in small groups and Eweek provides training before the visits.  The list of schools is out already and opportunities abound! ASCE’s Laton Carr (lcarr@pape-dawson.com) will be happy to match you up with one.  If you or your group would like to participate, first go to the Central Texas Eweek website (www.centexeweek.org) and register...it only takes a couple of minutes to register.  Then send Laton an email that you have registered, and he will help coordinate a school visit and training.  And for anyone interested, there is a scheduled Discover Engineering training coming up on Wednesday, February 13th at Austin City Hall from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm.  To join please RSVP the training presenter Katie Kizziar (kkizziar@skillpointalliance.org).
February Meeting Sponsor – Klotz Associates, Inc. Klotz Associates, Inc is a full service firm of consulting civil engineers established in 1985, with over 130 people in four offices statewide.  In addition to our corporate headquarters in Houston, we maintain offices in Austin, San Antonio, and Lufkin, Texas.  Klotz Associates, Inc emphasizes public works, infrastructure and land development projects in both urban and rural environments.  We have provided civil engineering design and related services to over 100 municipalities and public agencies across the State of Texas.  Executing utility, stormwater, transportation, traffic and development projects, our professional engineers offer expertise ranging from planning and feasibility studies through final design and construction support.  Over 35% of our employees are Professional Engineers (PE’s) licensed by the State of Texas and 30 other states.  Our staff also maintains credentials as Professional Traffic Operations Engineers (PTOE’s), Certified Floodplain Managers (CFM), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and many other technical specialties.
Nominate a UT Grad for Outstanding Young Alumnus Award The Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin annually recognizes an alumnus under the age of 40 who has distinguished him or herself with outstanding service and contributions to the engineering profession.  Anyone is eligible to nominate a CAEE graduate for this award. We would like your help in celebrating the accomplishments of our exceptional alumni by nominating a deserving candidate for this award. Descriptions of past award recipients and a nomination form can be found at: www.caee.utexas.edu/outstanding.cfm Please contact Alumni Coordinator Laura Klopfenstein at 512-471-1279 or klopfenstein@mail.utexas.edu if you have any questions or need assistance. (deadline: March 1, 2008)
Big Brothers Big Sisters – Bowl for Kids Sake by Dale Murphy, P.E. For the 3^rd straight year, the Austin Branch will be participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas annual Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser, with our bowling event scheduled for Friday, February 22^nd at 8:30 PM at Highland Lanes.  Last year the Austin Branch had 15 teams and over 70 participants, raising over $13,500!!  This year we are looking to have more participants and raise even more money.  Participants are asked to solicit donations from their friends, family and co-workers through a web based system that makes it very easy, with each bowler committing to raise at least $125.  We are looking for people who are willing to be Team Captains who would recruit 4 additional co-workers or friends to form a team of their own.  If you’d like to participate but don’t have a team, we can put teams together for you or you can just donate to one of our ASCE teams or bowlers as well.  For more information on how you can have fun bowling with your colleagues while raising money for a good cause, contact Dale Murphy (dmurphy@kfriese.com).
Monuments to Civil Engineers in Texas by Melinda Luna, P.E. – History and Heritage Chair As we celebrate Engineers week, we talk about engineering achievements.  Some rivers, towns, dams, bridges, buildings, and roads in Texas are named after civil engineers.  These names may not be household names but these monuments were dedicated to celebrate the contributions of these engineers who helped shape the area. According to an article in Southwestern Quarterly, “The Early Art of Terrestrial Measurement and its practice in Texas” (October 1925) by Edwin P. Arneson, the first monument to a civil engineer was the naming of Medina River. Alonso De León,governor of Coahuila, was the first European to see the river as he led his expedition across Texas in 1689 in pursuit of the French. De León noted in his diary that he named the stream for Pedro Medina, the early Spanish engineer whose navigation tables he was using in mapping his route through the wilderness with an astrolabe. In that expedition Deleon also named the Nueces, Hondo, Leon, Salado, Guadalupe, San Marcos, and Trinity Rivers; but only the one was named for an engineer. Several towns in Texas are named for engineers.  These towns include Pearson, Paige, Killeen, Converse, Wells, Odell, Burke, Gallagher’s Ranch, Van Alstyne, Hinckley, Gordon, Markham, Timpson, Everman, Helmic, Morse, Elmo, Renner, Engle, Langtry, and Baird. Most such towns were named after the engineer who first surveyed them or who built the railroad system during the early days of Texas history. Simon W. Freese, a leader in water resources engineering and ASCE member had the S.W. Freese dam at the Concho-Coleman County named after him.  The dam forms Lake O. H. Ivie and the dam is located on the Colorado River near the confluence with the Concho River.  The most photographed bridge in Texas, the ‘Loop 360 Bridge’ or ‘Capital of Texas Highway’ over the Colorado River is named after Percy Pennybacker, the civil engineer who was a pioneer of welding bridge structural elements.   He pioneered steel structural welding techniques as an alternative to the more labor intensive riveted connections.  Percy Pennybacker was an ASCE member and also worked with the City of Austin following his retirement from TxDOT. Pennybacker’s iconic bridge has won numerous awards and at the time of construction was the only bridge of its kind in the United States.  The main TxDOT administrative building on 11^th and Brazos Streets is named after the agency’s long time Executive Director, Dewitt C Greer.  Greer, also an ASCE member, headed the DOT for 27 years and his tenure is noted for the dramatic improvements made to the Texas road system and the substantial increase in road and bridge construction. Greer also improved employee benefits at TxDOT.  He was a professor at UT Austin and served as Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission. Ed Bluestein Boulevard is the section of US 183, between US 290 and US 71, in Austin, and was named after the TxDOT engineer who lead the Austin District from 1952 to 1965. While he was the Austin District Engineer a number of highways were built including IH 35, SH 95, US 281 and US 290. Bluestein worked for the Texas DOT in various capacities (instrument man, maintenance engineer, assistant area engineer, assistant district engineer) and in districts including the Bryan, Austin, and Atlanta.  He retired in 1965 after 41 years with TxDOT.  Ed Bluestein was an ASCE and TSPE member. One can look around at names of rivers, towns, dams, bridges, buildings, and roads to see that there are several monuments to engineers all around us.  These monuments help celebrate the enormous impact that civil engineering achievements have on all of us all year round, and some even celebrate the name of an engineer for a life time.  Consider celebrating Engineers Week by volunteering at the many activities at schools and the Children’s Museum.
YMF Update by Kimberly Patak, P.E. – Younger Member Forum President The annual leadership conference was a huge success for the Austin YMF a couple of weeks ago. We had great attendance and most of all, had lots of fun. Please read Robert's article in this issue for a recap of the events, and check out pictures at www.austinasce.org/ymf.htm. This month kicks off our annual West Point Bridge Competition for students 13 - 18 years of age and we need your help. This contest is a nation-wide Internet-based competition intended to promote math, science, and technology education for U.S. students. It is a great opportunity for ASCE to offer a taste of real world experience to Austin's young people and generate excitement for the field of engineering at a young age.  If you (or anyone you know!) have any contacts in any of the local high schools in the math, science, or technical departments, please send me their contact information at kkp@freese.com. We are having a difficult time garnering any support for this event from many of the local high schools. Please visit the website http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/ to learn more about the contest. This month's YMF social event will be on Monday, February 18 at Scholz Beer Garten. Texas and A&M are going at it in basketball this evening, so come on down and help the Horns pull out a win over the Aggies! We were hoping to attend the game as we have in past years, but group tickets are all sold out for the event.  As always, if you are interested in getting involved with the YMF, please contact me (Kim Patak) at kkp@freese.com or 512-617-3138.
UT Austin January Briefing by Ryan Rush, UT Student Chapter Corporate Relations Officer After taking some time off for Winter Break, UT students returned to campus in mid-January. January proved to be a unique opportunity for students wanting to get more involved with ASCE because it is the only month of the year where students have the chance to help out on all three of our yearly technical competitions. The Concrete Canoe team has been enjoying warm January weather while renting canoes and paddling at Town Lake. Because the paddlers are the single most important factor to success at the competition to be held in Corpus Christi, the team has been practicing on Sundays with intentions to begin practicing on Thursday as well beginning in March. On January 19, The Steel Bridge team placed 1^st overall at the Texas-Mexico regional competition in Beaumont, Texas. Over the next several months, the team will be preparing for the National Steel Bridge Competition to be held in Gainsville, Florida. In addition to competing in Steel Bridge and Concrete canoe, eight UT ASCE members plan on attending the Seismic Competition in New Orleans, LA in early February. Many students have helped construct a five foot balsa wood structure to be placed on a shaker table modeling famous Earthquakes. Teams are expected to achieve a maximum “income” where revenue is obtained from floor space and costs are determined by the measured acceleration acting on the structure. This is the second year UT has competed in a competition largely dominated by California schools. Part of what enables our students to participate in so many technical competitions is the generosity our chapter of ASCE has received from the Austin community.  Our student group would like to thank the Austin Branch of ASCE for donating four scholarships totalling $6,000 for the second year in a row. Scholarship recipients look forward to attending the February 19 Austin ASCE meeting to accept their awards. In January, UT ASCE was happy to welcome Robert Spillar and Tanya Adams of PB (formerly Parsons-Brinckerhoff) to campus to discuss several ongoing transportation engineering projects in Austin. In addition, UT professor Lance Manuel volunteered his time to give an interesting and informative lecture on windmills and their ability to generate energy. If your company would like to get involved with ASCE, please contact Ryan Rush at ryan@mail.utexas.edu. With half of our meeting slots for the 2008-2009 academic year already booked, we are looking to fill our remaining bi-weekly meetings with companies that have interesting projects and great opportunities to share with our students.  Our website can be found at www.ut-asce.org. It contains information for Technical Competitions, Outreach, IM Sports, and Social Events as well as useful contact information to reach our officers.
Spring 2008 ASCE Austin Branch Scholarship Recipients by Roman D. Grijalva, P.E. – Scholarship Committee Chair The Austin Branch of ASCE is proud to announce the recipients of four scholarships for the Spring 2008 semester.  The scholarships were awarded to University of Texas at Austin Civil Engineering students based on the quality of their written statement, GPA, extracurricular activities, and their references.  The four awards will go to: Robert (Ty) Womble Ty is a Senior Civil Engineering student with an anticipated Summer 2008 graduation date.  He has been an officer and active member of the ASCE student chapter throughout his student career.  Ty is a captain of the Steel Bridge competition and led the UT team to the Seismic Competition in California. Ryan Rush Ryan is a Senior Civil Engineering student with an anticipated December 2008 graduation date.  He has been an active member of the Tulane University ASCE student chapter as well as the UT ASCE student chapter. Ryan is the UT ASCE Corporate Relations officer and is a co-captain of the Seismic Competition Economic Analysis committee. Michelle Wilkinson Michelle is a Sophmore Civil Engineering student and an active member of the ASCE student chapter.  She was a member of the 2006-2007 Freshman committee and is currently the Chapter's outreach officer.  In addition to her ASCE involvement she also spends her time volunteering with Feed My People and the Town Lake Animal Shelter. Martin Scales Martin is a Senior Civil Engineering student with an anticipated December 2008 graduation date.  He has been an active member of the Tulane University ASCE student chapter as well as the UT ASCE student chapter.  He is a member of the Seismic Design Team, is an NROTC Company Commander, and is a tutor for a variety of engineering and science courses The Austin ASCE community is looking forward to recognizing these outstanding UT ASCE members and students at the February Branch luncheon!
Capital Area Food Bank Volunteer Day A GREAT Success! by Cesar Calderon E.I.T. – Public Relations Committee Thanks to all of our volunteers who helped the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas in Austin to process 4,850 pounds of food, which equal to 3,880 meals.  This year we had 15 volunteers help with the activity, and we gratefully acknowledge your contribution: Cindy Garza, and Mary Tello from Pape-Dawson Engineers; Tejashri Kyle and Kim Patak from Freese and Nichols, Inc.; Dale Murphy from K Friese & Associates; Erin Gundersen from Alan Plummer Associates, Inc.; Joe Hoepken from the City of Austin; Paco Guerrero, Athena Burton, Jay Hamaker, Andrew Wiesehan, and Brad Patak; Jennifer Otterson from PBS&J; Linda Barlow from HVJ and Associates; and Cesar Calderon from Jose I. Guerra, Inc.
Thank You to Our 2008 Sponsors Want to be an Austin Branch Sponsor?  Gives your company advertising and free postings on our online job board.  Click here for more information.
© 2008 Austin Branch American Society of Civil Engineers The Austin Branch Newsletter gives you the latest information on ASCE events and activities.  To inquire about this newsletter or to publish articles contact the Communications Director.  Contact information for our Board of Directors can be found at www.austinasce.org. National ASCE – www.asce.org      Texas Section – www.texasce.org