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Austin Branch Newsletter |
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June 2008 |
Volume 12, Number 10 |
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In
This Issue…
President's Message 2008-2009 Board Elections Continuing Ed July 25th Meeting Sponsor Info Design Squad Event New Orleans Trip (No. 3) Call for Committee Chairs Eweek School Visits YMF Update History & Heritage: Book Review Continuing Education |
June Branch Meeting – June 17, 2008
of Renewable Energy Speaker State Energy Conservation Office When Where Cost RSVP \Meeting Sponsor
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Quick Links… |
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JuneSpeaker: Eddie Trevino, Program
Manager of the State Energy Conservation Office of Texas, Texas Comptroller
of Public Accounts Wind Power and Other
Sources of Renewable Energy
Eddy Trevino is a Program Manager for
Texas’ State Energy Conservation Office (SECO). Mr. Trevino is a
registered Professional Engineer with 25 years of design and management
experience. Mr. Trevino is Program Manager for the CCG
Energy Management Services Project (EMSP), a contract administered by
SECO. The EMSP contract objective is to maximize energy efficiency and
reduce energy costs in all state-owned buildings, 7,400, in Texas. A
contract task overview is provided in the following list. ·
The
creation and installation of an enabling hardware and software infrastructure
to facilitate the identification of energy efficiency opportunities and to
tract energy efficiency measures at the operations, accounting and executive
levels, ·
The
management of energy procurement activities to reduce energy costs, ·
The
management of utility bill auditing activities to recover overpayments, and ·
The
management of owner’s representation services on performance contracts. Before joining SECO, Mr. Trevino was in the
private sector where he owned and managed his own consulting firm for 16
years. This firm specialized in building assessments, quality assurance
inspections and studies, and litigation expert witness studies. Mr. Trevino earned Engineering, Masters of
Business Administration, and Masters of Science in Science and Technology
Commercialization degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Trevino is a native of Corpus Christi,
Texas. He lives in Cedar Park with his wife and teenage son. |
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President’s Message
For our luncheon, Professor Kenneth J.
Fridley, Head of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Alabama
flew in to town to give us a presentation on the ASCE’s Raise the Bar
initiative. Whatever your stance may be on this topic, it is important
for you to let us know your thoughts so we can communicate them with the
Texas Section as well as ASCE National. I also was honored to be invited to attend
the University of Texas ASCE Steel Bridge Visitation that was held the week
before the team was heading to the National competition in Gainesville,
Florida. They provided drinks and snacks and showed us their record
breaking approach to assembling the steel bridge. The team was able to
answer questions that were asked and I was able to give them one last “hoorah
and good luck” from the Austin Branch. Looking forward to another exciting
month! If you would like to get involved in the Branch, please feel
free to visit our website at www.austinasce.org,
or 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! |
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2008-2009 Austin
ASCE Board Elections
by
Dale P. Murphy, P.E. – Nominations Committee Chair and 2007-2008 Past
President Please join us at
the June Branch meeting as we will be electing next year’s Board. The
Nominations Committee worked hard to come up with a proposed slate of
Officers. Additionally, nominations were opened at last month’s meeting
and will remain open until the beginning of the June Branch meeting if anyone
would like to throw their hat in the ring. Below is the proposed slate: President-Elect – Robert Scholz VP of Programs – Rose Marie Klee Communications
Director – Roman
Grijalva Secretary – Reem Zoun Treasurer – Tony Buonodono Younger Member
Director – Kim
Patak State Director – Craig Chesser In addition, the
Past-President (Kelly Barney) and President (Julia Harrod) Board positions
are automatic. If you would like to nominate someone for a position to run
against those proposed above, please contact Kelly Barney prior to the June
meeting. |
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Austin ASCE 2008
Continuing Education Seminar:
“Central Texas
Infrastructure, Growth and Development”
by
David Harris, P.E. – Continuing Education Co-Chair This year’s continuing education seminar
will present 10 speakers from various public agencies, organizations and
private firms to talk about issues related to the industry of civil
engineering as it relates to infrastructure and responsible development
within Central Texas. All proceeds benefit the Austin Chapter ASCE
scholarship fund. Public and non-profit sector employees may attend for
a nominal fee of $25.00. Private sector ASCE member may attend for
$150.00 and non members for $200.00. This event will be held at the
University of Texas Pickle Research Campus Commons Auditorium on Friday July
25th. Firms may sponsor this event for $600.00 which
includes the entrance for four participants and the opportunity to set up
displays at the event. An announcement for online registration will be
sent out via email in mid June. Please contact David Harris at dmharris@pbsj.com (512-342-3304) for
sponsorship information. Please note that the Texas Board of
Professional Engineers requires 15 hours of continuing education credit with
at least one hour of ethics annually. This event will satisfy
approximately half the annual requirement including ethics. The draft
agenda is provided below.
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June Meeting Sponsor – Hanson Pipe and Precast
Hanson Pipe & Precast has made concrete
pipe in Austin at 801 Airport Blvd for over half a century. While the
name has changed from Austin Concrete Works to Gifford-Hill to Hanson Pipe
and Products to now Hanson Pipe & Precast; the same quality product has
basically stayed the same. There have been improvements to concrete
pipe over the years, but basically the same features that made concrete pipe
the choice of Austin Area Engineering Firms for years has stayed the
same. Concrete pipe does not rust or burn. It made be made with
various strengths to suit the needs of the design engineer for his particular
project. Unlike flexible pipe products which rely on the quality of the
soil envelop around them for their strength, concrete pipe is a rigid pipe;
the majority of the strength of concrete pipe comes with the pipe; thus
greatly reducing the need for installation inspection. This greatly
reduces the liability of the design engineer when it comes to pipe performance. Hanson Pipe & Precast recently began to
produce a wide array of precast junction boxes, catch basins, inlets and
manholes to complement their pipe and box product line. David Matocha, Past Austin Branch President
and current Austin Branch Texas Section Director, is the contact person from
Hanson for technical information and advice for your next project. “I
always tell design engineers to consider me a part of their design
team. The good news for them is unlike them, I don’t charge for my service!”
jokes David. David wants every Austin Branch member to
know they are always welcome for a plant tour and he is only an email or
phone call away for technical information or help. According to David,
“I enjoy working with engineers to help them with a design question or issue,
and I have enjoyed my association with the Austin Branch”. David’s phone and e-mail are 512-914-0674
and david.matocha@hanson.com. |
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Central Texas Discover
Engineering, Austin ASCE and the Austin Children’s Museum Host a Design Squad
Science Sunday
·
·
Can
you create a zip line to carry a ping pong ball? ·
Can
you make a door bell or buzzer from a kit? ·
Can
you excite kids about science and technology? ·
Can
you talk to school kids about your education and career? ·
Can
you do this on June 22nd? If you can help, we need you.
Volunteer shifts are from 12:30 to 3:00 or 2:30 to 5:00 PM. You can choose
either or both shifts. Please let us know your preferece by June 18th
so we can prepare our schedule. Bilingual volunteers are also needed as we
are focusing on diversity and targeting Hispanic families. Email either Linda
Barlow at lbarlow@hvj.com or Laton Carr at LCarr@pape-dawson.com
.
To learn more about Discover Engineering in
Austin visit www.centexeweek.org. To
preview the activities go to http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/activity_guide.html |
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New
Orleans Trip on the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
by
Rose Marie Klee, P.E. – Communications Director and Trip Organizer The Austin Branch of ASCE, in collaboration
with the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department of
UT, is planning to make our 3rd trip to New Orleans over Labor Day
weekend. This exciting opportunity is the brainchild of UT professor Robert
Gilbert, who is on the ASCE External Review Panel studying the levee failures
of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Gilbert’s dedication to the edification of students
and the engineering community at large is evinced by his extraordinary
commitment in providing this opportunity for civil engineers to learn about
what happened in New Orleans during Katrina. This trip includes valuable
opportunities to bond with fellow-engineers; befriend, learn from, and mentor
others; meet future colleagues; help the people of New Orleans; learn some
valuable civil engineering lessons on the ground from an expert; visit the
French Quarter to enjoy dining and entertainment opportunities; see
first-hand where the city is in terms of recovery 3 years after the
devastating event; and perhaps even to discover your own power to help make
this world just a little bit better as a human being and as a civil engineer! In the past two years we have had a great
mix of UT engineering students and professionals and even some family and
friends. We will depart from Austin on Friday, August 29 to arrive in New
Orleans that night. Saturday’s agenda will include a volunteer work day and
an evening in the famous French Quarter. On Sunday we will have a second work
day, and depart New Orleans in the afternoon. Participants will have
opportunities to learn about the devastating effects of Katrina from a civil
engineering as well as a social and political perspective. You
can learn about our 2006 and 2007 trips to New Orleans by visiting http://www.austinasce.org/neworleans07.htm Please plan to join us on this trip from
August 29 to September 1, 2008. Contact Rose Marie Klee at rmklee@crespoinc.com (512.343.6404x107)
for more information and to sign up for the journey. You can also volunteer
to help with planning and organizing this trip, or feel free to make
suggestions and submit ideas. |
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Call
for Committee Members and Chairs for the Austin Branch
Have
you been thinking about getting more involved with the Austin Branch? Are
there specific programs that interest you or do you have some new ideas about
what the Branch could be involved with? The
Austin Branch is currently recruiting committee members and chairs for the
upcoming year. Participating as a committee member is a great way to help the
Branch, and if you are curious about what it would be like to participate it
is a great way to begin your involvement. It is also a great opportunity to
meet new people in different realms of the engineering world. The current Branch
committees include:
Please
see our webpage (www.austinasce.org)
to find out who are current committee chairs are, and contact Julia Harrod at
julia@mwmdesigngroup.com to
inquire about how you can get involved in the coming year! |
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ASCE
Discover Engineering Eweek School Visits
by
Laton Carr, E.I.T. – Eweek Committee Chair Eweek school visits went very well this
year, and ASCE was well represented in the mix. The response to Eweek’s
invitation for schools to participate in the Discover Engineering, a program
bringing engineers to the classroom for a small presentation to students, was
overwhelmingly favorable this year. In the beginning, the list of
interested schools quickly trumped the initial list of volunteers who signed
up to assist. With additional calls to service, area
engineers from several disciplines responded to meet the demand. ASCE was
a well represented portion of those respondents and helped to cover a number
of schools. A big “THANK YOU!” to all the members who
participated is in order! Thanks to everyone who helped! The
members whose contributions are known are:
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