America Society of Civil Engineers Tennessee...
Transcript of America Society of Civil Engineers Tennessee...
President’s Note
I N T H I S I S S U E :
President’s Note 1
Upcoming Events 2
West TN Branch 2
Knoxville Branch 3
Holston Branch 4
Nashville Branch 6
Chattanooga
Branch 7
Transportation
Forum 8
2015 ASCE
Convention 10
TNSAVE Report 10
Section Officers and
Committees 11
Branch Officers 12
America Society of Civil Engineers Tennessee Section 2 0 1 5 — S P R I N G N E W S L E T T E R
O F F I C E R S :
Thomas B. Lawrence
President
Brandie Cookston
President Elect
Ashley Smith
Vice President
Sandra Knight
Secretary
Ted Kniazewycz
Treasurer
Thanks to all of you who read the first TN Section newsletter of the year in March! In that
newsletter, I asked for one reason why someone should join ASCE. I received one
response, which was a great response from David Bayer who gave his reason as “leadership
opportunities that can directly impact your personal and professional life.” He also gave
several examples, such as committee memberships, being a Chair of a group, opportunities
for younger members, and being an officer at the local, state and national level. If asked to
give my own one reason, I would say that it is a great place to meet people you would most
likely not get a chance to meet otherwise. I have met and gotten to know well over 100
engineers through ASCE, many of whom I see outside of work and ASCE events.
On the subject of getting to know people, the 2015 Tennessee Engineers’ Conference is
scheduled for September 17th and 18th this year. This is a great place to meet new people
and to reconnect with others, all of whom are interesting because they are engineers! It is
also fun to meet people in person that you have only met by e-mail or over the phone. To
register or to find out more about the conference, go to the ASCE TN Section webpage at
www.tnasce.org or do a search for “Tennessee Engineers Conference” and click on the link
that goes to a Constant Contact page (starts with “events.r20.constantcontact.com”).
The TEC is also a great place to get professional development hours (PDHs) to help with
getting the total needed for your license renewal. There will be the opportunity to get at
least 12 PDHs and we are working hard to try to add some more into the packed schedule.
To go full circle, getting PDHs is another reason to join and stay involved in ASCE. Most of
the monthly Branch programs throughout the State are eligible for a PDH and a few
Branches offer additional education events during the year.
Also, I said last time that I would answer the question about the difference between an
ASCE Branch, Section and Region. ASCE is an international organization with 10 regions, 9
of which are in the United States. The 9 regions are geographic in nature and we are
included in Region 4, which includes 8 other states. Within Region 4, each State is a
Section (although the division of one Section per State is not necessarily the same in other
parts of the country). The Sections are divided into Branches, which is the local group with
which most of the members interact. Tennessee has 5 Branches and their Branch reports
are included later in this newsletter.
Until the 3rd Quarter Newsletter or until I see you at a Branch meeting…
Sincerely,
Thomas B. Lawrence, PE
President, Tennessee Section
901-237-4819
P A G E 2
“Should the
Engineer of
Record (who
has sealed a set
of plans) be
held responsible,
to any degree,
for injury or
death to
builders or
bystanders that
occurs during
the construction
of his/her
design?””
Upcoming Events September 17-18 —Tennessee Engineers’ Conference
(see page1)
October 11-14 — 2015 ASCE Convention (see page 10)
West Tennessee Branch Report The West Tennessee Branch Board met January 9th, February 13th, and March 13th
to discuss Branch business. The Branch hosted monthly meeting in Memphis for
the membership on various topics. Specifically:
On January 15th, Steve Hill of Powers Hill Design, LLC presented to 37
attendees on the Overton Square Parking Garage. The garage features
underground detention to reduce flooding in the City of Memphis Lick Creek
Basin.
On February 24th, as part of the 2015 Engineer’s Week festivities, the Branch
hosted an Order of the Engineer Luncheon with approximately 56 attendees
and 11 inductees going through the ceremony. The Luncheon included an
Ethics Panel Discussion based on the 2015 Daniel W. Mead Prize Topic “Should
the Engineer of Record (who has sealed a set of plans) be held responsible, to
any degree, for injury or death to builders or bystanders that occurs during the
construction of his/her design?” A series of case studies were used to facilitate
the lively and thought provoking discussion which was moderated by Joe Polk,
Retired Manager of Construction Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority,
and featured Tommy Sander, Co-owner of White Construction; Chad Stewart,
PE, Owner of CSA Engineering; Col. Jeffrey Anderson, CDR of USACE
Memphis District and Past President of SAME Memphis Post; Josh Flowers, AIA,
Architect & Attorney at Hnedak Bobo Group; and Don Hutcherson, VP of
Management Operations at Flintco.
On March 26th, James Yates, Senior Vice President Engineering and Technical
Support Manager of Barnhart Crane and Rigging spoke to approximately 20
members about mobile crane safety. The excellent presentation included
several examples for discussion and covered some of the ASME B30 standards
and OSHA regulations.
Other highlights:
Former Branch President Stephanie Ivey was nominated by the Branch for the
Memphis Joint Engineering Council (MJEC) 2015 Award of Excellence. We are
pleased to announce that on February 25th, MJEC presented her with the
Award of Excellence for her “outstanding achievements and devoted service to
the community, her commitment to the engineering profession, and her
continuous dedication and contribution to the engineers and scientists of
tomorrow.” At the same event, Wes Goodnight, was honored for his service
to ASCE.
Branch Director Drew Cohn participated in the ASCE 2015 Legislative Fly-In.
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
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Knoxville Branch Report
The Branch recognizes that it may be difficult for engineers outside of Memphis to attend
regular meetings. The University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) has teamed with ASCE,
TSPE, and West TN STEM to offer free lunchtime engineering presentations in the Jackson, Tennessee area. On
January 27th, Nick Cammack from Big R Bridge presented to 20 attendees. On March 24th, Justin Gosa and Mara
Ryan from Contech presented to 23 attendees.
The student branches continued to prepare for the Deep South Conference while the Younger Member Group
fundraised for the annual Canstruction competition.
West Tennessee Branch Report (cont. )
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
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The Knoxville Branch of the Tennessee Section had an active second quarter. In February, several
members and the officers attended the TSPE/ACEC/ASCE All Engineer’s Banquet that was held at the
Marriott Hotel in Knoxville. In March, the Branch held our Continuing Education Seminar and had six
speakers:
Andy Powers and Fran West of the University of Tennessee Facilities Services group presented “UT Campus
Transformation: Top 25 Vision Becoming Reality.”
David Draper with Lewis, Thomason, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C. presented “Copyright Protection of
Engineering Drawings and Document Retention.”
Francis Lennox with Buzzi Unicem USA, Signal Mountain Plant, Chattanooga, TN presented “Roller-Compacted
Concrete”
Robert Campbell, P.E., East Tennessee Member of the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering
Examiners, and John Cothran, P.E. Executive Director of the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering
Examiners presented “Qualifications-Based Selection and Board Policies Update”
Shannon Lambert, P.E. Vice President of BWSC presented “Nashville Waterfront Development” to explain the
flood control project to protect downtown Nashville from another terrible flood like the one in May 2010, and,
Tim Kuhn, GIS Manager of the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission presented “Indicators
of Regional Economy, Quality of Life and a New Regional Development Framework for East Tennessee.”
Through the Seminar, the Branch offered three Professional Development hours for the morning session and three
for the Afternoon session. In April, the Branch had a joint meeting with the Student Chapter to install newly elected
officers for the new school year. The students provided a report on their participation in the annual ASCE student
conference. The meeting was held in the new Engineering Building (Tickle Building), and about 20 members from the
Branch attended.
The Branch officers met with the Student Officers, the Student Advisor, and the Practitioner Advisor in April to
discuss organizing a younger member’s chapter. Both the Branch and the Students committed to help with that goal
and set a date for a first function. Every year, after exams the students play the faculty in a kickball game at the
World’s Fair Park. The Branch committed to invite the Branch members and provide a meal for after the game. The
game was held on the afternoon of April 24, and although not many branch members were able to attend, a grand
time was had by all.
P A G E 3
P A G E 4
“...we were able
to introduce over
50 young boys to
the diverse and
exciting opportunities…”
Holston Branch Report The Holston Branch held its February meeting on February 3rd at the Beef
O’Bradys in Johnson City. Ron Crockett, PE, VP-Engineering at American
Bridge Co. gave a presentation on his experience with the construction of the
Las Vegas High Roller Ferris Wheel. Located across from Caesars Palace, the
High Roller which opened in March 2014 is a 550 ft. tall, 520 ft. diameter giant
Ferris wheel. Ron’s presentation led the group through the intricate details of
the wheel’s construction.
Thanks to Andy Derenski of URETEK Holdings Inc. for hosting our Branch’s
March meeting on the 25th at Beef O’Bradys in Kingsport. URETEK is a
geotechnical construction company that specializes in foundation leveling, soil
stabilization, chemical grouting and sewer rehabilitation. Mr. Derenski shared
information about their services and projects that they’ve completed. Later in
April Branch Members were invited to a site visit at the Mountain Home VA
Medical Center, where URETEK was treating the soils below existing column
footings to meet the increased bearing capacity requirements of a vertical
addition that is being constructed.
On Saturday April 11, the branch hosted Webelos Engineering Day at
Northeast State. Webelos were given the opportunity to learn about
engineering and earn the Webelos Engineering Badge. Thanks to Jan
Lewenczuk, our contact at Northeast State, and the following individuals for
helping with the event.
Surveying –Jerry Taylor & Dr Marian Young, PLS
Bridges – Ron Crockett, PE & Gina Long, PE
CADD – Jennifer Moore, PE & Richard Allison
Catapults – Brian Johnson, PE & Maggie Johnson
Chemistry –Ed Hicks, PE
Registration, lunch, and photos – Judy Manis and Brandi Clark
Thanks also to American Bridge, Stacy Date Engineering, and Qk4 for helping
sponsor this event. Through this event we were able to introduce over 50
young boys to the diverse and exciting opportunities that engineering provides
and hopefully a few have been inspired to pursue careers in engineering.
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The Branch’s next lunch meeting is scheduled in September (exact date TBA) at the Bristol Public Library.
We are in the process of coordinating with Tennessee Valley Authority to discuss the sinkhole found at
Boone Dam. We are hoping that by September they will be able to discuss their lessons learned.
All of the latest Branch events can be found on the website calendar @ www.asce-holston.org. If you
would like additional information about our branch or upcoming meetings please contact us at
[email protected] (goes to the current President).
Holston Branch Report (cont. )
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N P A G E 5
Nashville Branch Report
In January, we had our Branch Lunch meeting, where John Hastings with the TDOT Structures
Division and Brian Hall with AECOM presented an overview of the design and construction
challenges encountered during the rehabilitation of the Wolf Creek Bridge, a historic concrete arch
structure located in Cocke County, TN.
February was a very busy month for the Nashville Branch. The Younger Members Group has
organized a P.E. Civil Exam Review Course for the last five years. This year’s course kicked off on
February 2nd. There were 20 participants in the course. We do not have a regular Branch Lunch
meeting in February. Instead, we encourage Branch members to participate in the activities that
occur around E-Week. The snow in February caused some of the activities to be rescheduled, but we
still had some good participation. The Younger Members Group sponsored a table at the Adventure
Science Center’s annual Engineering Day where children of all ages were introduced to the Civil
Engineering profession. On February 24th, we held our 14th annual Bowling Tournament, which
raised approximately $1,500 toward our Scholarship Fund. Despite the snow and school closings, the
Nashville Branch once again hosted the Music City Bridge Building Competition for high school students. Eleven students from three different schools participated. The E-Week School visits had to
be postponed due to the snow.
The Nashville Branch was awarded a SPAG grant. We used our grant to host a Transportation
Infrastructure Forum at the Adventure Science Center. The Forum served as our Monthly Lunch
meeting. The panelists included State Senator Jim Tracy (R- Shelbyville & Chair, Senate
Transportation and Safety Committee), State Representative Courtney Rogers (R – Goodlettsville &
Vice Chair, House Transportation Committee) and TDOT Commissioner John Schroer. Over 100
people attended and heard the panelists discuss transportation investments and funding, transit, failing
infrastructure, freight, economic development and its relationship to transportation and the like.
Nashville Branch Past President Monica Sartain also gave a great summary of the Tennessee
Infrastructure Report Card from 2009 and ASCE’s “Failure to Act” initiative. Finally, in March we
accepted applications for our annual scholarships and Branch awards. Scholarship and award winners
will be announced at our April Awards Dinner.
Our Branch continues to hold regular monthly meetings which are typically the third Thursday of the
month and Board meetings are the following Wednesday. Everyone is encouraged to visit our
website at www.nashvilleasce.org to learn more about the Branch’s upcoming events and activities.
P A G E 6 A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N
P A G E 7
“Several ASCE
branch members
and offices
volunteered as
judges and in
other roles to
support the UTC
students and
faculty with the
conference
Chattanooga Branch Report First Quarter 2015 Report
The Chattanooga Branch has several priorities and goals for the 2014-2015 term, and
the first quarter of 2015 demonstrated strong progress toward achieving our goals. We
continue to host and build on our monthly program. Over the year, this program
consists of eight technical presentations, two social events, and participation in E-week
and the annual Section meeting. Monthly meetings are currently held at The
Chattanoogan Hotel. Monthly events for the 1st quarter of 2015 were:
City of Chattanooga Councilman Ken Smith spoke to our group about the
importance of infrastructure and issued a challenge regarding increasing the
exposure to our deteriorating infrastructure.
No monthly meeting was held in February in observance of Engineer’s Week..
Several members participated in E-Week activities, and our local branch awarded
$1,500 scholarships to two UTC students, Bethany Griffin and Jacob Kuchenbecker,
at the annual banquet. These students were selected by our Scholarship Committee
among a pool of applicants this year. Additionally, our Nomination Committee was
responsible for submitting several nominations (a couple resulted in awards) for
local engineers for E-week.
For March, Mike Morrison with TVA spoke to our group about the Chickamauga
Lock.
Southeast Student Conference
Among our goals for this year was to support UTC with the ASCE Southeast Student
Conference, which was held at UTC from March 19 – 21. Feedback from participants
indicates that the conference was a raging success. Twenty-six schools from the
southeast participated with the University of Florida scoring the highest overall score.
Several ASCE branch members and offices volunteered as judges and in other roles to
support the UTC students and faculty with the conference.
The final overall rankings and individual competition results are available here:
http://www.utc.edu/college-engineering-computer-science/asce-sestudentconf-2015/
Pictures from the conference can be found here: http://www.utc.edu/college-
engineering-computer-science/asce-sestudentconf-2015/gallery.php
Our activities include the following:
May social event to a Chattanooga Lookouts game.
June’s presentation will be on a wetlands mitigation bank project.
A stream cleanup is planned for the fall.
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Transportation Forum
On Thursday March 19th, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Nashville Branch hosted a
State-Level Transportation Infrastructure Forum at the Adventure Science Center in Jack Wood
Hall, part of the Tennessee Engineering Center. Distinguished panelists included State Senator Jim
Tracy, State Rep. Courtney Rogers, and TDOT Commissioner John Schroer. Over 100 individuals
attended the meeting to discuss transportation investments and funding, transit, failing infrastructure,
freight, economic development and its relationship to transportation and the like. The event marks
the first of what engineers hope to be many other conversations on these issues to raise awareness
and ensure continued investment in our nation’s infrastructure.
The meeting opened with an overview of Tennessee’s infrastructure grades by Monica Sartain,
Region 4 ASCE Governor, based upon the latest release of the Tennessee Infrastructure Report
Card from 2009 in which Roads received a grade of D- and Bridges had a C. Sartain recapped efforts
both locally and nationally by ASCE and others related to infrastructure awareness as well as key
legislative milestones related to infrastructure improvements. Of note is the ASCE’s series of
economic studies entitled “Failure to Act” which addresses transportation and other sectors. The
“Failure to Act” report on transportation identified an estimated need of $94 billion per year
investment to put our nation’s transportation infrastructure in acceptable condition by the year
2020.
Additionally, ASCE released a national-level report card on infrastructure in 2013 identifying
national needs for transportation and other sectors (http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/).
Tennessee is just one of many states grappling with the difficulty in securing funding to address
infrastructure needs. Among considerations discussed at the meeting were HOV and HOT lanes
with optional fees for use by for non-carpooling drivers, public-private partnerships for
infrastructure projects, and user fees. On the national level, ASCE and its members are supportive of
a gas tax to fund the ongoing need for maintenance and repairs to our nation’s transportation
systems which are currently performing beyond design lifetimes and at or near capacity. At present,
it appears that there is no intention at the federal level for a gas tax to be imposed or leveraged
according to Senator Tracy, who also supports investment in infrastructure as a means of economic
development and jobs and sees the solution as a holistic approach. Other considerations discussed
were user fees based upon vehicle miles traveled, which likely will not be pursued any time soon.
Other questions posed to the panel from the moderator, Bill Moore, chairman of the Tennessee
Infrastructure Alliance, included issues such as the viability of federal funding to assist with local and state infrastructure, HOV and HOT lanes to reduce congestion on the highways in the area,
investment in transit, leveraging economic development coupled with improved freight access, and
red light cameras. Attendees were urged to continue the conversation with their legislators and
the public to improve awareness about the issues related to transportation.
P A G E 8 A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
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Transportation Forum (cont. )
P A G E 9
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N
Other questions posed to the panel from the moderator, Bill Moore, chairman of the Tennessee
Infrastructure Alliance, included issues such as the viability of federal funding to assist with local and
state infrastructure, HOV and HOT lanes to reduce congestion on the highways in the area,
investment in transit, leveraging economic development coupled with improved freight access, and
red light cameras. Attendees were urged to continue the conversation with their legislators and the
public to improve awareness about the issues related to transportation.
The event was supported by a ASCE State Public Affairs Grant (SPAG) that was awarded to the
Nashville Branch. The SPAG is a competitive grant and intended to foster the conversations and
engagement of Thursday’s meeting.
The American Society of Civil Engineers is an international organization focused on issues that impact
infrastructure; the Nashville Branch maintains over 1,000 members in the Middle Tennessee area. For contact information, please email Eric Gardner, Branch President at [email protected].
For more information, check out the following websites:
http://www.asce.org/failure_to_act_economic_studies/
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
http://www.asce.org/surface_transportation_report/
2015 ASCE Convention
Registration is Open
Civil engineers from across the country and around the world will converge on New York City in
October for the first ASCE Convention. Explore the state of the industry and profession via a thought-
provoking, multidisciplinary program that can earn you as many as 24 PDHs. You'll be inspired by opening
keynote speaker Luke Williams, an authority on business innovation leadership. Registration is open. Get
details on the inaugural ASCE Convention.
(To register click here)
P A G E 1 0 A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N
TNSAVE Report The Tennessee Structural Assessment and Visual Evaluation (TNSAVE) Coalition is a group of
professional organizations whose objective is to help the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
(TEMA) develop and maintain a post-disaster building inspector program. TNSAVE serves TEMA and the
State of Tennessee to identify and recruit, train and organize, and mobilize building inspectors following a
disaster.
Check out the website at www.tnsave.org for more information or to sign up.
Tennessee Section Officers and Committee Chairs Josh Corum
Thomas B. Lawrence
Brandie Cookston
Ashley Smith
Ted Kniazewycz
Sandra Knight
Matt Caskey
Chris Triplett
Alvin Cook
Vanessa Bateman
Ray Tant
Ken Berry
Ashley Smith
Z John Ma
Joe Deering
Brian Reynolds
Clint Camp
Eric Gardner
Monica Sartain
Ashley Smith
Ashley Smith
Wesley Goodnight
Mark Harrison
TN Section Past-President
TN Section President
TN Section President-Elect
TN Section Vice-President
TN Section Treasurer
TN Section Secretary
Awards Chair
Engineering Management Discipline Chair
Environmental Discipline Chair
Geotechnical Discipline Chair
Government Affairs Liaison
History and Heritage Chair
Student Discipline Chair
Structural Discipline Chair
Transportation Discipline Co-Chair
Transportation Discipline Co-Chair
SAVE Coalition Representative
Membership Chair
Report Card Chair
Website Manager
Younger Member Chair
Student Discipline Co-Chair
EWB Liaison
P A G E 1 1
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N
Check us out on the web:
http://tnasce.org/
Tennessee Branch Officers Ric Gibbs
Andrew Romanek
Will Witcher
Maria Elizabeth Price
Benjamin Edwin Byard
Jennifer J Moore
Stacy Date
Stacy Date
Brian Johnson
Nathan Babelay
Helen Hennon
Sam Mayes
Nathan Earl Mathis
Nancy Roberts
Monica Sartain
Eric Garnder
Kevin Scott McAlister
Blake Anthony Turner
Nitaya Chayangkura
Dustin J. Scruggs
Wesley Goodnight
Nicole Craven
Matthew J Odom
Larkin Myers
Dr. Roger Meier
Chattanooga Branch Past-President
Chattanooga Branch President
Chattanooga Branch Vice-President
Chattanooga Branch Secretary
Chattanooga Branch Treasurer
Holston Branch President
Holston Branch Vice-President
Holston Branch Treasurer
Holston Branch Secretary
Knoxville Branch Past-President
Knoxville Branch President
Knoxville Branch Vice-President
Knoxville Branch Secretary
Knoxville Branch Treasurer
Nashville Branch Past-President
Nashville Branch President
Nashville Branch President-Elect
Nashville Branch Vice–President
Nashville Branch Secretary
Nashville Branch Treasurer
West Tennessee Branch Past-President
West Tennessee Branch President
West Tennessee Branch Vice-President
West Tennessee Branch Secretary
West Tennessee Branch Treasurer
P A G E 1 2
A M E R I C A S O C I E T Y O F C I V I L E N G I N E E R S
T E N N E S S E E S E C T I O N
Check us out on the web:
http://tnasce.org/