June 3, 2016: ASCE NCS Centennial Anniversary Conference

How We Celebrated Our First 100th Year

The National Capital Section of ASCE celebrated its 100th year in 2016. During our Centennial Year, all activities had a centennial focus. We held walking, driving, and boating tours of civil engineering landmarks located in the nation's capital region. We had a monthly article on Outstanding Civil Engineers in our Monthly Newsletter, and participated in two major Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math events, including the Science and Engineering Festival where we highlighted civil engineering to over 10,000 students, teachers, and parents. Our lasting tribute to our first hundred years was a coffee table book, Engineering the Nation's Capital, that features memorable civil engineering projects from our past. The highlight of our Centennial was a day-long Centennial Conference held on June 3, 2016 that featured Technical Sessions, Panel Discussions, and Exhibits.

The ASCE National Capital Section was chartered on June 23, 1916. Therefore, one hundred years later on June 3, 2016, the National Capital Section held our Centennial Anniversary Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. This Conference featured distinguished speakers discussing the sectors and organizations that they represent, including past accomplishments and future challenges, as well as provided their perspectives on the future of civil infrastructure and the engineering profession.

Details on this Conference is provided in our June 2016 Newsletter.

Our keynote speaker was Major General Mark Yenter, P.E., Deputy Commanding General for Military and International Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Major General Yenter is responsible for policy, programming, and technical support in the execution of more than $18 billion of design, construction, and environmental programs. The selection of Major General Yenter as our keynote speaker is most fitting as it was the Army Chief of Engineers who led the formation of the National Capital Section more than 100 years ago. Major General Yenter will discuss the Corps’ distinguished history of planning, building, and sustaining infrastructure across the nation and around the world.

Other speakers drew from various reaches of the infrastructure and civil engineering community, including from the fields of transportation, utilities, facilities, environmental, geotechnical, water resources, sustainability, and construction. This included: Mr. Mark Woodson, P.E., D.WRE, ASCE National President; Mr. Victor Mendez, P.E., U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation; Ms. Barbara Rusinko, P.E., President of Bechtel National; Mr. Andrew Off, P.E., PMP, WMATA Assistant General Manager for Rail Services; Ms. Liliana Maldonado, P.E., BCEE, DC Water Director of Engineering and Technical Services; Mr. Shapour Ebadi, CCM, General Services Administration Project Executive for the Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters; Dr. Bob Kapsch, Ph.D., AIA, author of Building Washington; and many more.