Blaine D. Leonard, P.E., D. GE, F.ASCE, ASCE’s National President Delivers Inspiring Keynote at the Banquet

April 20, 2010: The Hyatt Regency Crystal City served as a majestic backdrop for the National Capital Section’s annual banquet. This annual event gives ASCE-NCS an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the achievements of scholarship winners, graduating ASCE student member seniors, volunteers, local projects, and new ASCE Life Members. Registration and social hour started promptly at 6pm, dinner was served at 7pm and the event ended at 9pm.

We were honored to have Blaine D. Leonard, P.E., D. GE, F.ASCE, President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) deliver an inspiring keynote address. Mr. Leonard is the Research Program Manager with the Utah Department of Transportation in Salt Lake City, where he is responsible for balancing research needs and resources within the Department, and for managing a wide variety of research projects. Prior to joining the Department, Blaine spent 20 years as a consulting civil engineer in Utah. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Utah. He has served ASCE in numerous capacities at the national and local level, and is currently the Chair of the Task Committee to Achieve the Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025.

The topic of Mr. Leonard’s keynote was his mission as President of the society. He observed that our future poses some daunting and complex challenges, as a society, and as engineers. What will our role be, and how will we prepare for the future? Civil engineering leaders, assembled by ASCE, have begun to answer that question, and have posed a vision for the civil engineer of 2025.

As we map out a strategy for the change necessary for our success, we envision transformation in areas of education and re-education, research and innovation, public policy and responsibility, and leadership. Having this shared understanding of how we will get to the future will allow us to unite in achieving the vision of who we will be and in determining our own destiny.

Download the two books: 1. Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025, and 2. Achieving the Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025: A Roadmap for the Profession from this page on the Society's website.