September 2017 – President’s Message
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – SEPTEMBER 2017 NEWSLETTER
President’s Message
by By Lorraine F. Htoo, PE, LEED AP, M. ASCE, President, San Francisco Section
Greetings and Salutations! While summer only now seems to have started in San Francisco given our record breaking heat as of late, we are fast approaching the fall and with it the close of my term as section president. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a wonderful group of individuals who let their passion for engineering and community guide us this year.
We’ve enjoyed a very active year with Section. Our Institutes and Branches have done their best to bring us presentations that continue to foster worthwhile discussions. The San José Branch brought us Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Training. The North Coast Branch hosted Cal Berkeley’s Dr. Jonathan Bray to speak on engineering near faults. Golden Gate Branch rolled out the National Infrastructure Report Card. The Redwood Empire provided us with a presentation on drones for surveying. At the turn of the New Year, YMF and the local branches did their best to win over the next generation of future engineers with the multiple theatrical releases of Dream Big to further the importance of careers in science, technology, engineering, art, and math.
Together with Region 9 and the other sections, we met with local legislators in the spring to discuss the state of our current infrastructure. We worked in support of legislative bills that act to remedy what damage deferred maintenance and underinvestment in infrastructure have caused over the decades. This was only a fraction of what we took part in this last year with more to come.
In a matter of days, Section will be hosting the Order of the Engineer Ceremony, Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner at the War Memorial Center in San Francisco. The judging committee delighted in learning more about the candidate projects and individuals that demonstrated excellence in civil engineering through their work. We look forward to gathering in celebration with our membership and honored guests that will travel from Fresno County to the east, Monterey County along the south coast, and Del Norte County along the north coast. Join us on September 14th by registering on asce-sf.org for a well spent evening amongst colleagues and friends.
As the new calendar year approaches, give yourself the gift of continued ASCE membership. Treat your peers and staff with the gift of membership. By checking off the San Francisco Section Membership box, the added dollars can go towards more programs like the upcoming Envision Training hosted by our local Sustainability Group. The benefits of membership greatly outweigh the annual fee when you consider the continuing education, technical resources, networking opportunities and exclusive member discounts we enjoy.
My time as president ends this month but I will continue to work on several committees including the Region 9 Infrastructure Symposium to be held on March 23, 2018. The San Francisco Section has been diligently working with Region 9 to bring the Infrastructure Symposium and Awards Dinner home. The venue has been selected and planning is underway. Keep any eye out for upcoming announcements for this and the Envision Training. It’s never too late to participate in planning these events so if you are interested, contact us at Section to find out how what you can do. If you don’t have the time, sponsorship is always welcome.
In closing, thank you for making this a memorable year.