ASCE Plot Points Podcast

Community has been the driving force in Donya Amiri's career. Especially now. After more than a decade working in the public sector, Amiri has started her own consulting firm, AIM Professional Engineers in Northern California. On episode 92 of ASCE Plot Points, Amiri talks about her new business and how her childhood in Afghanistan helped shape her civil engineering dreams. Plus, the ASCE student...

Civil engineering is a tricky balancing act between relying on what has worked for infrastructure in the past and predicting what infrastructure will need decades into the future. A new book prepared by the ASCE Task Committee on Future Weather and Climate Extremes, Impacts of Future Weather and Climate Extremes on United States Infrastructure: Assessing and Prioritizing Adaptation Actions , helps...

Claudia Gunsch is the Theodore S. Kennedy Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, where she also serves as the associate dean of research and infrastructure for the Pratt School of Engineering. She says her favorite part of engineering is "defining the problem, solving the problem." In a sense, it's the same process she's applied to finding the right career path of her...

Katie Bowman, P.E., M.ASCE, is a graduate research assistant at the University of Memphis, vice president of the ASCE West Tennessee Branch, and a newly elected governor-at-large for Region 4. None of it has come easily, though. On episode 89 of ASCE Plot Points, Bowman talks about the twists and turns that have led her to career happiness.

One of the most useful aspects of ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure is the way it takes in a lot of complex information and turns it into a very simple, easy-to-understand grade. So for instance, the rail category received a grade of B on the 2021 edition of the report card. But of course as with anything, it’s important to dig a little deeper. On episode 88 of ASCE Plot Points, Ian...

The nation turns its attention to Capitol Hill this week, as the House of Representatives reconvenes for what may be one of the busiest weeks of legislative work in recent memory. Meanwhile, the focus of Capitol Hill’s attention turns to infrastructure with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is slated for a vote this Thursday. Regardless of the result this week, it’s a huge step forward fo...

Hurricane Ida hit the United States earlier in the month to tragic effect – damage, displacement, and even death. Today, on episode 86 of ASCE Plot Points, Jim Heeren, a senior associate and environmental engineer for Dewberry and president of ASCE’s North Jersey Branch, and Ronnie Schumann, vice president of quality engineering and technical services for Integrated Logistical Support Inc. in New...

Paul Mlaker is an ASCE Distinguished Member with more than 40 years of service with the United State Army Corps of Engineers, now in the role of Engineer Emeritus for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. And 20 years ago, he led the ASCE team investigating the damage done by the Sept. 11 attack at the Pentagon. In episode 85 of ASCE Plot Points, Mlakar looks back on that investi...

It's difficult to believe that it’s been 20 years since the tragic attacks of Sept. 11. For the people who lost loved ones, it’s a story of unimaginable grief. For the country, and our collective conscience, it’s a story of fundamental change. And of course, amid all the hurt and hope and resilience and loss, it’s a civil engineering story too.

Nothing provides optimism quite like the next generation of civil engineers

ASCE PLOT POINTS SEASON 4 EPISODE 11 Wanting to help save the world is an admirable goal. Figuring out just how you can plug that mission into your career path is the first step. Marjorie Bedessem is a senior engineer for Tri Hydro and the vice-president of ASCE’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute. And she’s excellent case study in navigating different career tracks to maximize

Season 4, Episode 10: Burçin Becerik-Gerber, a professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Southern California and director of CENTIENTS (Center for Intelligent Environment),

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 9: It’s amazing to think that even in the oldest professional in the world, civil engineering, there remain new boundaries to push. Erica Fischer is doing just that in the field of structural fire engineering design.

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 8: Are civil engineers doing enough to combat climate change? It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. Or maybe it’s a complicated question with a simple answer. Either way, Emily Grubert,

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 7: Cybersecurity is a hot topic these days – and one that most people would agree is important for our modern society to regulate and prioritize. But is cybersecurity something civil engineers need to concern themselve...

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 6: Avery Bang is probably most familiar to civil engineers for her star turn in the ASCE movie Dream Big. But by day, she’s the president and CEO of Bridges to Prosperity, an organization that collaborates with industr...

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 5: Mathew Picardal does a little bit of everything when it comes to popular civil engineering communication. He works as a structural project manager for DCI Engineers. He’s also started a YouTube channel called the St...

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 4: Melissa Fischer is a supervising engineer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. But lately, she’s probably better known as a novelist. Her novel, “The Advocacy,” has earned rave reviews – Kirkus Reviews called the protagonist, Louisa Lehmann “a delightful, complicated character” and the Southern Literary Review called the book “profound.” Fischer tal...

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 3: S&C Associates is a small engineering firm in Sun Valley, Idaho, providing an array of essential services to the community. Sherri Newland, principal engineer and owner,

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 2: Transportation is a lot different in 2020 than it was in 2019, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The key question now is what changes wrought by the coronavirus will still be affecting transit systems next year and i...

ASCE Plot Points Season 4 Episode 1: Work looks a little bit different these days. Especially for those civil engineers who are balancing their jobs with their duties as parents, often working from home with their children one room over.

ASCE Plot Points wraps up the “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion” series, talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,

ASCE Plot Points continues it series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,

ASCE Plot Points continues it series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, sharing their experiences within and insights about the civil engineering profession,

Today on ASCE Plot Points marks the start of a new series called “Engineering a Culture of Inclusion,” talking with civil engineers impacted by the current sociopolitical climate, who will share their experiences within and insights about the civil eng...