Fall 2014 | Volume 84 | No. 4

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage PaidAustin, Texas

PERMIT NO. 879

Connecting Houston and Dallas by Bullet Train

Future Cities Competition

Sir Sandford FlemingInventor of Universal Standard Time

2 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

texasce.org 3

In This IssueFall 2014 | Volume 84 | Number 4

Calendar of Events 4

CPD Opportunities 4

President’s Message 5

Message From the Executive Director 6

Report From Region 6 7

Connecting Houston and Dallas by Bullet Train 8

Future City Competition & Sim City 10

Branch News 11

The Twenty-Second Buchanan Lecture 12

2014 Webinars 13

ASCE Texas Section Award Nominations 14

Student’s Center 16

Membership Report 17

Younger Members Corner 18

ASCE News 19

Sir Sandford Fleming 20

Procard Directory 21

On the Cover: Texas Central Railway is working to bring Japan Railway Central’s (JRC) latest version of the world-class high-speed rail technology to Texas. Photos of the N700 used under permission of JR Central.

TEXAS SECTION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERSEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Crespin Guzman PEOPERATIONS MANAGER: Elizabeth R. GreenwoodCOMMUNICATIONS MANAGER: Annemarie GasserDATA MANAGER: Lauren Marcotte1524 S. Interstate 35, Suite 180Austin, Texas 78704Phone: 512-472-8905E-mail: office@texasce.orgWebsite: www.texasce.org

2013–2014 OFFICERSPRESIDENT: Tim C. Newton PEPAST PRESIDENT: John N. Furlong PEPRESIDENT ELECT: Curtis B. Beitel PEVP-EDUCATIONAL: Eric L. Fisher PEVP-EDUCATIONAL ELECT: Lawrence D. Goldberg PEVP-PROFESSIONAL: Patrick M. Beecher PEVP-PROFESSIONAL ELECT: Roman D. Grijalva PEVP-TECHNICAL: John D. Garcia PEVP-TECHNICAL ELECT: Peter E. Falletta PETREASURER: David J. MatochaASSISTANT TREASURER: Curtis R. Steger PE

DIRECTORS AT LARGESENIOR DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Brett A. Pope PESECOND YEAR DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Vanessa I. Rosales-Herrera PEFIRST YEAR DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Brad M. Hernandez PEFIRST YEAR DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Christina L. Hickey PE

SECTION DIRECTORSBrandon E. Hammann PE, Austin BranchRobert Lys Jr PE, Brazos BranchRussell R. Carter PE, Caprock BranchDevon K. Dreyer PE, Central Texas BranchAnthony B. Gavlik PE, Corpus Christi BranchChula B. Ellepola PE, Dallas BranchJ. Gilberto Andujo PE, El Paso BranchKimberly K. Cornett PE, Fort Worth BranchMartin D. Morris PE, High Plains BranchAndrea Cheng Ranft PE, Houston BranchArthur M. Clendenin PE, Northeast Texas BranchAlfonso A. Soto PE, Rio Grande Valley BranchJames A. Lutz PE, San Antonio BranchRobert C. Hickman PE, Southeast Texas BranchAndrew L. Mellen PE, West Texas Branch

ASCE - Region 6Kenneth B. Morris PEDirector and Board of Governors Chair 2014-2017Nancy S. Cline PEGovernor—Texas Section 2011–2014Ken A. Rainwater PhD PEGovernor—Texas Section 2012–2015Elvidio V. Diniz PEGovernor—New Mexico Section 2012–2015Jeremy P. Stahle PEGovernor—Oklahoma Section 2013-2016Sean P. Merrell PEGovernor—Appointed (Texas Section) 2013-2016

4 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Calendar of EventsTexas Section Meetings2015 - San Marcos2016 - San Marcos

Sept. 29 - Oct. 2Sept. 20 - Sept. 23

Texas Civil Engineer DeadlinesWinter 2015 - Volume 85, No. 1November 17 Ad Insertion DeadlineNovember 3 Copy Submittal DeadlineSpring 2015 - Volume 85, No. 2February 20 Ad Insertion DeadlineFebruary 6 Copy Submittal DeadlineSummer 2015 - Volume 85, No. 3May 18 Ad Insertion DeadlineMay 4 Copy Submittal DeadlineFall 2015 - Volume 85, No. 4August 24 Ad Insertion DeadlineAugust 10 Copy Submittal Deadline

CPD OpportunitiesTo enhance communications between ASCE and ASCE’s Regions, Sections, and Branches, Geographic Services is pleased to advise you of the following seminars scheduled in our area:

Austin11/12/14 Design of Foundations for

Dynamic Loads

Houston12/3/14 Structural Design for Bomb Blast

Loads and Accidental Chemi-cal Explosions (Buildings and Industrial Facilities)

Oklahoma City11/12/14 Slope Stability Analysis & Slope

Stabilization In Engineering Practice

San Antonio12/10/14 HEC-RAS Computer WorkshopDetailed descriptions of seminars are available at

www.asce.org/knowledge-learning/ continuing-education/

Find us on Facebook Badge CMYK / .eps

@TEXASCETweets

texasce.org 5

President’s Message Tim C. Newton PETexas Section President

By the time you read this we will have held the first annual Tex-as Civil En-g i n e e r i n g Conference –

Texas CECON 2014 in Galveston, Texas. It will be a success because of the tremendous amount of effort and the number of volunteer hours dedicated to the planning and exe-cution of the event. Participation in the semi-annual Section Meetings, held for many years, has been wan-ing. We knew you were telling us to do a better job in serving you, so we did just that.

Thanks to Co-Chairs Ronald M. Re-ichert and Leanne M. Napolillo PE, F.ASCE, CECON has been totally redesigned. Other key contributors include Curtis B. Beitel PE, CFM, ENV SP, B. Andrea Cheng Ranft PE, Carol E. Haddock PE, Larry D. Gold-berg PE and Donald J. Anderson Jr. PE along with numerous committee chairs and volunteers.

A special thanks to these Houston Branch leaders for their contribu-tions. Here are some of the highlights of the new format:• One conference a year for more

focused program planning• Collaboration with partner or-

ganizations, including the Texas Concrete Pipe Association

• Section wide planning committee• Lower annual cost for partici-

pants and their employers• More keynote speakers• Fewer breakout sessions featur-

ing notable statewide and re-gional speakers and panelists

• Lightning rounds for members to make technical presentations with rewards for best presenta-tions

Congratulations on a job well done on CECON 2014.Here is a recapping and a status re-port of the six presidential/board/staff priorities for this year:1. Working with smaller

Branches to stabilize their structure and help in find-ing ways to effectively serve their members – On-going with more focused Sec-tion support.

2. Relationship building be-tween the Section, Branch-es and Student Chapters – Significant progress with calls by Tim Newton, Section Presi-dent to each Branch president, and Student Chapter campus visitations by Executive Director, Crespin Guzman PE.

3. Focusing energy on our first annual meeting – Texas CE-CON 2014, Galveston, TX – Success.

4. Ramping up efforts for we-binars, especially in the winter and spring, to fill the training gap since there will be no Spring Section Meeting – Success with at least one Webinar each month – total estimated average attendance of 75.

5. Community involvement – Success through the Centen-nial Habitat House, the Texas Department of Public Safety Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council and more.

6. More visibility and trans-parency to the public about who we are and the state of our infrastructure – Success with Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiatives in November, 2013 on water funding, and November, 2014 on transportation funding.

Pre-college outreach is an important way to increase interest in STEM (Sci-

ence Technolo-gy Engineer-ing and Math) education and to ultimately stimulate more STEM college degrees (TCE Volume 84, Number 2, spring 2014, and President’s Message).

Let us remember our history and her-itage. Learning from our past is the path to our future. Continue to find ways to proudly present the stories of our successful members and projects in Texas.

Most of all, remember the benefits of being a member of ASCE. The Amer-ican Society of Civil Engineers is the ONLY organization that serves civil engineers across the globe with all of the following benefits:• Networking with peers• Leadership training• Technical training• Mentoring – opportunity for

personal growth• A sense of belonging• Technical resources nationwide• A global society – the ASCE

brand is unlike any other world-wide

Become an ASCE Texas Section member and remain a member!The success of the ASCE Texas Sec-tion is dependent upon you, our members. We need you to serve as Section officers, committee chairs and committee members. Please step up to the plate – it will help the Sec-tion grow and will be a rewarding experience for you.

It has been a pleasure serving you as your Texas Section President. I pray for our continued success in deliver-ing programs, education and confer-ences that benefit our members.

6 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Crespin Guzman PEExecutive Director

Message From The Executive DirectorStaying Current by Changing With the Times

With all the changes the Section has been implementing this year

and those that are still to come, we continue to reach out in new directions to enhance the value of membership. The most obvious effort is that of CECON 2014, which just ushered in a new era for all civil engineers in Texas—not just Section subscribing or assigned Members. This annual meeting conference experience will only improve in the years to come. We have learned much during the planning and execution phases of the new conference held recently in Galveston. You can expect bigger and better from CECON 2015 & 2016 in the San Marcos area! Non-dues RevenueJust as new and different, is the pursuit of non-dues rev-enue stream opportunities in the form of grants, history book sales and advertising online and in print. The staff has identified several entities to target for history and her-

itage grant funding and some community events to dis-play and sell our centennial history book. We encourage all Branches to look within their communities and find op-portunities to pursue similar opportunities for book sales - an excellent way to raise money for scholarship funds or events. Additionally, we have been comparing several enterprises that would partner with the Section to solicit advertising on our website and magazine and/or a com-bination thereof. All of these efforts are both exciting and challenging. We are venturing out of our comfort zones and following less trodden paths in search of funds to support new projects! STEMIn order to jump start the new STEM Standing Commit-tee, the Section is also working toward being more visi-bly involved with STEM activities that serve kindergarten through 12th graders with interest in science, technology, engineering and math. We are looking to partner with community and/or state level organizations where we can share resources and avoid having to “reinvent the wheel”. As we work with our ASCE Student Chapters, we find that most of them already are connected with local area level K-12 students. One goal of the Section is to help develop and support clubs at the high school level. This initiative has great promise, would you like to help make it happen? Contact Patrick M. Beecher

PE, pmbeecher@terracon.com, STEM Committee lead Section officer. GEOCACHINGDo you enjoy traveling around Texas and finding treasure? See the sights of Texas and its civil en-gineering landmarks with our statewide geocaching experience! The program should be in place in most Branch areas by the time you read this article. Learn how the game works on the Section’s site: www.texasce.org/geocaching. Consider it yet another dimension to enhance your pride in being an ASCE Texas Section Member!

texasce.org 7

report from region 6 Kenneth B. Morris PE PTOERegion 6 Director

Region 6 represents three Sections (Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas), 19 Branches, and 22 Student Chapters. We are one of the largest regions in terms of populations, and we are definitely one of the most complex in terms of the number of geographic units represented.The Region 6 Board of Governors (BOG) held their fall meeting at Texas CECON in Galveston, September 19. I think the attendees had a great time and there were many good sessions and presentations. The BOG is in the pro-cess of developing a strategic plan for Region 6. The stra-tegic plan asked a series of questions in order to develop a plan that can be implemented given our resources and constraints. The questions that must be answered are 1. Where are we currently allocating our re-

sources? 2. What resources do we have to work with? 3. Where do we want to emphasize our efforts

in the future?4. How do we plan on getting there?These are simple questions but they take some time and thought to come up with a good plan. At the present time, one of our goals is to visit each Branch in Region 6 at least once a year. This requires each Governor to attend four or five Branch meetings per year. If we include the Student Chapters, each Governor would make an addi-tional four or five visits annually. On the surface it doesn’t sound like much, however I know that everyone stays busy with their jobs and family and it is not always easy to find the time to travel to these meetings. These are some of the issues that we must tackle and we would welcome any input from our ASCE members.

Another item that was discussed by the Region 6 Board of Governors was the Region 6 budget for FY15. Our fiscal year runs from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015 to coincide with the Society’s budgeting. Most members are not aware that Region 6 like all of the regions only receives about $14,000 per year for our budget. That’s not a lot of money - but we stretch it as far as possible. Most of it is used for travel by our Governors but we are also committed to helping our Branches, Younger Member Groups and Student Chapters whenever pos-sible. This is one issue that I plan on taking up with the Society’s President and Board of Direction this next year. Most of the other Region Directors believe the additional funds should be passed through to the Region, Section or Branch to better serve our members.

The Board of Governors discussed in more detail how we could help to fund the travel for the winning teams of Regional Concrete Canoe or Steel Bridge Competitions. The Texas Section has requested that we support the stu-dents with a stipend next year for their travel. The BOG

has agreed that we should make an effort to fund these requests and that we must receive funding requests prior to the regional com-petition, so that we can approve the travel funds quick-ly once the winners are decided. We are working on a funding request form that can be distributed to the Stu-dent Chapter Faculty Advisors.

At the Society level, the Board of Direction is also work-ing on updating its Strategic Plan. As many of you are aware, the three strategic initiatives are 1. Infrastructure2. Sustainability 3. Raise the BarThese initiatives fall in line with our ASCE Vision 2025 Re-port. The Vision 2025 document acknowledges that we live in a changing world and that we as civil engineers must adapt our profession to current trends in order to provide the necessary sustainable infrastructure based upon future demands. The civil engineer of the future must be better trained and educated not only with tech-nical skills but with the understanding of public policy, the political process and funding mechanisms. In a glob-al economy, a global initiative is necessary to bring all civil engineers together with a common goal. If you have not read the Vision 2025 Report, I suggest that you take the time to read it and understand the future direction of ASCE and civil engineers in general. It is available on the ASCE website. IN Memorium - Elvidio Diniz

It is with great sad-ness that I must re-port the passing of Elvidio Diniz PE, D.WRE, our Region 6 Gov-ernor from New Mexico. He will be greatly missed. Please remember

his family in your thoughts and prayers. Sincerely,

Kenneth B. Morris, PE, PTOERegion 6 DirectorCivil Engineers are global leaders building a better qual-ity of life.

Photo provided by Elvidio’s family

8 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

A sustained record of economic ex-pansion has drawn over a million Americans to Texas since the year 2000, according to the U.S. Cen-

sus Bureau, and both Dallas and Houston are two of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the nation. With these opportunities come challenges, including a serious strain on the transit system, as anyone who has recently traveled the state’s crowded roadways or busy airports will attest.

Once again, however, the Lone Star State’s model of low taxes, common-sense regulation and a business-friendly climate is pointing the way forward.

Texas Central Railway (TCR) is a free-market response to the current—and growing—consumer demand for safe, comfortable, affordable, fast and convenient travel between Dallas and Houston. Utilizing the proven high-speed rail technology that Japan Railway Central (JRC) has deployed and constantly improved over the past 50 years, passengers will soon be whisked between Texas’ two residential and economic powerhouse communities in less than 90 minutes.

A Better AlternativeCurrently, US I-45 is the only major roadway between Houston and Dallas, along which 50,000 “super com-muters” travel back and forth between the cities more than once each week.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), drive time between the two cities today is close to five hours without traffic delays or highway construc-tion. By 2035, traffic congestion is expected to double, causing the average travel speed to drop by nearly 33 percent—from 60 miles per hour to 40. That would mean drivers could expect to be in their cars for six hours or more.

The current main alternative is air travel, with its increas-ing inconvenience and unpredictable delays. With pop-ulation growth poised to overwhelm the existing trans-portation capacity, Texans deserve more options than a choice between traffic jams or airport delays.

All of these factors—combined with millions of dollars in privately-funded research over four years, studying 97 different possible city pairs—have led TCR to conclude

Connecting Houston and Dallas by Bullet Train By Robert Eckels, President, Texas Central High-Speed Railway

To ensure safe operations, high-speed rail in Texas will operate on dedicated, grade-sepa-rated tracks. To the greatest extent possible, these new tracks will be built within or adjacent to existing rights of way. Photos of the N700 used under permission of JR Central.

texasce.org 9

that the relatively flat, rural terrain along the 240-mile corridor between Dallas and Houston makes this project an optimal opportunity for the first privately funded high-speed rail system in America.

High-Speed TechnologyTCR is collaborating with JRC to deploy a high-speed train based on their N700 bullet train system, which is capable of going from a full stop to its top cruising speed of 205 mph in two and a half minutes.

The N700 technology has operated for nearly 50 years in Japan, boasting a perfect safety record of zero pas-senger fatalities or injuries from accidents, an on-time performance with less than a one minute average delay and the capability of operating safely in torrential rains and high winds.

Unlike cars and planes, JRC’s all electric bullet train tech-nology emits a fraction of the carbon dioxide emissions of a typical commercial airliner. It also employs an ad-vanced regenerative braking system, recapturing much of the energy used to slow or stop the train and reducing the N700’s overall power consumption by returning the captured power back into the system.

The Lay of the LandTo determine possible routes, station locations and over-all project costs, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and TxDOT are preparing an Environmental Im-pact Statement (EIS) for the project, analyzing the impact it will have on the communities within the corridor. TCR is paying for 100% of the costs involved in completing this study - no taxpayer dollars are being used.

TCR respects and is committed to honoring the private property rights of fellow Texans—so as route and align-ment options are evaluated, a strong emphasis is being placed on maximizing the use of existing rights of way—potentially including interstates, freight rail corridors, and power and utility corridors.

The N700’s double-track system can be deployed with a very narrow footprint (as little as 40 feet in width to 100 feet, including security fencing), but of course any corri-dor, no matter how narrow, becomes an obstacle if you need to get to the other side. TCR is therefore working closely with individual landowners, local governments and community organizations to ensure those who live along our route will continue to enjoy the ability to farm, ranch, commute and go about their lives as usual.

Road and rail intersections separated by underpasses, overpasses or addressed by elevated tracks will play a

central role in the final determinations regarding routes and station locations.

Making High-Speed Rail a RealityOne of the key reasons TCR leadership knows this proj-ect will be successful is its unprecedented approach to financing. Rather than being dependent on federal, state or local grants and taxpayer subsidies—which can in-crease the project’s cost and lengthen the construction timeline—this system will be designed along free-market principles and be paid for using private-investment.

The commercial operation is estimated to employ over one thousand Texans on a long-term basis in highly skilled engineering, operational and customer service roles in addition to its significant impact on facilitating new income and commerce for the state. The proposed project will not require the use of public grants or subsi-dies, but will potentially take advantage of policies and incentives that other private corporations are offered when bringing a large investment and thousands of jobs to a region.

Earlier this year, the mayors of Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth announced their public support for the TCR proj-ect, praising the company for providing a faster alter-native and tackling growing traffic concerns. While the project has not broken ground, the Environmental Impact Statement process is underway with a release of poten-tial alignments for the route to be made later this fall. In the meantime, TCR is working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the project is a financially viable, environmen-tally friendly, and most importantly, a pleasurable travel alternative for Texans and visitors to the Lone Star State.

While the trains’ interior layout is still under active consider-ation, current plans feature substantive, wide-bodied seats arranged one-by-two or two-by-two and separated by an aisle, ensuring plenty of elbow-room and no middle seat squeeze. Cabins will be spacious, offering Wi-Fi, power outlets and food and beverage service, as well as depend-able mobile phone connectivity.

10 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

During the last couple years, I’ve had the privilege of serv-ing as a mentor with Future City CompetitionTM – a nation-al competition for middle school students that focuses on developing basic engineering principles. Students plan, research, build, and present their ideas for building and sustaining cities of the future. To design their city, and help them begin thinking about the basics of city planning, they use the software SimCityTM. Students have to create logi-cal zoning areas, provide necessary city services, estab-lish appropriate tax levels, and consider environmental impacts. The SimCity component of the competition ac-counts for about 20 percent of the overall score.

One of the objectives of Future City Competition is to get kids interested in an engineering-related career. The students that put forth the effort throughout the competi-tion, including the SimCity component, were the ones I could see working in an engineering field. They were en-thusiastic, committed, inquisitive, thorough, driven, and team-oriented. The students that weren’t engaged, and had their interests elsewhere, seemed less likely to end up in an engineering career. They participated because they had to. Regardless of their level of engagement, a com-puter game didn’t pique their interest. In fact, the grading matrix for the SimCity component was so challenging that it caused many to lose interest throughout the rest of the competition.

However, the program did have other educational ben-efits. The biggest advantage was that it forced students to think about basic aspects of city planning. Where does sewage go after it leaves the house? How is drinking wa-ter processed? Why can’t industrial zones be placed next to residential areas? Why do some streets get so crowed? What’s the best way to balance the budget? During the presentation component of the competition, volunteers from different industries grade each team based on their response to questions covering specific aspects of city planning and engineering. They might ask how their city handles pollution, relieves congestion, funds emergency response services, or handles natural disasters. I can’t re-member the number of times I heard the response “I never thought of that.” Though that response doesn’t bode well for their grade, hearing that answer was very rewarding as a mentor.

While the integration of SimCity in Future City Competi-tion does not spark an interest in middle school students to enter an engineering profession, it does provide an ed-ucational benefit that makes it a useful tool.

Inspiring A Generation of Civil Engineers:

Future City Competition & Sim City By Ryan C. Chapin PE

Future City Competition

texasce.org 11

Branch News Even though summer officially began on June 21 this year, I think most Texans will agree that summer begins long before that. And while some Branches decrease the frequency of activities during the summer months, other Branches utilize the summer to expand opportunities for members. The following two Branches provided some great examples on how they can capitalize on the sum-mer months to offer unique activities for their members.

Rio Grande Valley BranchThe normal schedule of the Rio Grande Valley Branch typically includes a monthly Lunch and Learn in the Up-per Valley—the Branch goes on a hiatus during the sum-mer months. However, this year the Board decided to try to increase their reach to the Lower Valley by offering a Lunch and Learn in the Brownsville area. Like many Texas Section Branches, the reach of membership area for the Rio Grande Valley Branch spans several counties and a couple hours drive. The members in the Browns-ville and surrounding areas are located more than an hour and half from the usual Branch meeting location, making travel for a one hour lunch seminar impractical. Instead of continuing the summer hiatus, the Board used the summer months to pro-vide additional opportuni-ties to a group of members that do not benefit from nor-mal branch meetings due to geography.

Dallas BranchWritten By: Fabian Herrera, EITIn Dallas the summer heat factors into the events that our members are willing and able to participate in. The biggest event on the sum-mer agenda is the July joint meeting with the Fort Worth Branch which also serves as a mini conference, offering several technical seminars and an ethics seminar to help engineers fulfill their PDH requirements. Fortu-nately, this entire event is in the air conditioning. We also typically wait for the end of the summer to orga-nize a Texas Rangers outing.

We have found that we are not the only ones trying to beat the heat in North Texas, the local Habitat for Humanity shortens their build when higher temperatures are an-ticipated. Several of our Younger Members recently volunteered on a Saturday morning build for a future South Dallas homeowner. The build included the tasks of loading, setting and bracing the roof trusses as well as hanging insulation board on the exterior walls. The build crew successfully loaded all of the trusses and set 85 percent of them, 95 percent of the insulation board was installed and several other miscellaneous tasks completed, which made it a successful build day. The work day was short-ened due to a severe storm, most volunteers left before any bracing could be completed and we risked the truss-es falling over like dominoes. A couple of the ASCE vol-unteers stayed the course and ensured that the necessary bracing was installed prior to them coming down from the roof.

From Left to Right: Fabian Herrera EIT, Julie Jones PE, Ashley Chronister EIT, and Jose Lopez EIT. Photo by Fabian Herrera

Christina L. Hickey PEFirst Year Director at Large

By Ryan C. Chapin PE

12 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

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ZACHRY DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESENTS:

THE TWENTY-SECOND SPENCER J. BUCHANAN LECTURE

SPONSORED BY FUGRO CONSULTANTS, INC.November 7, 2014 | 2 PM

The 2014 Buchanan Lecturer is Dr. Craig H. Benson, who is a Distin-guished Professor at the University of Wisconsin and Chair of the Depart-ments of Civil & Environ-mental Engineering and Geological Engineer-ing. Dr. Benson’s lecture will be “Landfill Covers: Water Balance, Unsaturated Soils, And A Pathway From Theory To Practice”.

Two additional lecturers will be featured: Professor Marika Santagata of Purdue University and Professor Arvid Landva of the University of New Brunswick in Canada.

Dr. Craig H. Benson

texasce.org 13

2014 Webinars Eric Fisher PEVP-Educational

Branches and Student Chapters get one free connection per Webinar. Texas Section Mem-bers pay $25 per Webinar or may buy a July 2014 – December 2014 Prepaid Subscription for $100. Non-members pay $75 per Webinar or may buy the July 2014 – December 2014 Prepaid Subscription for $200. Visit TexASCE.org>Education>Webinars

NOVEMBER 2014 TXDOT UPDATE ON FUNDING ENERGY SECTOR ROADWAYSBY MARK McDANIEL, TxDOT

DECEMBER 2014BRIDGE SCOUR - THE OBESERVATIONAL METHOD BY JEAN-LOUIS BRIAUD PhD, PE, D.GE, Dist.M.ASCE

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Regulatory Compliance NEPA Wetlands Archeology Endangered Species Geology TxDOT Categorical Exclusion SWPPP/Erosion Control Reservoir Permitting

14 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Texas Section Awards for Outstanding Civil The Honors Committee is seeking nominations of individ-uals who provide outstanding service to their profession and the community. The official call for nominations will go out in January 2015. Each Branch has engineers who are exceptional not only in their careers, but also in their community efforts. The Texas Section wants to recognize these individuals at the 2015 Texas Civil Engineering Conference (CECON). Consider your co-workers, col-leagues or mentors, who are deserving of recognition and provide the candidate’s name to your Branch Presi-dent or Branch Honors Chair.

Nominations will be due by April 1, 2015 to the Texas Sec-tion office.

The following are summaries of the awards that ASCE Texas Section bestows. Additional information and lists of past recipients can be found on the Texas Section website at http://texasce.org/honors, as well as a sim-ple form that can be completed in a matter of minutes.

AWARD OF HONORThe Award of Honor was established by the Texas Sec-tion-ASCE to be presented to a limited number of mem-bers of the Texas Section “in recognition of service to the Texas Section and outstanding professional achievement in civil engineering”. This is the most prestigious award presented by the Texas Section.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AWARDThe Texas Section Professional Service Award is con-ferred on a subscribing member of the Texas Section for meritorious service to the Texas Section and to one or more of the Section’s Branches upon recommendations of the Honors Committee. Section Presidents, Past Presi-dents, Society Officers and Past Society Officers are not eligible for the award.

HISTORY AND HERITAGE AWARDThe Texas Section History and Heritage Award is given to an individual (not necessarily a member of the Texas Section) or Branch for making special contributions to re-cording and/or recognizing the history and heritage of civil engineering in Texas.

Nominations should be sent to the History & Heritage Committee. Nominations endorsed or originating with the History & Heritage committee should be sent, as de-scribed in the Section Rules of Operation, to the Honors Committee with accompanying documentation on the Branch or individual’s specific contributions.

SERVICE TO PEOPLE AWARDThe Texas Section Service to People Award is made to a civil engineer (not necessarily a member of the Tex-as Section) who has distinguished himself or herself with special service to people. The award is intended to rec-ognize civil engineers who bring credit to their profes-sion through community activities that are visible to the general public.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE TO STUDENTS AWARDThe Professional Service to Students Award is conferred on a subscribing member of the Texas Section for meritori-ous service to the Texas Section through service to one or more of the Texas/Mexico Regional Conference’s Student Chapters or Clubs. Section Presidents, Past Presidents, Society Offi-cers and Past Society Officers are not eligible for the award.

GOVERNMENT CIVIL EN-GINEER AWARDThe Texas Section Govern-ment Civil Engineer Award is

texasce.org 15

Engineers Andrea Cheng Ranft PEHonors Committee Chair

conferred on a subscribing member of the Texas Section employed by a governmental organization for mer-itorious service to the Texas Section and to one or more of the Section’s Branches. Eligibility for this award requires that the recipient be a cur-rent subscribing member of the Texas Section-ASCE. The nominees for this award will be evaluated in the fol-lowing areas: a. years in public service and in-

volvement with elected officials and the media

b. engineering achievements in public service

c. civic, humanitarian and social activities

d. professional activitiese. publications, papers and pre-

sentations

JOHN A. FOCHT JR. CITIZEN ENGINEER AWARDThis Award was established to rec-ognize John A. Focht, Jr.’s outstand-ing and continued dedication to the Texas Section of the American Soci-ety of Civil Engineers. Eligibility for this award requires that the recipient be a current subscribing member of the Texas Section-ASCE who has demonstrated during the previous calendar year “volunteer efforts that better our world such as local or na-tional legislation, education on all levels, nonprofit volunteer organiza-tions, community activities, and so forth”. The nominees for this award will be evaluated on the following:

a. overall positive impact and over-all contribution as a result of the effort

b. number of people involved or reached by the effort

c. originality of the effort or its component parts

d. level of effort.

No more than one award shall be awarded in any year and the pre-sentation will be made at the annual conference.

TEXAS HISTORIC CIVIL ENGI-NEERING LANDMARKNational Historic Civil Engineer-ing Landmark status is conferred by ASCE upon projects that are at least 50 years old from the time of completion, and which demonstrate a design or construction which ex-panded the limits of the profession. For a project that may not qualify on the national scale but is deemed sig-nificant for the region or local area as a noteworthy project, the Section may designate it to be a Texas His-toric Civil Engineering Landmark. If you or your Branch has an interest in this award, please contact the His-tory and Heritage Committee Chair, Melinda Luna PE.

The nomination process may take up to a year, and the Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark would be conferred at a meeting/location requested by the recipient(project owner).

Visit:TexASCE.org > Organization > Awards and Honors for a list of past recipients or n o m i n a t i o n procedures

16 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Student’s Center

Brad Hernandez PEFirst Year Director at Large

By Jonathan Brower EITDallas Branch Education Chair

After leading one of the few Civil Engineering Club pilot programs for ASCE in early 2013, the ASCE

Dallas Branch continued to expand and build excitement around the club at Woodrow

Wilson High School during the 2013-2014 academic school year. The goal of this club is to get high school students interested and hooked on civil engineering. Over the course of the semester, professionals from all branch-es of civil engineering gave presentations and led group activities. WWHS was a natural fit in that they actually have an “Engineering Academy” sponsored by Project Lead the Way where students can take classes in either civil or aerospace engineering. The Engineering Acad-emy allows students to take focused engineering classes through all 4 years of high school. At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, WWHS received their certification from Project Lead the Way, making it the first school in the Dallas Independent School District to do so. We are told that the presence of the CE Club, along with all the guest professional speakers, were major factors in WWHS earning this certification.

ASCE Student Chapter leaders from UT-Arlington started off the year by talking to WWHS students about getting into college, engineering classes, and the challenges in-volved with finding jobs after graduation. Last year’s UTA steel bridge was set up on the front lawn for all the stu-dents to look at. Students were also invited to attend the Texas Section Student Symposium in April and Regional Steel Bridge Competition at UT-Arlington in January.

The remainder of the school year included presentations

from Corgan Architects, water resources engineers at Kimley-Horn & Associates and Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam, structural engineers from L.A. Fuess Partners,

environmental and transportation engineers from Halff Associates, a field trip to the Terracon office and lab, and a surveying demonstration led by the Texas Society of Profes-sional Surveyors. A more detailed description of the CE Club can be found on the ASCE Dallas website here: http://dallasasce.org/articles.php?id=475

Jonathan Brower

Jonathan Brower

texasce.org 17

Membership Report

Travis Attanasio PEMembership Chair

We’ve got new mem-bers...NOW WHAT DO WE DO? Sometimes the easy part is getting someone to sign up for ASCE. Perhaps their company signs them up, perhaps it’s the automatic member upgrade when graduating college; so now that your Branch has new members, what do you do next?

6 suggestions for retaining members:1. Encourage member involvement Members do not want to sit passively on the sidelines while your Branch quietly works toward its goals. If they can’t take action - any action - they will lose interest in ASCE. In many cases, an uninterested member will drop his mem-bership and move on to something else. To keep members engaged, do what you can to help them get involved. 2. Create value Your members want to feel like they are helping the organization serve its purpose, but they also want to get something out of it. By providing members with valuable resources and experiences, you can ensure that they don’t forget the value of their membership. A lot of this can be accomplished by promoting the exclusive, mem-bers-only benefits offered by the Society.3. Communicate appropriately When it comes to communicating with members, quality is more import-ant than quantity. Make sure that all communications you send are relevant to your members, to the point and timely. Let your members choose their favorite methods of communication, and let them opt-out of certain channels. 4. Segment your membership Segmenting your membership allows you to communicate more effectively and personally with each member. For every member of your organization, make sure that you know the reason they joined, the issues that are most important to them and what type of communications they would like to re-ceive from you.5. Survey your former members Even with the best renewal strategies, some members will leave your orga-nization. When members choose not to renew, survey them to find out why they left, which services they liked and which areas of your organization need improve-ment. Use their responses to improve your organization’s offerings and member retention rates in the future. 6. Cliques are bad If you see someone new at a meet-ing, go out of your way to talk to them. Make people feel accepted and comfortable. Just remembering someone’s name can be the difference between whether or not they join.

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18 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Younger Members’ Corner Brian Ridley PEYounger Member Chair

By: Priya Lad, San An-tonio Younger Members PresidentThe San Antonio Branch Younger Members (YM) group held their 13th An-nual Golf Tournament at

Olympia Hills Golf and Event Center on Friday, May 9, 2014. Over 70 golfers from the engi-neering community and related businesses gath-ered for the golf tournament to showcase their skills – before we got rained out! When the rain made an appearance, the attendees made the best of it by congregating in the clubhouse. Food was served and prizes given out. At the end of the event, no one went home empty handed – each par-ticipant received a voucher for a round of golf redeem-able at a later time.

We raised over $4,000 to support our group and pro-grams, including a scholarship program for the Univer-sity of Texas San Antonio Student Chapter, Discover-E (formerly E-Week), and technical sessions for group members. The Younger Members group offers technical

sessions at no cost to the attendees to gain knowledge on various engineering topics while networking and gaining PDH credits.

The 2015 Younger Members Golf Tournament has yet to be scheduled, but we hope to surpass the amount raised previously. If you are interested in golfing or supporting the San Antonio Branch YM, please contact our YM President, Priya Lad (plad@ariasinc.com), for more information.

San Antonio ASCE YM

texasce.org 19

NewsTexas A&M Civil Engineer-ing Chair Named Distin-guished Member of Amer-ican Society of Civil Engineers

Jean-Louis Briaud, PhD, PE, D.GE., Dist.M.ASCE was recent-ly named a Distinguished Mem-ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The so-ciety’s highest accolade, to date only 649 of ASCE’s worldwide members have been elected to receive this honor since the So-ciety’s founding in 1852.

Briaud will be recognized for his varied and pioneer-ing contributions in the field of geotechnical engineering and for his eminent leadership and international service to the geotechnical engineering profession. He received the award at the ASCE Global Engineering Conference in Panama City, Panama, Oct. 7-11, 2014.

Throughout his career, he has explored and solved en-gineering problems that have had a significant econom-ic impact and filled voids in past research. Among his valuable contributions, Briaud’s work on foundation en-gineering, on bridge scour and soil erosion, and more recently on vehicle crash protection truly stands out. It has led to the publication of two books on “the pres-suremeter” in 1992 and on “geotechnical engineering: unsaturated and saturated soils” in 2013.

Currently, Briaud is the Spencer J. Buchanan Chair Pro-fessor in the Texas A&M Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, a position he has held since 2002. As a professor over the last 40 years, Briaud has contributed to the education of over 2000 undergraduate students, 90 master students and 51 doctoral students.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Briaud is a dedicated member of ASCE and other profession-al organizations. He has served in several leadership roles, including president of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

Briaud holds a doctorate in geotechnical engineering from the University of Ottawa and a master’s degree from the University of New Brunswick.

ASCE Texas Section congratulates

Carol Reese,ASCE Information

Professional/Records Manager at ASCE,

on her retirement!

LJA is Proud to Announce Shayna L. Helvey PE, has joined the firm as a Proj-ect Manager in the firm’s Houston Land DivisionShayna has over 14 years of experience in civil en-gineering including foun-dation design for natural gas facilities, residential and commercial site de-sign, wastewater treatment and sanitary sewer rehab design projects, roadway improvements design, and infrastructure modification. Since joining LJA, Shayna has worked on several sec-tions of the Aliana, Legacy at Stafford and Laurel Park North projects.

In her new role as a project manager, Shayna will su-pervise technical staff for the design and construction of major land development projects.

Shayna is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virgin-ia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. She graduated from Tex-as A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, and has a Master of Business Administra-tion from Sam Houston State University.

20 Texas Civil Engineer | Volume 84, No. 4 - Fall 2014

Sandford Fleming, a civ-il/railroad engineer and surveyor, was the person who proposed a univer-sal standard of time to the Royal Canadian Institute in 1879. In turn, the Royal Ca-nadian Institute proposed the time standard to the world, which became ad-opted throughout the world in 1884. Even though the universal standard of time impacts everyone in the world, Sandford Fleming is not a household name.

Sandford Fleming was born on January 7, 1827 in Kirk-caldy, Fife, Scotland to Andrew and Elizabeth Fleming. His father was a furniture maker. Fleming started an ap-prenticeship with a surveyor at the age of 14. His fam-ily decided to immigrate to Canada and Fleming, with his older brother David, moved to Ontario in 1845. He started writing a journal in the same year and later pub-lished his entries in the book Sir Sandford Fleming: His Early Diaries, 1845-1853. His first job in Canada was the Simcoe and Huron Railway, which later became the Northern Railway of Canada, where he eventually be-came the engineer-in-chief in 1855. While working for the railroad, he designed Canada’s first postage stamp issued in 1851. This three penny stamp portrayed a bea-ver that represented Canada. Fleming was considered a gifted draftsman. He would be an advocate for the con-struction of iron bridges on the railroad instead of timber. In 1849, Fleming, along with Kivas Tully (an architect at the Royal Canadian Institute), was established to help the advancement of science. The Institute created a series of lectures twice a year in the fall and winter, published a journal of proceedings, established a museum and awarded citations to Canadians who made contributions to the public understanding of science. In 1855, Fleming married Ann Jane Hall with whom he had nine children.

In 1863 he became Chief Government Surveyor of Nova Scotia. He asked for contractors to bid for the rail line. Fleming believed the bids were too high; he bid on the work himself and completed the line by 1867. The Book Ocean to Ocean (1873) by George Monro Grant chronicled the work Fleming did to survey the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1871 through the Canadian Rockies. Fleming chose Yellowhead Pass as the area to

route the track due to the modest elevations. By 1880, the government had completed the rail line, sought to have a private company own the project and Fleming was essentially let go. This was a difficult time in his pro-fessional career.

While in Ireland in 1876, Fleming missed a train because the schedule listed PM instead of AM; he proposed a single 24-hour clock for the world. An Italian mathemati-cian, Quirico Filopanti published his idea in the book Mi-randa in 1858. He proposed the system of standard time at the International Meriden Conference in 1884. The conference was held in Washington, D.C. at the request of then President Chester A. Arthur. At the same time the American Meteorological Society had produced a Re-port on Standard Time by Cleveland Abbe. Standard time in time zones was not established by U.S. law until the Standard Time Act of March 19, 1918- sometimes called the Calder Act.

By 1929 most of the world had adopted standard time; Fleming went on to start the Nova Scotia Cotton Man-ufacturing Company and to become active in the Otta-wa Horticultural society, as well as an advocate for the construction of a submarine telegraph cable that would connect all of the British Empire.

By the end of his career, Sandford Fleming had been Knighted by the Queen, founded an Institute, surveyed most of Canada from Ottawa to the pacific, built thou-sands of miles of track, designed stamps, and done many other things that included the Time Zone system. Sir Sandford Fleming is a good example of an engineer making a great impact on the world.

Sir Sandford Fleming Melinda Luna PEHistory and Heritage Committee Chair

Sir Sanford Flemming by Barbie Jollota 2007 (CC, Wikimedia Commons)

texasce.org 21

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