Panel Discussion of: Foundations of Environmental Sustainability
Featuring: Lee Talbot, Larry Rockwood, Agi Kiss, Robert Goodland, and Jason Clay

2:30 - 4:00 PM
Location: Room 163, Research I

Ranjit S. Sahai, P.E.
RAM Consulting Corporation

7:00 - 8:00 PM
Location: Student Union Builing II, Room VIP2

Seminar Offered jointly with the ASCE Student Chapter and the National Capital Section of ASCE

Abstract

Discover how accelerating advances in automation: slide-rules, scientific calculators, computers, CAD, engineering design platforms, open source, and the Internet are bringing about changes in the practice of civil engineering that is both disruptive and exciting. A history of "engineering design platforms" will be presented in the context of how that is evolving to serve specialized needs with the evolution of acronyms such as BIM, BrIM, ECM, and the like. Though of tremendous value today in taking the state of design practice to the next level, these platforms are on track to unifying traditionally disparate workflows of planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. The ASCE-NCS Automation Committee will be holding a door-prize drawing for a book on this topic at the conclusion of this presentation.

Bio

Ranjit S. Sahai is the President and CEO of RAM Consulting, an IT services company which specializes in civil engineering applications of IT with offices in Maryland and Virginia.

Theresa Calcagno
IT & Engineering Librarian
George Mason University Libraries
Fenwick Library

12:30 - 1:00 PM
Location: Room 122, ST II (Updated)

Abstract

This seminar will highlight the information resources for civil engineering students at Fenwick Library including the new Civil Engineering InfoGuide, course and reference reserve materials, book and journal collections, the GIS Center, and information about engineering abstract databases available online or in the library, This will be a "brown bag" lunch seminar.

Bio

Theresa Calcagno was named the ITE Librarian in 2007. She provides support to faculty and students in the Volgenau School. She holds a BA and MS in Geology, and a MLS in Library Sciences. Before coming to GMU, she was the research librarian for a capital projects consulting firm with clients in the process industries--oil & gas, chemicals, petroleum refining, mining, etc.

William (Bill) A.Wallace
Founder and President, Wallace Futures Group, LLC

12:00 - 1:00 PM
Location: Room 122 Science and Technology II Building

This is a WEBINAR event. The speaker will present via the web. Audio and slides will be provided to the attendees of the seminar in Room 122.

ASCE Brochure (PDF)

Abstract

The purpose of this seminar is to explore the dimensions of the market for engineering services in sustainable development and to help engineers develop the skills, processes and tools needed to serve their clients in this emerging field. While the demand for green buildings, wind farms, etc., is creating new project opportunities, these represent just a small fraction of the coming market for engineering services related to sustainability. Understanding the market drivers and the corresponding client needs are essential ingredients for success.

Bio

William A. (Bill) Wallace is the Founder and President of the Wallace Futures Group, LLC, an organization which provides consulting services in the areas of policy planning, market and trends analyses, forecasting, and future studies. His specialty areas include environmental management, environmental policy and technology, sustainable development and knowledge management. Bill has over forty years of professional experience, including thirty years in the field of environmental engineering and management. He recently retired from CH2M HILL where for over twenty years he served in a number of senior positions in hazardous waste management, strategic planning, marketing, and new ventures. He also served on CH2M HILL’s Board of Directors. Bill started the company’s sustainable development practice in the late 1990s which later became a major new policy and source of business for the firm. He also served as CH2M HILL’s Liaison Delegate to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Bill has written a best-selling book, Becoming Part of the Solution: The Engineer’s Guide to Sustainable Development, published in February 2005. Bill Wallace is a member of ASCE’s Committee on Sustainability and the Chairman of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Sustainable Development Committee. He currently serves as Governing Board Chairman of Engineers Without Borders–USA, an organization of engineering professionals and students who design and deliver projects to meet the infrastructure needs of disadvantaged communities around the world. Bill also serves on the Clarkson University Engineering Advisory Committee, and as a sub-committee Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC’s) Environmental and Energy Committee.

Joseph L. Hartmann, PhD, PE
Senior Research Structural Engineer
Team Leader,Infrastructure Inspection & Management
Federal Highway Administration Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

6:30 - 7:30 PM
Location: SUB II, Room 3 & 4

Abstract

The I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, MN had 14 spans and a total length of 1,907 feet. The primary structure of this bridge was a variable depth steel deck truss of 1,064 feet in length that carried I-35W over the river and gorge. On August 1, 2007 a failure in the river span of the deck truss caused a complete collapse of the entire truss structure and some of the approach spans resulting in the tragic loss of 13 public motorist lives. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is the primary agency investigating this failure to determine a probable cause. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is assisting and collaborating with both the onsite and broader activities of the NTSB investigators. The FHWA team consists of personnel from the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), the Office of Bridge Technology (HIBT), the Resource Center (RC) and several Division offices. This presentation will review the circumstances of the collapse, describe the role of the FHWA principle investigator, discuss some preliminary findings, and update the status of the investigation.

Bio

Dr. Hartmann is a Senior Research Structural Engineer who is part of the team investigating the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis, MN in August 2007. He has over 20 years of experience in structural analysis, design, and forensic engineering. He holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D from the University of Maryland, all in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is also an adjunct professor in the GMU CEIE Department since 2005.

Stephen Blanchard
Chief, Office of Surface Water
U.S. Geological Survey

7:30 - 8:30 PM
Location: Johnson Center, Meeting Room E (3rd Floor)

Abstract

Since 1887, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a streamgaging program to collect information about the Nation’s water resources. Under this program, the USGS collects the streamflow data needed by Federal, State, and local agencies for planning and operating water-resources projects and regulatory programs. The streamgaging network currently consists of approximately 7,500 streamgages operated by the USGS nationwide. Because the data from about 95 percent of the stations are telemetered, those data are available in near real-time for many agencies to conduct water-resources projects and for the National Weather Service (NWS) to forecast floods. This near-real time and historic streamflow data is made available to the public through the USGS web pages.  This presentation will describe topics such as:

• what is a streamgage,
• how is streamflow measured,
• the current status of the USGS streamgaging network,
• plans for future enhancement of the network,
• the real-time data capability of the network,
• the national synthesis streamflow information products that are available through the USGS “WaterWatch” web pages,
• new instrumentation being applied to the measurement of streamflow,
• new or enhanced software tools being developed by the USGS for the analysis and estimation of streamflow information, such as the StreamStats application, and
• current research on non-contact streamflow measurement techniques – is it possible to measure streamflow without physically touching the water?

Bio

Steve Blanchard is currently the Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Office of Surface Water and is responsible for providing national leadership in the science of surface water and for assuring the consistency and quality of USGS surface-water activities. Steve began his career with the USGS in 1978 as a hydrologist doing research on nutrient transport in the Potomac River Estuary.  In 1986 Steve moved to the USGS Illinois State Office and served as the project chief of the Upper Illinois River Basin National Water-Quality Assessment Study for 3 years and then as the State Office Chief for 6 years.  In 1996, Steve move to the USGS headquarters and served as the Deputy Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operation in 1996-98, as Assistant to the Chief Hydrologist in 1998-2000, and as Acting Chief of the Office of Water Information in 2001-2002. Steve has served in his current position as the Chief of the Office of Surface Water since September 2002.

Steve received a B.S. from Colorado State University in Watershed Sciences and an M.S. from Oregon State University in Water Resources Engineering.  Steve is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Geophysical Union, and American Water Resources Association. Steve currently serves as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Hydrology under the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information.

Andrzej ("Andy") J. Kosicki, MS, PE
Program Manager
MD State Highway Administration
Office of Bridge Development
Structure Hydrology and Hydraulics

7:30 - 8:30 PM
Location: Johnson Center, Meeting Room E (3rd Floor)

Abstract

MD SHA took its first steps towards fish passage at highway culverts by starting to bury highway culverts below the existing channel inverts in the late 1970s. Gradually, more fish passage measures were being added to the design procedures, but solutions were still based on engineering rather than stream morphology.

Field observations associated with the performance of SHA culverts made it clear that there was a need to better evaluate sediment transport, and to consider natural channel morphology. Thus, in 1992 Office of Bridge Development (OBD) offered the first fluvial morphology training session to the bridge hydraulics engineers. More training followed, and in 1994 the OBD began developing stream morphology reports. This ultimately led to revisions of the Culverts chapter in the OBD Hydrology and Hydraulics Design Manual, and to the creation of the Stream Morphology chapter; the latter probably the first of its kind in the region.

This presentation focuses on design changes that have been taking place throughout the years based on the integration of stream morphology into the design of highway waterway crossings in general, and culverts in particular.

Bio

Andrzej J. (“Andy”) Kosicki was born in Poland. He is a 1970 graduate of the Warsaw Technical University in Warsaw, Poland, with Master's degree in Civil Engineering. Between 1970 and 1981 he was involved in designing highways and bridges in Poland and North Africa, including freeways and freeway interchanges. 

He came to the US in December 1980 and joined the MD SHA Office of Bridge Development’s staff in 1982. Since 1991 he has been managing the Maryland State Highway Administration's Structure Hydrology and Hydraulics Program.

His responsibilities include hydrology and hydraulics studies in watersheds with drainage areas of 1.0 sq. mi. or greater, bridge scour studies, stream morphology and stream stability studies and designs, fish passage studies and designs, FEMA issues, forensic flooding investigations and studies, bridge drainage, developing training programs for bridge hydraulics engineers, etc.

He also works on developing, sponsoring and implementing research and technology transfer studies in the fields of hydrology, hydraulics, bridge scour and stream morphology. Such studies resulted in developing new procedures and cost saving tools such as GIS-Hydro 2000 and GISHydro NXT, a fully integrated, GIS based hydrology software that allows Maryland engineers to perform hydrology studies in a fraction of time and at a fraction of cost previously required for such studies. Other custom created software that has been developed internally includes ABSCOUR, Tiderout and MPADD programs that focus on bridge scour, tidal hydraulics and bridge deck drainage analyses, respectively.

Over the last 15 years he worked on revising and/or updating Office of Bridge Development hydraulics design procedures to integrate geomorphology into the design of highway waterway crossings.

In 1998 he was invited to participate in the International Scour Scan group sponsored by the FHWA. The group visited Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Great Britain to evaluate bridge scour procedures and solutions.

In 2008 he was awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant to teach a full-credit academic course at the Warsaw University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland on the processes and tools used by the MD SHA’s Bridge Hydraulics Division.