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President’s Message (February 2022)

patrick beecher headshotI hope each of you have been able to safely navigate through the beginning of 2022.  The ASCE Texas Section has been busy making our voice heard as the leading civil engineering authority and technical resource to help support efforts to strengthen our infrastructure and avoid a repeat of the damage inflicted by Winter Storms Uri and Viola.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the executive summary for the Reliability and Resilience in the Balance Report, please take the time to do so.  The report can be found here.  Geoffrey Roberts, Beyond Storms Infrastructure Network Resilience (INR) Task Committee Chair, and committee members have developed and produced an excellent report which analyzes what happened during the storm as well as proposes recommendations to improve the reliability and resilience of our critical infrastructure.  The Beyond Storms INR Task Committee and all of the ASCE Texas Section should be extremely proud of this report. Please share the executive summary and the full report when it is issued (likely around the time you are reading this article) in the first quarter of 2022 with public officials in your area.  This report is another great example, along with the Texas’ Infrastructure Report Card, of how we can bring our expertise to issues involving infrastructure and make ASCE an active part of the conversation.

I hope each of you find a way to participate in and celebrate Engineers Week, February 20 – 26, 2022.  This year’s theme is Reimagining the Possible.  During Engineers Week, we are to celebrate how engineers make a difference in our world, increase public dialogue about the need for engineers, and bring engineering to life for kids, educators, and parents.  I may be a bit biased, but I believe the best way to make a difference and support the mission of Engineers Week throughout the year is to become a volunteer in the ASCE Texas Section!

Whether it is leading and coordinating STEM activities across the state from the ASCE Texas Section’s STEM Committee, judging various competitions and/or presenting at the upcoming ASCE Region 6 Student Symposium, participating on a committee that is diving into the infrastructure issues we are facing and bringing appropriate and practical solutions to the table, or any of the other many opportunities within the ASCE Texas Section and the 15 Branches across the state, we have a place for you.  In fact, we need you to add your experience, knowledge, and voice to build a better quality of life across the street and around the world!

Please reach out to me and let me know how you would like to volunteer.  I am excited for you to begin!

Patrick M. Beecher PE, M.ASCE
ASCE Texas Section President 2021-2022