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ENVISIONING THE FUTURE
ASCE’s Role in Civil Engineering Research
Blaine D. Leonard, P.E., D.GE., F.ASCE - ASCE 2009 President-elect - Utah Dept. of Transportation Research
Division
May 27, 2009 ASCE Department Heads Council
Civil Engineering in 2025
“Change is constant, but, on an absolute basis, our world has changed more in the last one hundred years than in all those preceding. “
– The Engineer of 2020, National Academy of Engineering
Civil Engineering in 2025
Broadly speaking, there are only two futures for civil engineering:the one the profession creates for itself or, in the void, the one others create for civil engineering.
- The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 - ASCE
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE CIVIL ENGINEER OF 2025
VISION STATEMENT:Entrusted by society to create a
sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as: • Master builders,• Environmental stewards, • Innovators and integrators,• Managers of risk and uncertainty , and • Leaders in shaping public policy.
Civil Engineering in 2025
ACHIEVING THE VISION
Numerous steps to achieve the outcomes outlined in the VisionMajor trends within those steps:– Education– Innovation– Environment– Public Policy / Leadership
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
Overall Grade: D Aviation DBridges CDams DDrinking Water D-Energy D+Hazardous Waste DInland Waterways
D-Levees D-
Public Parks & Recreation C-
Rail C-Roads D-Schools DSolid Waste C+Transit DWastewater D-
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
Severe highway bottlenecks have increased by 40% during the past five years
Americans spend 4.2 billion hours per year stuck in traffic at a cost of $79.2 billion in wasted time and fuel
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
27% of the 590,750 bridges nationwide are
structurally deficient or obsolete
Blocked or broken pipes result in 10 billion gallons of raw sewage flowing into US surface waters annually
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
A five year investment of $2.2 trillion is needed to remedy our current infrastructure condition – Only 45% of that is currently in the
federal, state, and local budget now
• 2009 Infrastructure Report Card, ASCE
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
“You cannot solve a problem with the same sort of thinking that
created the problem”
- Albert Einstein
Civil Engineering in 2025
INFRASTRUCTURE
New Technology & InnovationsNanomaterials Larger Bandwidths / Wireless TechnologyMicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS)Radio-frequency Identification (RFID)3-D & 4-D ModelingAdvanced SensingCloud Computing
Civil Engineering in 2025
GRAND CHALLENGES OF ENGINEERING
Make solar energy economicalProvide energy from fusionProvide access to clean waterReverse-engineer the brainAdvance personalized learningRestore and improve urban infrastructureEngineer the tools of scientific discovery
Develop carbon sequestration methods
Advance health informatics
Engineer better medicines
Prevent nuclear terror
Secure cyberspace
Enhance virtual reality
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Civil Engineering in 2025
NSF RESEARCH DIRECTION WORKSHOP
Focus Areas:– Renewal, Management and Protection of
Complex Systems– Sustainability– Global Impacts– Energy
Urgent need for leadership and expansion of research in these four areas, among others
• Final Report: Workshop on Frontier Research Directions in Civil and Environmental Engineering (2007)
Civil Engineering in 2025
INDUSTRY LEADERS COUNCIL (ILC)
The entity previously known as CERF (roughly)Priority Issues:– Infrastructure (no. 1)– Project Delivery Improvements (no. 3)– Climate Change (no. 4)
Civil Engineering in 2025
SUSTAINABILITY
ASCE’s Vision:– Become educated and educate others
on environmental and resource issues– Take the lead on sustainable solutions– Incorporate renewable materials and
practices into our projects
Civil Engineering in 2025
SUSTAINABILITY
ASCE Task Committee on Sustainable Design Five key objectives:– Define role of ASCE in advancing
sustainability– Define sustainability in terms appropriate for
civil engineering– Evaluate existing certification programs – Determine if sustainable civil engineering
certification is viable and needed– Develop an action plan for ASCE
Civil Engineering in 2025
RESILIENCE
Critical InfrastructureResearch Areas:– Risk Assessment / Management– System-wide Evaluation and Design– Performance Monitoring / Metrics– Relationship between Maintenance &
Performance
Civil Engineering in 2025
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Trends:– Increasing pressure to construct faster– Innovative Contracting– Need to reduce impact on the public– Context Sensitive Issues – Sustainable and resilient design
• Reuse of materials on site• Hardening (to natural & manmade disaster)
– Asset Management
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE CHALLENGE
“Sustain and strengthen the nation’s traditional commitment to long-term basic research that has the
potential to be transformational to maintain the flow of new ideas”
- Rising Above the Gathering Storm, National Academy of Sciences
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE CHALLENGE
“The period from 2004 to 2007 may represent the first continuous decline in federal investment and basic R&D in universities in the past 25 years.”
- Arden Bement, Director, NSF
in Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Two Years Later,
National Academy of Sciences
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE CHALLENGE
– “There will never again be a shortage of engineers in America to perform routine engineering functions. Such work will simply be shipped abroad . . . to the hordes of engineers now being produced in several other countries . . . But, there will always be demand for superbly educated engineers who are capable of performing in an innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial fashion.”
• Norman R. Augustine, former CEO, Lockheed Martin, Prism Magazine, Feb 2009
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE CHALLENGE
Innovation:– Take a leadership role in encouraging
research and implementation– Expand cooperation in research– Aggressively envision innovative
techniques– Improve adoption of innovation– Implement “smart” applications in
construction and maintenance– Integrate risk management into our
practice
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE PROMISE
“We are not at the beginning of the end,
but at the end of the beginning.”
– Shane Robison, VP Hewlett Packard
Civil Engineering in 2025
THE PROMISE
“I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to research and development. We will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, . . . in basic and applied research, . . . To promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.”
- Pres. Barack Obama
Apr 27, 2009 to the Nat’l Academy of Sciences
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