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

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


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


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.


ACHIEVING THE VISION

Numerous steps to achieve the outcomes outlined in the VisionMajor trends within those steps:– Education– Innovation– Environment– Public Policy / Leadership


Where do these trends apply to current ASCE initiatives?


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-


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


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


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


INFRASTRUCTURE

“You cannot solve a problem with the same sort of thinking that

created the problem”

- Albert Einstein


INFRASTRUCTURE

New Technology & InnovationsNanomaterials Larger Bandwidths / Wireless TechnologyMicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS)Radio-frequency Identification (RFID)3-D & 4-D ModelingAdvanced SensingCloud Computing


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


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)


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)


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


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


RESILIENCE

Critical InfrastructureResearch Areas:– Risk Assessment / Management– System-wide Evaluation and Design– Performance Monitoring / Metrics– Relationship between Maintenance &

Performance


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


DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Accelerated Bridge Construction


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


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


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


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


THE PROMISE

“We are not at the beginning of the end,

but at the end of the beginning.”

– Shane Robison, VP Hewlett Packard


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


“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.”

-- Statesman William Jennings Bryan

Documents

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