The Board Needs Your Input

by Kam Movassaghi, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
President, Transportation and Development Institute of the ASCE

Last November, the T&DI council and committee chairs joined the Board of Governors at a “leadership workshop” in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the aftermath of that gathering, several task committees were formed to further develop the proposals presented at the workshop. One of the task committees was charged with exploring the feasibility of T&DI conducting an annual conference. Below is an outline of the task committee’s recommendations:

• All task committee members enthusiastically supported the idea of T&DI holding annual conferences.
• The annual conference should be modeled after the successful EWRI, SI and GI conferences.
• The annual conference should seek involvement from regional FRA, FTA, TSA and FHWA and ASCE sections.
• The annual conference would provide an opportunity for all T&DI councils and committees to meet during the conference and to explore the opportunities for interdisciplinary and inter-committee activities.
• The conference should be held during the 3rd week of May or 3rd week of September, starting on Wednesday and ending on Friday noon.
• The conference should not overlap with other major conferences such as APA, ITE, TRB and ASCE.The conference should include a plenary session, award presentation, technical sessions, a technical tour and exhibitors. 
• The technical sessions will be divided into tracks with committees taking responsibility for the sessions.
• All papers will be peer reviewed except some sessions which may be panel discussions or invited presentations without a paper.
• There will be pre- and post-conference workshops on emerging technologies.
• The annual conference may be combined with specialty conferences such as Automatic People Movers (APM), Pavement, and Context Sensitive conferences. 
• The first T&DI conference may be held in a major city such as Denver, San Diego or St. Louis in 2010.
  
  

 Two other task committees have also reported on their assignments; their reports have some relevance to the above recommendations. One of the task committees was charged with suggesting ways to more effectively integrate and incorporate “Development” in the activities of the T&DI.  The committee’s report identifies its target audience as civil engineers who primarily practice community development.  It further states that engineers in this practice have a far larger influence on the built environment than do other civil engineers since the results of their work make up about 75% of the developed urban land in America.  It further identifies a number of challenges and opportunities facing civil engineers who practice community development.  Here is a partial list: sustainability, redevelopment and infill, mixed-use, higher densities, new urbanism, energy conservation, water conservation and quality, personal security (particularly for public facilities), long range (50 to 100 years) community visioning, rising costs and sinking revenues.  The second task committee dealt with the issue of sustainability. The task committee points out that ASCE has joined with the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (CSCE) and the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) in signing a document entitled "A Sustainable Future for the Planet" which calls for each organization to "...develop, monitor and implement an action plan to help articulate and deliver their contribution to sustainable development, both nationally and internationally..."  Furthermore, ASCE’s Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 states that civil engineers will be "Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life..."  Given this initiative by the mother ship, the task committee urges T&DI to embark upon developing a strong sustainability agenda in support of ASCE’s. Combining the recommendations of the three task committees, it seems that there are abundant opportunities for providing a regular forum for civil engineers and others to come together, share and cross-pollinate ideas, innovate and develop new processes and technologies.  Sustainability and development could provide the central themes for these gatherings.  They could be the critical niche for T&DI to catapult itself to its rightfully deserved position of leadership.  An annual transportation and development conference incorporating sustainability and development in its program make-up could be the relevant societal issue that would attract many participants. 

Your Board of Governors soon will make a series of decisions regarding the recommendations of its task forces.  The board is very interested in your views and opinions.  Would you please take a few moments and provide us some feedback?