{"id":106,"date":"2015-10-19T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T00:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celloexpressions.com\/archive-uscasce\/?p=106"},"modified":"2021-01-01T17:45:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T01:45:59","slug":"asce-2015-convention-new-york-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celloexpressions.com\/archive-uscasce\/2015\/10\/asce-2015-convention-new-york-ny\/","title":{"rendered":"ASCE 2015 Convention – New York, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eight USC ASCE representatives spent five days in New York City for the ASCE 2015 Convention. As the annual worldwide professional gathering for the American Society of Civil Engineers, the ASCE Convention is a phenomenal opportunity to meet other engineers and learn more about the civil engineering profession. After a whirlwind five days of networking and learning, we\u2019re all energized and excited about our chosen field of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post gives a detailed recap of the conference, key takeaways, and details on our favorite presentations. You can also check out our compilations of social media coverage from the conference itself<\/a> and from our adventures in New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Convention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"Interesting<\/a>
The convention hotel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Held at a hotel in Times Square, the actual convention ran Monday \u2013 Wednesday and featured a combination of networking events, breakfasts\/luncheons, general sessions, and breakout sessions on specific topics. Check out a compilation of our tweets to see its progression here<\/a>. Below, we\u2019ll detail some of our highlights from the professional portion of the convention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Networking & General Sessions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ASCE Convention is all about networking \u2013 meeting other civil engineers, sharing knowledge, and making connections. Accordingly, the schedule is built around a series of networking breaks and meals, where attendees can eat and socialize while meeting civil engineers from around the county and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student & Emerging Leaders Breakfast<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Student<\/a>
Student & Emerging Leaders Breakfast.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We started off the first day with a student and emerging leaders breakfast, where all of the student attendees could network with each other, meet the ASCE President, Past-President, and President-Elect, and learn what to expect out of the conference. This was a great opportunity to get an introduction to the convention in a more intimate setting, allowing us to be much more comfortable going into the larger sessions with the entire conference. Most of the annual convention attendees are practicing engineering professionals, so student attendees have tons of opportunities to talk with professional engineers of all specialties to learn more about the industry and potential career paths. Interacting with other student members also gives us a chance to meet fellow civil engineers that we\u2019ll continue to see at ASCE events for years to come, where lifelong friendships will develop for many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening Keynote Speaker \u2013 Luke Williams<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Author Luke Williams kicked off the conference with a presentation on innovation. In particular, he advocated for disruptive innovation\u2013a willingness to rethink traditional business practices and explore new ideas. Products lead to decreasing returns, but ideas lead to increasing returns and innovation, because they can continue growing from a basic concept to a full-fledged project. Innovation is most successful when it\u2019s disruptive\u2013it\u2019s important to look outside your existing asset base, avoid \u201csafe\u201d incremental changes, and avert complacency. A good idea goes beyond a prediction to create a provocative response; excitement for the unexpected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Opening<\/a>
Opening Plenary Session, with keynote speaker Luke Williams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With technology as a baseline, civil engineering is poised to see many disruptive innovations in the near future. Perhaps these will come from new materials such as composites, or construction methods like 3D-printed buildings. At USC ASCE, we\u2019re already working to disruptively innovate in our projects. An example is our new, drastically re-imagined structural approach for this year\u2019s concrete canoe (details are top-secret). Overall, Williams\u2019 engaging presentation was a great way to kick off the conference, setting up a theme of innovation that would continue throughout the other sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business Meeting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"ASCE<\/a>
ASCE Buisness Meeting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The business meeting is the annual meeting for ASCE members. At this year\u2019s meeting, it was announced that ASCE now has over 150,000 members worldwide, with 43 international student chapters including 11 established in the past year. ASCE\u2019s \u201cGrand Challenge\u201d is to innovate to reduce lifecycle costs for infrastructure and improve project delivery processes. Most excitingly, ASCE is working to bring more prominence to the civil engineering profession. An IMAX film entitled Deam Big<\/em> is now in production and will be released in February 2017, sharing the amazing things that civil engineers do and inspiring children to consider careers in civil engineering from a young age. Finally, Mark Woodson was installed as the 2016 president of ASCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry Leaders Forum<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Industry<\/a>
Industry Leaders Forum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We sat in on an amazing panel discussion on innovation featuring three industry leaders: Andrew Chatham from Google X, David Durham from Walt Disney Imagineering, and David Odeh from Odeh Engineers. They each broke down the new, innovative projects they are working on at their respective companies. Chatham is working on further developing Google\u2019s first self-driving car, which is already at its freeway-driving prototype phase; Google employees are able to \u201cdrive\u201d it to work! Durham is working on a new castle being built at Shanghai Disneyland, and discussed their project process\u2013everything from designing in Revit and AutoCAD to communicating between Los Angeles, where the castle is being designed, and Shanghai, where the castle is being constructed. He also showed us Dish, an immersive projected 3D display which allows viewers to experience the castle\u2019s design before it is even built. Finally, Odeh discussed the new technologies being employed at Odeh Engineers, such as a BIM Immersion room (which works much like Dish), and a 3D laser scan model that can be created of any existing structure. He also advised us that responsible risk taking is required in civil engineering, and left us with some words of wisdom from T.Y. Lin, \u201cYou have to have guts to be a structural engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing Luncheon and Speaker<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Closing<\/a>
Closing General Session with a Portland-themed lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ASCE\u2019s new president, Mark Woodson, provided a few closing remarks recapping Convention 2015 before turning it over to Gregory DiLoreto to introduce the location for the ASCE 2016 Convention : Portland, Oregon! We saw an amazing video highlighting the must-sees (and must-eats!) in Portland, which definitely convinced us to at least consider attending next year. Next, Don McMillan, an electrical engineer turned comedian, provided a refreshing comedy break and an excellent closing for Convention 2015 over our delicious Portland-themed lunch of salad, chicken, and a fruit tart. McMillan reminded us that \u201cengineers aren\u2019t boring; we just just get excited about boring things\u201d and taught us that \u201cadaptive procurement\u201d is the civil engineering term for \u2018stealing\u2019. Overall, Convention 2015 was an amazing experience, and we definitely all learned a lot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concurrent Sessions \u2013 Technical Presentations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Full<\/a>
Full house for the Brooklyn Bridge session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At several points throughout the convention, attendees have an opportunity to choose between five or more sessions being offered concurrently. With our group of eight USC representatives, we split up to learn about the topics we were most interested in. The summaries below discuss some of our favorite sessions and were written by various convention attendees from USC. Overall, the concurrent sessions were awesome because they went into depth on the projects and topics they discussed and included technical details while still being accessible to civil engineering students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building the Brooklyn Bridge<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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"We build too many walls and not enough bridges." -Sir Isaac Newton #ASCE2015<\/a><\/p>— ASCE Headquarters (@ASCETweets) October 12, 2015<\/a><\/blockquote>