ASCE Metropolitan Section

International Group News

When ownership of the Panama Canal was transferred from the United States to Panama in 1999, Panamanians inherited a lot of national pride, but assumed the responsibility of maintaining a canal that was expected to reach its capacity between 2009 and 2012. Expanding the canal to serve for another hundred years would have entailed a massive civil engineering project carrying initial estimates of more than $20 billion in costs (exceeding the country's Gross Domestic Product).

On May 26, 2010, Alaedin Majlesi, P.E., a Senior Associate of STV, presented a seminar entitled "Design and Rebuilding the Kappock Street Retaining Wall – NYC." Al Majlesi has thirty years of extensive infrastructure and roadway design experience.
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The Tallest Tower in China – Shanghai Tower

On April 14, 2010, Dennis Poon, managing principal of Thornton Tomasetti, presented a seminar entitled "The Tallest Tower in China – Shanghai Tower." In addition to overseeing the structural engineering of the Shanghai Tower, Mr. Poon is working on other notable high-rise projects in Asia, including the 151 Incheon Tower in Korea and the Ping An Tower in China.
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Dr. Robin Sham Discusses Art and Science in Long Span Bridges

On March 29, 2010, Dr. Robin Sham, Global Director of Long Span and Specialty Bridges for AECOM, shared his first-hand experience in some of the largest bridge projects in the world in a presentation on "The Art and Science of Bridge Engineering."

His lecture included a discussion on the world's two longest cable-stayed bridges—Sutong Bridge in China and Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong—and a suspension bridge, Tsing Lung Bridge in Hong Kong.