A total of thirty six teams consisting of seventh and eighth graders from middle schools in the metropolitan region competed in the New York City Regional Future City Competition on January 20, 2007. The event was held at Polytechnic University and also hosted by the ASCE Met Section. The winning team was “Esperanza” from Valley Middle School, Oakland, NJ. Students: Brandon Boccellari, Alec Carpenter and Jimmy Kilmek, Teacher: Judith Vihonski and Engineer Mentor: Mike McNally of McNally Engineers PC, Oakland, New Jersey.

The Geotechnical Group began the New Year with a lecture on January 11, 2007 that included a pair of presentations by Dr. Allen Sehn and Dr. David Yang, distinguished engineers with experience applying deep soil mixing methods to a variety of geotechnical design challenges. Dr. Sehn kicked off the lecture with a general overview of soil mixing methods, particularly emphasizing the use of single axis mixing. Deep soil mixing involves mechanically incorporating a cementitious binder into soft in-situ soils for the purpose of improving the strength and stability of the soil. The result creates soil-crete columns which are typically three feet in diameter, but which can be as large as seven feet across. These columns are constructed one after another to create configurations within the ground such as walls or grid patterns. The primary factors which most affect the overall performance of mixed soils are the initial soil conditions, the mixing energy applied to the soil by the cutting tool and the content of binder material added during mixing.

The ASCE Lower Hudson Valley Branch unveiled a bronze plaque commemorating the 100th year of service of the Cornell (New Croton) Dam at Croton Gorge Park in Cortlandt, New York on October 9, 2006. This remarkable civil engineering achievement was part of an expansion of the Croton Water Supply System, built in two phases between 1893 and 1906. The last stone was laid on the dam in January 1906. It became the highest dam yet built at its time of construction. The dam remains the largest of cut stone masonry (vs. concrete) construction. It stands 291 feet above its rock foundation, which is 124 feet below the river bed. With its curved, stepped spillway spanned by a recently replaced simple steel arch bridge and situated at the edge of a 97-acre park, it is one of the most beautiful spots of the Lower Hudson Valley area.

The year 2006 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Augustus Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge and one of the nineteenth century’s most prominent civil engineers. To celebrate the occasion, the ASCE History and Heritage Committee and the New Jersey and Metropolitan Sections sponsored the Roebling Symposium in Brooklyn from October 26-29, 2006. The symposium included an icebreaker reception at Polytechnic University, a symposium at the Marriott Hotel at Brooklyn Bridge, a bus tour to Roebling-related sites in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including the ASCE landmarked Roebling Aqueduct Bridge over the Delaware River, and a tour of the Brooklyn Bridge.

On June 22, 2003, the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC) and The Daily News organized the Williamsburg Bridge 100th Birthday Celebration at Continental Army Plaza Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The day-long family-oriented celebration marked the centennial of a beloved city landmark and featured engineers and historians leading walking tours of the Bridge, a procession across the bridge with the original flag flown off the last cable run in 1902, a bridge photo exhibit highlighting construction laborers; music and food inspired by the neighborhood’s diverse ethnicity, and even a flatbed-size birthday cake topped with a sugar sculpture of the Bridge.