ASCE Metropolitan Section - President's Message

President's Message

Joseph Englot, P.E.

Spring seems to be having a hard time showing itself this year. April temperatures were below normal. Let's hope that May brings warmer weather. With the coming of spring there is new hope. Never was it needed more. The Metropolitan area is still struggling to recover from Sandy, the shore communities are trying to prepare for the summer influx of vacationers, and civil engineers are very busy helping the private and public sector owners to plan, design, and construct their recovery projects. If you noticed that there was no April President's message it was because just like other CEs, I was swamped with priorities related to Sandy recovery. The FEMA funds made available by Congress come with a significant caveat. Construction must be designed and in the ground within a two year window. This is a tremendous challenge on all local engineering, contracting, and material supply resources, since all in the Metropolitan area are scrambling to achieve this goal at the same time.

This past year has seen the Met Section deliver another program of outstanding continuing education courses. Diverse and timely lectures in the areas of structures, forensics, sustainable design, geotechnical practice, engineering mechanics, construction and infrastructure engineering were given throughout the year by top experts in each field. The two-day seminar "Impact of Sandy's Storm Surge on NY/NJ Infrastructure" co-sponsored with the New Jersey Section of ASCE and NYU Poly, was a smashing success with international experts and the Mayor of Hoboken participating, and national press coverage in ENR. YMF members, who are the source of the Sections energy and enthusiasm, sponsored numerous events including Engineer's Week for children and assisting homeowners at Breezy Point to clean up after Sandy.

The Met Section was presented with the "Outstanding Section & Branch Web Award" by ASCE National for the second year in a row and the Met Section helped New York City celebrate the 100th birthday of Grand Central Terminal by hosting a visit from ASCE National President Greg DiLoreto who unveiled the plaque presented to Metro-North to officially mark it as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

All of this and more was due to the dedication of the Met Section Board Members, and the chairs and membership of the Technical Groups, Committees and the Younger Member Forum, who volunteered their time, and contributed their organizational and leadership skills to make the Met area a better place to practice as Civil Engineers. It has been an honor to serve as President for the past year and I wish the best to Steve Kaufman who will be taking over later in June.

Be sure not to miss the upcoming Scholarship Awards Luncheon on May 8th where we will also recognize new Met Section Life Members, and the popular 48th Annual Dinner Dance and Awards Presentation on June 13th.

Today CEs not only have to know how to design, build and maintain our nation's infrastructure, but they must navigate through political issues and promote activities and public policies that will lay the groundwork so that the Metropolitan area will be a place where future generations of civil engineers can thrive. What are your thoughts on this matter? If you have any thoughts on this please e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . In addition I would like to emphasize again that the Met Section is an all-volunteer organization. We have an open invitation to new participants to bring their talents to our various technical groups and committees.

Joseph Englot, P.E.
President, ASCE Met Section
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