ASCE Plot Points Podcast

This week’s episode of the ASCE Plot Points podcast is the first of what we’re calling Student Sessions. Three ASCE student ambassadors – Alysha Curtis of Fresno State, Peter Yu of the University of Washington, and Evan Brittenham of Western Kentucky University – talk about what thrills them and what intimidates them as they get ready to trade the grad cap for a hardhat.

ASCE has been publishing its Best Places to Be a Civil Engineer rankings for four years now, based on a combination of salary data, civil engineering job opportunities, and cost of living.
And over that span, the city that has risen the most up the list might surprise you.
It’s a city known for its climate, its beaches, and now its civil engineering.
It’s San Diego, California, and in episode 141 of ASCE Plot Points, Vanessa Eslava, A.M.ASCE, a transportation engineer for T.Y. Lin, talks about what makes her hometown so special.

Dimitrios Athanasiou, Ph.D., E.I.T., A.M.ASCE, is a senior associate of environmental and earth sciences at Exponent in Bellevue, Washington; he has a Ph.D. from Texas Tech in civil engineering; and he’s the co-chair of the ASCE EWRI Seattle Chapter.
But he began his education with a bachelor’s degree back home in Greece in physics.
So he has an interesting perspective on any comparison between the theoretical and the applied.
In episode 140 of ASCE Plot Points, Athanasiou talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen of the ASCE EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee.

Kevin Brown, P.E., M.ASCE, is a construction services manager at TranSystems in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor at the College of New Jersey.And as he’s entered into the leadership phase of his career, he’s approaching these opportunities with generosity and thoughtfulness.In episode 139 of ASCE Plot Points, Brown outlines his journey from student to teacher and talks about how he's trying to fill gaps for the next generation of civil engineers.

Infrastructure advocacy takes center stage this week with the ASCE Legislative Fly-In in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Matin, P.E., M.ASCE, Orlando office principal for S&ME and chair of the ASCE Public Policy and Practice Committee, is one of the many ASCE members headed to Capitol Hill this week looking to keep the IIJA momentum going.
In episode 138 of ASCE Plot Points, Matin talks about how IIJA funding is affecting work going on in Florida and what’s next for infrastructure advocacy.

You never know how those engineering skills you develop in your career might translate in other areas of your life.Case in point: Jaffer Almosawy, P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE.He’s a project manager for GCW Inc. in Las Vegas, specializing in water and wastewater design.But recently, he’s also become known as ASCE’s Minister of Love.What exactly does that mean?In this special Valentine’s Day episode of ASCE Plot Points, Almosawy explains.

Issues of workforce dominate the conversation around civil engineering in 2023.And one of latest workforce trends is the notion of quiet quitting.Jennifer Sloan Ziegler, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, is an engineer and project manager for Cypress Environment and Infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, and an ASCE Region 5 governor.In episode 136 of ASCE Plot Points, Ziegler talks about quiet quitting and why she thinks it might be an essential strategy for the modern civil engineer.

Sustainability has come a long way over the course of Antoinette Quagliata's career – from project add-ons to default requirements.
A ​manager of sustainability services for Dewberry, Quagliata, ENV SP, talks on episode 135 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast about the changes she's seen and how current sustainability tools are making her work better than ever.

Brian Brenner, P.E., F.ASCE, is a professor of the practice at Tufts University and a principal engineer with Tighe & Bond in Westwood, Massachusetts. He’s published three collections of essays through ASCE, and he has a new monthly column, “More Water Under the Bridge,” on Civil Engineering Source.Remarkably, all these accomplishments – the teaching, the work, the writing – springs from the mind of a 4-year-old. Well, that is to say, Brenner fell in love with bridges as a toddler has managed to maintain that childlike wonder for his work ever since.In episode 134 of ASCE Plot Points, Brenner breaks down his bridge engineering origin story and why finding the humorous side of things is his natural writerly point of view.

Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, returns to the ASCE Plot Points podcast to discuss his new book, "The Blessings of Disaster." In part one, he argued why learning from extreme weather events and other disasters is essential. In part two, he outlines how such learning can be done.