ASCE Plot Points Podcast

It's what many civil engineers strive for early in their career: the promotion into a management role.
But how do you navigate the job after you've earned it?
In episode 111 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Assunta Daprano, A.M.ASCE, a project engineer and deputy project manager at AECOM in Philadelphia, discusses the transition into a management role, especially at a young age.

There is perhaps no transition period in one's career more rich with emotion – excitement, anxiety, optimism – than the months just before college graduation.
Cameren Lewis, S.M.ASCE, a fifth-year civil engineering student at Drexel University, is at just such an inflection point.
In episode 110 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Lewis discusses his civil engineering journey and what he hopes for as he prepares to enter the workforce this summer.

Entering the civil engineering workforce is very different from life as a student.
Matthew Jacobson, EIT, ENV SP, A.M.ASCE, knows. He works as a civil analyst for Kimley-Horn and Associates in Los Angeles, less than a year after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona.
In episode 109 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Jacobson discusses that transition from student to professional, offering advice on how to make it work as smoothly as possible.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law last November.
But that doesn't mean ASCE's infrastructure advocacy work is complete.
Far from it.
Eric Czerniejewski, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, was among the 225 ASCE members who attended the 2022 Legislative Fly-In last week to keep the advocacy momentum going.
Czerniejewski is director of traffic engineering for the Corradino Group in Miami, a past ASCE Region 5 governor, past president of the Broward County Branch, and past vice president of the Florida Section.
In episode 108 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Czerniejewski talks about his nearly two decades of work on infrastructure advocacy with ASCE and how the conversation has changed over the years.

Shirley Clark, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, D.EWRI, M.ASCE, is a professor of environmental engineering at Penn State Harrisburg and vice president of ASCE's Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Recently, her work has included research into the potential connections between wastewater and COVID.
In episode 107 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Clark talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen, of the EWRI Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee, about her work and career.

ASCE launches the Future World Vision desktop app today, Feb. 22, at the new Future World Vision website.
In episode 106 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Jimmy Bennett, a project engineer in Minneapolis who is among the core team working on Future World Vision from the outset, talks about the new platform and how Future World Vision can help engineers expand their work every day to incorporate vital big picture thinking.

Vatsal Shah, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, M.ASCE, had a nugget of wisdom he’d sometimes to refer to: “Change is uncomfortable, but you only grow when you’re uncomfortable.”
The philosophy certainly was put to the test these last two years, as the pandemic and a family health scare turned his life upside-down.
In episode 105 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Shah discusses how the last two years have reframed his priorities and his career.

Maxx Taga is an onsite integration manager and facility manager for NASA in Lompoc, California.
It's the latest step in a career that has taken many twists and turns but is firmly a product of Taga's make-your-own-luck approach. If he wants to know about something, he finds out. If he wants to do something, he tries it. Even if it's new. Even if it's intimidating at first.
In episode 104 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taga discusses his career and how other young civil engineers might make some luck of their own in their career pursuits.
It's the latest step in a career that has taken many twists and turns but is firmly a product of Taga's make-your-own-luck approach. If he wants to know about something, he finds out. If he wants to do something, he tries it. Even if it's new. Even if it's intimidating at first.
In episode 104 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Taga discusses his career and how other young civil engineers might make some luck of their own in their career pursuits.

RoadBotics won five awards at the 2018 ASCE Innovation Contest.
Since then, the company has only grown.
In episode 103 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, RoadBotics CEO Ben Schmidt talks about his company and how he's navigated the pandemic and continued innovating through a changing industry.

Natalie Palmquist is unique.
She has had a plan for her life’s work since she was a teenager. And she’s living out that plan.
She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in civil engineering, got her master’s in international development studies at the University of Grenoble Alpes in France, and recently started a position with Samaritan’s Purse.
The driving force behind all of this? Her faith as a Christian.
In episode 102 of the ASCE Plot Points podcast, Palmquist talks about how faith and civil engineering intersect.