First and foremost, let me offer my thoughts and prayers to those impacted by the wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area. When the fires are extinguished and the rebuilding efforts begin, civil engineers stand ready to support the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a new resilient Los Angeles. As avowed in ASCE Policy Statement 389 - Mitigating the impacts of natural and human-induced disasters, “ASCE is committed to developing standards and participating in other national and international initiatives that incorporate resilience and sustainability as a fundamental performance criterion and encourage mitigating the effects of hazards and improvement of warning systems against impending hazards”.
Since my last message, there has been a flurry of T&DI activities including:
- Under the leadership of Vice President Diniece Mendes, work has begun to refresh the Institute’s strategic plan to align with ASCE’s.
- Preparations for the 2025 International Conference on Transportation & Development (ICTD) and the co-located International Airfield & Highway Pavements Conference are well underway.
- The T&DI Board had the opportunity to visit the conference venue and found it to be a great setting with plenty of space for presentations, posters, exhibits, and networking.
- Approximately 1000 abstracts have been submitted for the conference. Many thanks to the member volunteers that have stepped up to review the submitted abstracts and papers.
- Registration opens January 22nd for this unique international conference that will provide an exclusive opportunity to network, interact, and exchange information with worldwide leaders in the fields of transportation & development and pavements. It will bring together transportation systems and infrastructure practitioners and researchers, operation managers, project/construction managers, academics, and transportation & development practitioners, consultants, and contractors from around the world. Registration for either conference includes the other, allowing participants the experience of two conferences in one. Please consider attending!
Respectfully,
Scott Murrell, P.E., M.ASCE
President, Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI)
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)