ASCE joined with fellow Founder Societies to send a letter to Congressional leadership last week highlighting the importance of research funding.
The message, addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, requests “that you protect America’s key technology research budgets in the FY2026 appropriations process.”
“We can thank our nation’s research enterprise for countless advances in engineering, including future-ready codes, standards, and training programs that advance U.S. infrastructure,” said ASCE Executive Director Tom Smith, CAE, ENV SP, NAC, F.ASCE.
“These investments are leveraged by government, university, and private sector partnerships that foster innovation, create jobs, advance economic productivity and national security, and promote public health, safety, and welfare.”
Smith and ASCE 2025 President Feniosky Peña-Mora, Sc.D., P.E., NAS, CCM, F.CIOB, NAC, Dist.M.ASCE, signed the letter along with representatives from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, IEEE USA, and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
“We believe it is vital to continue to support and expand federally funded research that leverages federal R&D resources through government-university-industry partnerships,” the letter states. “R&D programs foster research that will help maintain a steady flow of talent and technologies to organizations across the U.S, both in the private and the public sectors.”
The show of support for the research community is part of ASCE’s ongoing solidarity with its members and partner organizations amid the rapidly changing and uncertain 2025 economic and political landscape.
The Society hosted a series of listening sessions with different member constituencies in March as a kind of temperature check on the civil engineering industry as it adjusts to the significant changes in the federal government, different funding models, and workforce challenges.
The concerns expressed were unique to each corner of the industry, but taken across various conversations, several broad takeaways emerged. One, uncertainty about federal funding impacts all sectors, albeit in different ways. Two, civil engineering workforce challenges, exacerbated by layoffs at federal agencies, could become generational problems. And three, these concerns are not only “American” concerns but also impact the international engineering profession.
This week, ASCE also sent letters this week to the Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security to express support for the importance of funding and staffing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the recently cut FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, respectively. All three have been essential partners in ASCE’s work on standards that inform modern building codes.
“ASCE is fortunate to represent all segments of the civil engineering design and infrastructure community, including experts from private practice, academia, and the government sector,” Smith said.
“And we are fortunate to benefit from the insight and experience of this broad and deep community of infrastructure experts who inform ASCE’s policies, positions, and programs.”
