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I am encouraged that our recent lunch meetings have seen numerous faces new to the San Luis Obispo Branch. Overall, our lunch meeting attendance has been up over past years. My vision of the Branch membership is to see a balance between private consultants, public works sector engineers, educators and Caltrans employees. As we all know, the industry is very intertwined no matter who your employer is, and our strength is in our diversity. It is my goal between now and the end of the year to target lunch speaker topics that will interest the full range of our membership.
I want to challenge our regular lunch meeting attendees to invite a co-worker or industry friend who perhaps isn't a member or hasn't been to an ASCE meeting before. We may even recognize and reward members who bring new people to our meetings. Our monthly meetings have always been a great networking opportunity and provide a chance for members to get opinions and advice from other professionals in our field, not to mention a chance to sustain friendships otherwise not easily done with our busy schedules.
I would like to see our meetings grow to be on a regular basis like the group we had at our recent rubberized asphalt meeting/seminar. I think we can do this by continuing to provide interesting topics which members see "value" in.
ASCE National has numerous membership awards for members who bring in new engineers. If you are interested in obtaining membership information which outlines the many benefits of ASCE, and a framework on how best to provide interested engineers the information they need, go to the http://www.ASCE.org website, or contact our membership chair Scott Stokes at RRM Design Group.
I am going to cut this short this month, since I am on my way out the door with my son to enjoy this incredible March weather with a round of golf at Avila. I hope you all are also enjoying this early spring weather. The engineer in me, at the same time as I head out, wonders how our local reservoirs will fare this summer with the limited rain we've had. That may be a topic at an upcoming meeting. Who can we get to volunteer a few minutes? More later…
Take care. I hope to see you all at our next meeting with your new recruit in tow.
by Russ Thompson
Joe Chouinard is the subject of this month's meet the member column. Joe is a relatively new member of the Central Coast Branch of ASCE but has been a member of ASCE in Vermont since 1985.
Joe was born in Morrisville, Vermont. He is the youngest of three children in a family that has lived in Vermont for many generations. His father owned an insurance and bookkeeping agency; his mother was a homemaker (domestic engineer). During his childhood, Joe lived in several different towns in Vermont but he likes to say he is from Eden. He attended high school in Height Park and went on to graduate from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.
Joe originally chose computer science as his college major. Midway through college he realized that he wanted to study a field that would allow him to apply his computer skills, but because he also enjoyed math and construction, he chose Civil Engineering.
After graduation Joe worked for many different Civil Engineering firms. He worked as a traffic engineer, performed accident reconstructions, did soils testing, designed land development projects and designed municipal water and wastewater treatment plants. He received his P.E. license in Vermont in 1989.
Joe's wife worked for a wine importer in Vermont. In 1999, her company offered her a chance to relocate to Birmingham, Alabama, or Paso Robles. She and Joe took the opportunity to move to California where she now works for Las Tablas Winery. Joe seized the opportunity to become a civil engineering consultant and started his own company, Joe Chouinard, P.E. He also partnered with an architectural firm in Santa Margarita, D. Sawyer, Inc.
Joe specializes in water supply consulting, wastewater treatment and land development. He works on design build winery projects with D. Sawyer. Joe also provides development review services for the cities of Atascadero and Paso Robles. His favorite projects are wastewater treatment solutions for wineries because of the unique challenges. While in Vermont, Joe worked on the design of a new state welcome center for the Vermont Department of Transportation. The project included the construction of new interstate highway on and off ramps, 2.2 miles of gravity and force main sewer, a wastewater pumping station that worked against 200 feet of head at 200 gpm and 1.3 miles of 8" to 12" DIP water main.
Joe has been married for eleven years. He and his wife are very active in their church. They also enjoy hiking, canoeing and cross-country skiing. Joe says that the cross-country skiing isn't quite the same here as in Vermont, but that he doesn't regret the move.
by Greg Ray
We are all familiar with parking garages. These facilities allow for a large number of cars to be parked in a relatively small area providing easy access to popular areas such as shopping malls, downtown areas, universities, and other areas where people wish to go. Parking garages are good examples of civil engineering providing convenience to people's everyday lives. This convenience, however, can sometimes have its drawbacks. Most of us have had the unfortunate experience of circling though various levels of a garage in search of a spot, only to find that the garage is full. Parking spaces in garages can be small and leave our car susceptible to door dings, or worse, damage from collisions. Some people feel unsafe in the evening hours walking to their car through an empty parking garage. Yes, convenience sometimes does come with a price.
Now, imagine someday pulling into a parking garage, but instead of driving through the garage to park your car, you exit your vehicle and allow the garage to park your car for you. New to the United States, mechanical parking is an innovative technology consisting of a network of hydraulic lifts and carriers that automatically and safely transport your car into a safe storage location. When you return, the mechanical system also retrieves your car for you, valet style. One key advantage to a mechanical parking system is its ability to store a great number of cars in a relatively small volume. A mechanical system can store approximately twice the number of cars compared to a similar-sized conventional garage. Mechanical parking garages promise to be a viable option to meeting the parking needs of the 21st century.
Our March meeting will feature Ben Pollack of Robotic Parking, Inc., a company that specializes in mechanical parking systems. Ben will explain how a mechanical system operates, discuss the social, environmental, and economic benefits of mechanical parking, and answer questions about this new technology. This promises to be an interesting and informative topic, so make your reservation today.
by Dan Van Beveren
Thanks to the efforts of David Beard and the 150th Anniversary Committee, the San Luis Obispo Branch was awarded a beautiful plaque from ASCE National during the recent ASCE Zone IV Leadership Conference. The plaque says, "For recognition of exemplary achievement in exceeding anniversary outreach goals." To win this award, the Branch participated in several activities, including: creating a traveling banner; sponsoring and displaying the Me, Myself and Infrastructure display through the county; going into classrooms and teaching students about civil engineering; participating in decorating the Rose Parade Float; and sponsoring the West Point Bridge Design Contest.
ASCE National President Tom Jackson presented the plaque to SLO Branch President-Elect Jeff van den Eikhof during the Awards Ceremony. In speaking of the San Luis Obispo Branch, President Jackson expressed that he is sharing our ideas and successes with every Section and Branch that he visits.
In addition, the Section Award was presented to the Los Angeles Branch for its efforts with the Rose Parade Float.
by Jeff van den Eikhof
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