ASCE SLO Branch - SEPTEMBER 2008 Branch Newsletter

SEPTEMBER 2008 Branch Newsletter

[PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE: A Year To Remember] [MEET THE MEMBER: JEFF LAMBERT] [MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: Public Agency Forum]

PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE: A Year To Remember

I can’t believe my year as President is coming to an end. I started out on this adventure with an unknown knowledge of how I could make a difference in our profession. I made three goals early on. The three goals were not earth shattering. They were goals that I thought were reasonable and achievable. My goals were to support other professionals, increase student attendance, and increase the professional attendance. Through the efforts of several professionals in our Branch, we started the process of developing a Report Card on the infrastructure on the Central Coast. Malcolm McEwin and Jeff Werst have been Champions of this project and put in many hours of their personal time organizing and meeting with other interested parties and outlining the steps on how to proceed. I want to take the time to personally thank these two individuals and all of the others that dedicated personal time. This is a project that develops the awareness of our profession and the need to invest money in to the infrastructure that supports our everyday activities. We are in need of new Champions to continue this project. If you are interested, please contact me or Jeff Werst to obtain more information. Supporting others such as the students at Cal Poly has always been a passion of mine. I worked with the students and encouraged their attendance at our meetings. Our Branch provided a $1,500 scholarship to a well deserving student this year. We donated to the SCE club and helped support students attend the Geo Challenge. I hope all professionals take any opportunity they have to provide support to the future engineering generation. My last goal was to increase attendance by our professionals at our monthly meetings. Throughout the year, we averaged between 45 and 55 people every month, with a record high of 67 people. This is a direct result of the officer group bringing in interesting topics and working hard throughout the year. In closing, I want to thank all ASCE members in San Luis Obispo for what I would claim as a successful year. I want to especially thank and offer my deepest gratitude to my officers: Jeff Werst, Courtney Howard, Jeff Spannbauer, Erin Westmoreland, Jim Hanson, Sylas Cranor, Dan Parker-King, Nola Engelskirger, Steve Tanaka, Malcolm McEwin, and Jeff Van den Eikhof. I have had the pleasure of working with these talented and hard working engineers. These individuals donated their personal time to make our Branch the best it can be. Again thank you. Taking on this position has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. I have learned and grown as a result of this experience. I have met and developed relationships with many new professionals in our area. I would like to thank everyone for a great year and I hope to continue seeing you over the next year. Good luck and I wish our incoming officers a fantastic year. Courtney Howard is an exciting and creative individual and will most likely shake things up. I am looking forward to her strong leadership skills and ingenious ideas on how to make our Branch even stronger. Thanks again for a great year. ~ Kari Wagner

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MEET THE MEMBER: JEFF LAMBERT

It is my pleasure to introduce this month's featured member, Jeff Lambert of SLO County's design division. Jeff grew up in Mission Viejo and always felt strongly that he would enter into the engineering field. "I like the science of building better than the artsy architecture." He made the decision to stay in town to attend Saddleback CC where he got his associates degree in General Engineering. After three years, he decided it was time to leave home and headed north to Cal Poly. At Cal Poly he became active with both SCE and the Newman Catholic Center. His studies drifted towards an emphasis in water resource/treatment. His first internship was from 2003-2004 with the Wallace Group. He put his education to use through assisting on the engineering of the Water and Wastewater Master Plans. While still at Poly, Jeff began another internship at RRM Design Group which turned into his first engineering position following his graduation from Poly in 2006. At RRM, Jeff worked on hydrology, improvement plans, and retaining walls. Jeff worked as an engineer at RRM on such projects as the Pismo Promenade board walk and one of San Jose's Fire Stations. He especially enjoyed working on the Avila Light House Driveway which consisted of 3.2 miles of road - much of which is located on Diablo Canyon controlled property. Jeff learned a lot from the responsibility of guiding this project from its beginning to the construction phase. Following his work at RRM, Jeff was hired on by the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Design Division where he works directly under ASCE's Past President Jeff Werst. Only a couple months in, Jeff is already deep in the design of multiple projects. He is currently working on road improvements and ADA improvements in North County. He found it to be a big change moving from the private to the public industry, but especially enjoys designing more and using a computer less. Jeff is still active with ASCE, attending the monthly meetings, and also with the Newman Catholic Center where he on the advisory board, working as a liaison between the center and alumni. In the last couple years Jeff has become active with a South Broad Street Focus Group that works to advise the City of San Luis Obispo how its citizens want to rezone and improve the streets and surrounding areas of South Broad Street. Jeff is also an avid golfer who is always looking for someone to challenge. Currently Jeff is working to become LEED accredited, and looks forward to a possible trip to Europe next summer before settling down to study for the PE next October. When asked if he had ever experienced any especially difficult projects, Jeff responded "Like medicine, engineering is a practice. We are always finding new problems and we seek to solve them and learn from them." ~ Daniel Parker-King

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MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: Public Agency Forum

Register Online

At our luncheon in January, we had the opportunity to hear from owners and managers from some of the leading private engineering firms in this County. In the months following that meeting, many ASCE members told us that they wanted to see a similar presentation featuring staff from the public sector. Here is your chance! At this months meeting, you will get to hear from individuals representing the public sector - those panelists include: Paavo Ogren from the County of San Luis Obispo, Don Spagnolo from the City of Arroyo Grande, John Falkenstein from the City of Paso Robles, and David Whitehead from the City of Santa Maria. They will discuss their views on the industry today and provide a forecast for the upcoming year. Each panelist will give a brief presentation on their views and then the meeting will be opened to questions from anyone in the audience. This meeting will provide a great opportunity for all to participate. If you have any questions that you would like us to ask, please email them to Kari Wagner at kariw@wallacegroup.us. Please be sure to join us on September 18th at The Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo for what is sure to be a great discussion.

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[PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE: A Year To Remember] [MEET THE MEMBER: JEFF LAMBERT] [MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: Public Agency Forum]