BSCES Committee on Sustainability
By Sulata Paul (Arianna), EIT, Water Resource Engineer, Green International Affiliates, Inc. and Chair of the BSCES Committee on Sustainability
The purpose of the Committee on Sustainability is to advocate for sustainable infrastructure to ensure 
protection of the “triple bottom line”: environmental, economic, and social conditions in Massachusetts. The committee brings awareness of the importance of sustainable planning, design, and construction to the public and civil engineering community through events and newsletter articles. The committee also promote tools, certifications and awards relevant to sustainable development in the built world.
Our mission is to increase awareness of and provide guidance in the areas of sustainability and “green” design.
- Becoming a civil engineering “sustainability” resource to BSCES members.
- Increasing public awareness of sustainable engineering and green energy initiatives.
- Taking on a leadership role in developing a BSCES policy sustainable design in Massachusetts. Working with BSCES Technical Groups to present sustainability workshops and interface on sustainability issues.
- Establishing and maintaining a local outreach and liaison effort with outside professional organizations influencing sustainable design (e.g. Zofnass, Northeast Climate Science Center (CSC), Multi-Instrument Inter-Calibration (MIIC) Framework, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)).
- Creating an annual BSCES Sustainable Design award for Massachusetts civil engineering projects.
- Providing feedback to ASCE and providing a BSCES knowledge base for the Envision project rating tool.
Recent Activities
The Committee on Sustainability nominated projects for the 2020 BSCES Sustainability in Civil Engineering Award. The committee meets for monthly zoom calls on 4th Monday of every month to discuss specific agendas.
Upcoming Events
- January 7, 2021: Webinar on Boston Coastal Flood Resilience Design Guidelines, A resource to help Boston property owners and developers make informed, forward-looking decisions about flood protection for existing buildings and new constructions.
- January 13, 2021: Webinar event with EWRI, Topic TBD
- June 18, 2021: Mixer/Networking event with EWRI, Location TBD
The Committee on Sustainability is an active group and is looking for new members. Please send an email to Sustain.Comm@BSCES.org if you are interested in joining our committee.