November 2021 President's Report

This past month, we experienced lots of great reasons to enjoy the outdoors here in Massachusetts.  Fall foliage hikes, trips to area apple orchards and pumpkin farms, and long-running events like the Head of the Charles, give us many reasons to revel in being a New Englander this time of year.  There are so many wonderful opportunities to appreciate both the natural and man-made elements of our respective cities and towns.  While the Red Sox ended their season just a bit earlier than hoped, the Revs have been dominating the MLS and the Patriots are on a five-game win streak.  This is exactly the sort of autumn that could serve to sustain us as we move more indoors through the long winter ahead.

The underlying theme of this month’s newsletter is Structural Design.  This theme is reflected in the lead article entitled “Micropile Underpinning of a Historic Structure - Support for the Next 100 Years,” which was written by Mike Walker, and Eleanor Bloom from GEI Consultants, Inc.  I would like to recognize and thank GEI Consultants for their support as a 2021-2022 BSCES Society Sponsor and the sponsor of this issue of BSCESNews. This issue’s other featured articles include a framework for uses of drone inspection, applications for in-situ concrete testing, historical outlines for a critical local railroad bridge on the heels of a major rehabilitation effort, and a fantastic geek-out on pop-culture inaccuracies not going unnoticed by the trained engineer’s eye.  You will also learn of all the exciting plans our Structural Engineering Institute Chapter has for the upcoming year.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at president@bsces.org or our SEI Boston Chapter Chair Shanta Keller at SEI@bsces.org. 

Finally, after decades of ASCE advocacy and months of back and forth between lawmakers, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bipartisan infrastructure bill, on ASCE’s 169th birthday to boot!  I am grateful that our leaders in Washington, D.C. confirmed their commitment to fund national infrastructure projects through the passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law No: 117-58), but now we look to our local and state leaders to implement budgetary commitments for a state of good repair in all facets of civil engineering works across the Commonwealth.  Again, we all must do our part to marshal our existing responsibilities and invest in our collective future