The TRBG Approves!
One of the various roles the President and Vice President of T&DI fulfills is membership on ASCE’s Technical Region Board of Governors (TRBG). Consisting of leadership from the ASCE Regions, and each Institute, TRBG among their many activities conduct peer reviews of each Institute of ASCE. At the August 12, 2022, TRBG meeting in Denver, CO, it was T&DI’s turn to be reviewed by our ASCE TRBG peers.
Muhammad Amer, T&DI’s Managing Director, prepared a wonderful presentation that I had the privilege to lead in partnership with Amer and T&DI Vice President Roger Millar. We began by discussing T&DI’s history and membership. Recall that we are celebrating our 20th anniversary! T&DI membership currently sits at 15,493 members and continues to increase. Of the nine ASCE Institutes, we are third in total membership, trailing only the Environmental and Water Resources Institute and the Structural Engineering Institute. Nearly 50% of our members are associated with private sector organizations, followed by 20% public sector and 15% from academia. Remaining members come from nonprofit organizations and an array of other entities.
Next, we presented our current leadership structure and board membership. I am extremely proud of T&DI’s Board of Governors and the unique background that each member brings to the Institute. It is always great to boast about each board member and to describe all of the accomplishments we have made in the past year in service to our membership. Speaking of bragging, I also presented our “A Team” T&DI staff and noted how lucky we are to have Amer, Leanne, and Melissa on our team!
In the last part of our presentation, we described our council and committee structure, discussed our many products, including our conference, journals, webinars, standards, books, awards, and communications, and discussed our new key initiatives. Our recent ICTD conference success and partnerships with our specialty conferences and with local DOT’s, beginning this year in Seattle with Washington State DOT and carrying forward to Texas next year and Georgia in 2024, is a model that other Institutes, and ASCE itself, is considering. Finally, we discussed our healthy Institute finances.
I’m very happy to share with all of you that TRBG voted unanimously to accept our peer review! The high quality of T&DI and the efforts of past and present leadership was recognized and complimented! Although Amer, Roger and me were in the spotlight, our peer review success is due to all members of our board of governors, council and committee chairs and members, T&DI staff, and all of you who participate in T&DI activities, attend our conferences, and work hard in support of our profession. Thank you all!
As was also discussed at TRBG, planning for T&DI’s ICTD 2023 in Austin, Texas is well underway. We will be co-located and joined by the ASCE International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference. Please save the dates – June 14-17, 2023. A full conference website and initial call for papers/presentations is now available for both ICTD 2023 and Pavements 2023.
As always, your thoughts and feedback are welcome. Please reach out to me if you would like to learn more or need assistance finding an active role in our Institute. Thank you for all you do and will do for this wonderful Institute we call T&DI. Stay healthy and safe!
Best wishes,
David A. Noyce, Ph.D., P.E.
President, Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI)
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)