What civil engineers are reading this week

• Climate journalist, author confirmed as second ASCE2027 keynote speaker

  Jake Bittle’s appearance as one of four keynote speakers reflects resiliency’s growth as a civil engineering priority. ASCE2027: The Infrastructure and Engineering Experience is coming next March.

• 3 megaprojects trigger rebound in March construction starts

  Starts in electric power and utilities leaped over 353% month over month, according to Dodge, even as data centers decelerated.

• Volatile temperatures forcing civil engineers to rethink infrastructure design

  Civil engineers are carefully researching how to better design and maintain roads, power lines, railroad tracks, bridges, and other structures to withstand extremes and extend their service life.

• Airports said to be adapting to rising electrical demand

  While electric demand is rising at airports across the U.S., airports are making progress, according to the American Association of Airport Executives Airport Consortium on Transformation.

• EPA initiative aims to help utilities get proactive on PFAS contaminants

  EPA calls PFAS OUT a “proactive outreach initiative” to provide information on resources, including funding and technical assistance, to drinking water systems with PFAS challenges.

• Empowering women in civil engineering is key to the profession’s future

  With the ranks of CE professionals 17.2% women and growing, ASCE 2026 President Marsha Anderson Bomar says taking on continued gender disparities will help improve the industry’s workforce crisis.