The ASCE Board of Direction closed its 2021 calendar three months ago with big decisions about the Society’s Future World Vision initiative.
And as the board’s 2022 calendar opened with its quarterly winter meeting, Jan. 15, those Future World Vision decisions were already producing big results.
The board received extensive project updates, including a timeline for when members can expect to access the innovative, scenario-planning tool and digital experience.
“Future World Vision is a bold approach to a conversation that is long overdue,” said ASCE President Dennis Truax, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE. “We rarely pause to envision the future we need to start designing today. FWV is that look ahead and is based on the engineering, fiscal, environmental, and socioeconomic issues that will shape our future.”
ASCE will release a full beta version of the immersive Future World Vision Mega City 2070 desktop platform on Feb. 22, available for download via a new website and launched with an exclusive members-only webinar.
A virtual-reality guided tour will follow at select ASCE events beginning in April, with the complete versions of the Mega City 2070 platform and VR experience scheduled for launch at the ASCE 2022 Convention in October. A Future World Vision IMAX film, produced by the team that made “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” is in the works, with a trailer planned for February 2023.
“ASCE members can see how design decisions today impact the next generation of infrastructure as we plan, design, construct, and maintain it in a sustainable, robust, and resilient way,” Truax said. “However, Future World Vision does not stop there. It provides the public with a better understanding of our profession and our professionals.”
More pathways to leadership
The board voted on first reading to approve an amendment to the ASCE bylaws that would modify the “Qualifications for Appointed Geographic Region Governors.” This change would allow a member to serve as an appointed region governor without first having served as a section president (currently a requirement to be elected as a region governor), thus opening new opportunities for those members who are not served by an ASCE section where they live.
The board will vote again on a second reading of the amended bylaw in March before the change takes effect.
More pathways to engagement
The board also received a report from the Task Committee on Life Members, which has been examining new ways for the Society to better engage life members and tap their expertise, while also reviewing new life member fiscal models.
The task committee will continue to survey members and gather information with a follow-up discussion and vote planned for the July board meeting.
“Like every other member of ASCE, life members find value in different ways,” Truax said. “We have been told that life members are looking to increase their servant leadership role in ASCE by engaging with students, younger members, and more.”
