Jason Dixson Photography
Note: The Society's Annual Business Meeting will be held Friday in Seattle at 8:30 a.m. PDT / 11:30 a.m. EDT. Watch via this Zoom link.
Fitting that in a city of engineering marvels, innovation and sustainability took center stage as the ASCE 2025 Convention kicked off Thursday morning in Seattle.
ASCE President Feniosky Peña-Mora welcomed the convention crowd to the event and introduced the opening panel discussion, “Lofty Construction Goals and Goals on the Ice,” highlighting the making of the Climate Pledge Arena.
“Don’t be afraid to be bold and have a big vision,” said Rob Johnson, senior vice president of sustainability and transportation for the Seattle Kraken NHL team and the Climate Pledge Arena.
“You’d be shocked at what you can pull off.”
ASCE honored the Climate Pledge Arena with the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award in 2023. The arena began as part of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair before morphing into the much-beloved Key Arena, longtime home of the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics. When Seattle was announced as an expansion city for the new hockey team that would become the Kraken, the challenge became finding a way to convert the aging Key Arena, build above grade, into a modern, sustainable venue, built below grade, but retaining the original Key Arena roof.
Not even two miles south in downtown Seattle sits the Rainier Square, which was honored by ASCE as the 2022 OCEA winner.
Then there’s the world-famous Seattle Space Needle, the Seattle monorail system, and the homesite of the ASCE 2025 Convention, the Seattle Convention Center – all infrastructure marvels.
It was not surprising that an awe for resilient and sustainable design felt present in the convention energy Thursday.
“It’s definitely something that’s been very interesting to see develop in recent years – with LEED certifications and sustainability initiatives becoming so prevalent in modern infrastructure,” said Jack Bussiere, a civil engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona and chair of the ASCE Student Presidential Group. “I think that’s one of the core tenets we need to embrace going forward. We just heard about the Climate Pledge Arena, which is an excellent example of how to modernize a structure in a sustainable manner.
“As we move forward, if we’re able to utilize those concepts, I do think we’ll be able to create a better world, better communities, and a better civil engineering industry all together.”
Distinguished members
Day one of the convention also marked the chance to honor this year’s class of ASCE Distinguished Members.
Class of 2025
- Burcu H. Akinci, Ph.D., NAC, F.AAAS, Dist.M.ASCE
- Reginald DesRoches, Ph.D., F.SEI, NAE, Dist.M.ASCE
- Brendan M. Harley, Sc.D., P.H., CEng., Dist.M.ASCE
- David W. Johnston, Ph.D., P.E., NAC, Hon.M.ACI, Dist.M.ASCE
- Eva Lerner-Lam, NAE, Dist.M.ASCE
- Sankaran Mahadevan, Ph.D., F.EMI, Dist.M.ASCE
- Gregs G. Thomopulos, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE
- Erol Tutumluer, Ph.D., Dist.M.ASCE
- Franz-Josef Ulm, Ph.D., NAE, F.EMI, Dist.M.ASCE
- Jonathan E. Upchurch, Ph.D., P.E., PTOE (Ret.), Dist.M.ASCE
- Andrew W. Whittaker, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE
You can learn more about each distinguished member’s career at the Civil Engineering Source.
Jason Dixson Photography
