What civil engineers are reading this week

• How can you top yourself? Finding satisfaction again after fulfilling a career goal

  Many civil engineers are drawn to their work because they enjoy the process more than the achievement, senior Tufts student Ashley Forkey writes in her latest post for ASCE. Does that sound familiar?

• Study reveals true source of airborne microplastics

  The air around us is quietly carrying an unexpected form of pollution. Microplastics circulate globally through the atmosphere, but their sources may not be what scientists once thought.

• Where the hottest blocks in your city are – and how to cool them down

  A cutting-edge tool, an online resource known as the Cool Cities Lab, is helping city leaders identify where they most badly need street trees, bus shelters, and more.

• Accelerated bridge construction: Is the formula for building faster as simple as ABC?

  Accelerated bridge construction offers engineers a way to build and rehabilitate bridges while minimizing disruption to people’s lives. What core principles can shave years off completion times?

• Cooling Earth could come at a devastating cost

  Efforts to cool the planet may do more than lower temperatures. They could fundamentally reshape Earth’s climate systems.

• Eminent, esteemed, and now exclusive: ASCE’s 12 new distinguished members

  Meet the 12 titans of civil engineering who join the roster of the greatest professionals to have been members of ASCE since its beginnings in 1852. Here is the 2026 class of distinguished members.