What civil engineers are reading this week

• It pays to broaden beyond your specialty; these pros offer tips

  “Civil engineering thrives when expertise transcends silos,” says Abubakr Gameil, a top engineer in Sudan, during the ASCE-hosted Thursdays @ 3 roundtable. Here’s how to expand your skill set.

• 115-foot Pacific megastorm’s waves largest ever tracked by satellites

  A massive Pacific storm in December 2024 generated waves of such scale that the swells orbiting satellites documented were the largest ever recorded from space. 

• Dozens killed in Congo after bridge collapses at copper, cobalt mine

  Miners died after they rushed a makeshift bridge at the Kalando mine in the southeastern Lualaba province.

• Making $170K a minute: Why Saudi Arabia is the biggest blocker of climate action

  The desert kingdom depends on oil dollars but its people already face a climate “at the verge of livability.” What’s going on?

• NOAA satellites see last week’s glowing auroras from orbit

  A powerful geomagnetic storm created a wide swath of brilliant auroras across North America, as seen by the Joint Polar Satellite System’s polar-orbiting satellites.

• California ingenuity: Solar panels built over canals generate power, save water

  An irrigation district installed the panels over canals to show how such systems can generate electrical power and reduce loss of water from evaporation. How many megawatts of electricity can they produce?