As I begin my term as the 122nd President of the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP), my thoughts turn toward the Society’s Mission Statement and how we can continue to achieve the many goals outlined in that Statement. In 2005, then First-Vice President, Alex Scuilli led the ESWP Board of Directors in a study and review of the Mission Statement prepared by ESWP’s founders in 1880, and to update it as needed. After many meetings, the Board adopted the following Mission Statement in February 2006:

“The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP) will enhance the strength, energy, interest, and image of the engineering profession and related fields. ESWP will endeavor to facilitate the networking of its members, promote engineering as a career path, provide mentoring and guidance to grade school and high school students, teachers, and counselors, and to represent the engineering community in matters of civic importance.”

The common thread that runs through this Mission Statement is “continuing education.” Further, in recent years, ESWP has taken on the prime responsibility in Western Pennsylvania to promote engineering as a career path through the “education” of grade school and high school students, and their teachers and counselors.

Over the years, ESWP has done a magnificent job of continuously educating our members and others, through regular technical meetings, seminars and presentations, and our three annual conferences: The International Bridge Conference® (IBC), The International Water Conference® (IWC) and the Business of Brownfields Conference (BOB).

IBC 2008, titled “Home of the Bridge Industry” was ESWP’s 25th anniversary of the Conference. The 2008 IBC was marked by the move to Pittsburgh’s new David L. Lawrence Convention Center and featured many nationally prominent speakers and the Federal Highway Administration as the “Featured Agency.” The Conference also offered an expanded trade show and expanded technical program, and brought together many nationally based organizations to conduct committee meetings while here is Pittsburgh.

Over 1600 attendees and 175 exhibitors participated in the 2008 IBC, a remarkable increase relative to the past several years.

Plans are well underway for IBC 2009 which will be held once again at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on June 14 to17, 2009 and will feature The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as the ”Featured Agency.” An exciting technical program is under development and expectations are high that we will exceed last year’s number of attendees and exhibitors.

The 2008 International Water Conference® (IWC) was held in San Antonio, Texas from October 26-30, 2008. This conference was the 69th IWC and brought together the water treatment industry’s end users with researchers, practicing engineers, managing educators, supply contractors and consultants. This event marked the first time that an ESWP-sponsored conference was held west of the Mississippi River. The technical program emphasized important issues that are of concern in the Southwest. More than 650 registrants attended the conference, which featured more than 50 exhibitors and three days of technical sessions and workshops. The 2009 IWC will be held on October 4-7 in Orlando, Florida.

The 2008 Business of Brownfields Conference (BoB) was held on April 17-18, and marked the 13th time that ESWP conducted a conference on brownfields redevelopment. ESWP takes great pride in that we were stimulating discussion on this important topic even before the term “brownfields” was widely used. Plans for the 2009 BoB are well underway, and the conference will be held on April 16-17 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, in Pittsburgh.

As described above, ESWP once again did an excellent job of providing continuing educational opportunities to graduate engineers and scientists during the past year and we plan to continue these activities in 2009.

In 2008, ESWP also took significant strides toward promoting engineering as a career path with grade, middle and high school students. In this regard, ESWP continued our sponsorship of The Pittsburgh Regional Future Cities Competition, and the Chain Reaction Contraption Competition. More than 75 schools participated in these programs, with a large number of students, teachers and mentors performing many of the skills that can help interest future generations of engineers.

In addition to the above annual student competitions, ESWP has developed a new Career Awareness Committee which is responsible for coordinating activities in Western Pennsylvania with the following state or national programs.

• Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching (ASSET)
• Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Mentoring Program
• Project Lead the Way (PLTW)

ASSET is an organization funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and is located in Western Pennsylvania and provides training for elementary school level science teachers. Currently, ASSET serves 40 school districts, charter and private schools, directly impacting the teaching and learning process of 3,000 teachers and 125,000 students in 5,000 classrooms in six western Pennsylvania counties. ASSET also implemented its entry-level program through “Science: It’s Elementary” in an additional 160 schools in 52 counties across the state; impacting approximately 4,500 additional teachers and 182,000 students.

ASSET’s approach is modeled on the National Science Resource Center’s five tenets of education reform, including:

• High quality, hands-on-curriculum materials;
• On-going teacher professional development;
• Refurbishment of hands-on curriculum materials;
• Assessment and program evaluation; and
• Community and administrative involvement

ESWP hopes to assemble a network of engineering volunteers to work with ASSET in the training of science teachers in the presentation of engineering-oriented class room courses and demonstration kits.

The ACE Mentoring Program was founded in 1995 as an innovative way of attracting students-particularly women and minorities-to the engineering profession. This non-profit organization relies on mentoring by local professionals who devote their off-duty hours and personal energy and experience to introduce students to a broad range of people, projects and career possibilities within the construction industry.

The program uses a team approach wherein five to six mentoring firms provide architects, construction managers and engineers who meet during after-school hours with a selected group of 20-30 high school students. Generally the team meets at the offices of the mentoring firms, but they may also meet at a local high school and/or college.

In fifteen sessions, the students learn what an architect, construction manager and a variety of engineers (civil, structural, mechanical) do in their professional lives as a structure is designed and then built. After the sessions are over, the students and mentors decide upon a design project and work through the entire process, duplicating the actual process that occurs in the real world of design and construction. Once the project is completed, the students are given the opportunity to present their design project to an audience comprised of other students, parents, teachers, and representatives from the design/construction field.

Project Lead the Way (PTLW) is a national not-for-profit educational program that helps give middle and high school students the rigorous ground-level education they need to develop strong backgrounds in science and engineering. There are 50 states and the District of Columbia with PLTW programs. Currently there are 3,000 schools involved in the program, wherein 7,000 teachers and 5,000 counselors have been trained and 250,000 students are involved. More than 500,000 students have experienced PTLW to date.

With the support of the many volunteers who help conduct these meaningful programs, the Career Awareness Committee is also evaluating educational programs with other local organizations to help fulfill our mission.

To date, funds to support Career Awareness activities have been donated by members of the ESWP Board of Directors and/or their companies. Future plans call for soliciting financial support from ESWP’s Corporate Members, ESWP individual members and local Foundations. In addition, ESWP plans to extend invitations in the near future for mentors that are needed to effectively support the above programs.

I am looking forward to my term as president of ESWP and working with the many volunteers who produce the programs offered by ESWP. I hope that I will see many of you at the ESWP’s 125th Annual Banquet, scheduled during National Engineers’ Week on February 18 at Heinz Field East Club Lounge.

With best personal regards,

Sincerely,

Anthony M. DiGioia, Jr., PhD, PE
President