Fall President's Message

The ASCE Minnesota Section board is transitioning soon! Look for election ballots in your inbox in the coming week.

I encourage you to join me at one of the following events/activities this winter:

• November TBD Meeting: Hosted by the EWR Committee

• December TBD Meeting: Joint meeting with SAME

• January TBD: Membership Appreciation Event

• Many other committee meetings, tours, and Student Chapter activities — watch your emails Instructions to check email address on file with us

Announcement: The Enviornmental & Water Resources Committee is seeking a representative to join the MN Water Resources Conference Planning Committee. This term would begin mid-December 2023 and last for 2 years. This is a great opportunity to work with our local water experts to choose abstracts for presentations and moderate conference sessions. Please email ewr@ascemn.org by November 17.

Past Events:

• October 12 Meeting: October Section (Hybrid) Meeting in Rochester

• October 19 PE Info Session with MnSPE Hosted by our Younger Member Group: PE Exam Info Session

Follow us at ascemn.org or on LinkedIn.

Ariel Christenson, PE (MN, IN, NC, VA, WI), 2022-2023 ASCE-MN President

ASCE President Maria Lehman visits Minnesota and awardees are honored at the annual Awards Banquet

Last week marked another successful awards banquet where ASCE MN honored several chapter and student members with awards of professional and academic achievement! See below for the list of winners.

This year also marked our first in years where we hosted the society president! Maria C. Lehman, PE, ENV SP, flew into the Twin Cities for a jam-packed schedule of meet and greets, presentations, and networking. She was able to meet with state legislators, engineering practitioners, and MNDOT officials at the capitol to help foster critical infrastructure discussion, which will help advance ASCE MN and the Report Card committee's commitment to infrastructure policy-making and funding. Maria was also able to meet with the University of Minnesota’s student chapter and tour their facilities and have lunch with our Board of Directors.

She expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet with key figures and gain an inside view of our successful Section! Thank you to everyone who helped make this day a success!

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Awardees:

• Minnesota Outstanding Engineer of the Year - Saura Jost

• MFESTS Charles Britzius Distinguished Engineer - William (Bill) Arnold

• MFESTS Young Engineer of the Year - Boya Xiong

• University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN)

  • Activities Awards - Anthony Tabura, Chandler Lallak, Kenny Hoang

  • Outstanding Student Awards - Berit Klein, Erika Christiansen, Emirlan Askerbekov, Dylan Marske, Samuel Maijala

  • Goodman Award - Kristina Hoffman

• University of St. Thomas (UST)

  • Outstanding Leadership Award - Genevieve Tester

  • Distinguished Service Award - Morgan Fritz

  • Excellence in Undergraduate Research - Evan Selin

• Minnesota State University - Mankato (MSU)

  • Outstanding Senior - Luke Halstead

  • Outstanding Junior - Mamy Fofana

  • Outstanding Underclassman - Celia Djoutsa

• SEI Chapter Scholarship Award - Berit Klein (UMN), Genevieve Tester (UST)

• 2023 ASCE Life Members - Paul Asp, Richard Baker, Roger Clay, Craig Collison, Bradley Fossum, Catherine French, Gregory Keil, Craig Kuske, Joseph Labuz, Randall Mikolai, Michael Speedling, Russell Stammer

Spring President's Message

It is my honor to serve as Minnesota ASCE Section President for 2022-2023. I've been part of this amazing organization since college, and have got to meet people along the way with so much drive and passion for our built environment. PEOPLE are the center of our civil engineering oath to protect public health, safety and welfare.

While it is only March, the leadership board pauses activities at the end of May, resuming with a summer planning meeting, and then again full strength in September with the next round of elections. So, time is flying by! I encourage you to join me at one of the following events/activities this spring:

• March 16 Meeting: March Section Meeting with SAME — American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (ascemn.org)

• April 12 Awards Banquet: April Awards Banquet — American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (ascemn.org)

• May TBD Meeting

• Ongoing legislative meetings including participating in ACEC's event: ACEC/MN Engineering Day at the Capitol 2023 - Mar 8, 2023 - American Council of Engineering Companies of Minnesota (acecmn.org)

• Ongoing structural engineering seminars and planning meetings

• Other committee meetings, Younger Member Group activities, and Student Chapter activities.

Thank you board members for volunteering your time to this non-profit organization of the profession!

Follow ASCE-MN activities at ascemn.org or on LinkedIn.

Ariel Christenson, PE (MN, IN, NC, VA, WI), 2022-2023 ASCE-MN President

2022-2023 Elections are Open - Cast your Vote

2022-2023 ASCE MN Board Elections (constantcontact.com)

Please check your email address on file with asce.org! See website post on Aug 29, 2022 for details.

Summer Planning Meeting: That's a Wrap!

Your ASCE-MN section leadership was busy making plans for the upcoming year in the annual planning meeting today. There were lots of things to cover from supporting younger member group and student chapter activities, to budgeting, communications, and the list goes on!

At the section level, we offer membership benefits of monthly meetings - technical topics, awards banquets, and membership appreciation social. Pencil the dates on your calendar! (Check the web page for tentative dates and topics.)

Know of a great speaker for one of the section meetings? Let us know at events@ascemn.org.

Looking to dive into community outreach? We’ve got ideas for you. Contact outreach@ascemn.org.

Not getting our emails? Contact communications@ascemn.org.

Considering getting more involved? Contact president@ascemn.org.

Stay cool in the last few weeks of summer, and we’ll be back in full swing starting in September. Hope to see you then!

2021-2022 Elections are Live

Vote for the incoming year ASCE-MN board members!

Please check your email registered with the society for a message on 10/8 with a link to vote. Missed the email? Send a message to president@ascemn.org.

President's Message

Greetings ASCE Minnesota! I am very excited to take the helm of the Section this year. I would like to start by welcoming our new board members: Ariel Christenson (Secretary), Tumer Akakin (Director of Communication), and Riley Dvorak (Director of Awards). We appreciate their willingness to serve our profession through membership on the board. I can speak for the new and current board members as well and the committee chairs, we are all excited to serve the Section this year.

A little about me. I am a senior transportation engineer with Bolton & Menk, Inc. working in the transportation group managing and leading all types of highway projects. I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004 and have been involved with ASCE since 2002. I was treasurer for the student chapter (2003-2004) and co-captain of the concrete canoe team (2003-2004). After graduation I joined the Younger Member Group and was president of the group for a number of years (2009-2012). In 2012 I was elected to the board of directors and have held various leadership positions including Director of Committees (2012-2014), ASCE Leadership Conference Chair (2016-2017), Director of Events (2014-2017), and Treasurer (2017-2019).

When I started on this journey in 2012, I never would have imagined a year of only being able to connect virtually. COVID-19 has affected all of us in so many different ways and it is my hope that ASCE can offer a small piece of normalcy over the next few months. On July 14, we held our annual summer planning meeting. The incoming and outgoing board of directors, committee chairs, younger member leadership, and student chapters spent the day planning for the upcoming year. We all agreed that our main goal this year was to keep ASCE relevant and to provide opportunities for our membership to connect even if its only in a virtual setting. Keep an eye out for upcoming webinars and virtual meetings throughout the year. Thank you to our membership who put their trust is us to lead the Section. We welcome input and feedback anytime. Please feel free to reach out to me at president@ascemn.org.

Tim Lamkin

2020-2021 Board Election Results

Congratulations to all of our new officers for 2020-2021 and thank you to everyone that voted! A special thanks to Hannah Albertus-Benham & Jason Staebell for the services over the past years.

• Tim Lamkin President

• Andrew Nordseth President Elect

• Ariel Christenson Secretary

• Jeremy Walgrave Treasurer

• Tumer Akakin Director of Communications

• Riley Dvorak Director of Awards

• Alysa Johnson Director of Outreach

• Lauren Linderman Director of Events

Meet Your Board Members - First Past President

Q&A with your 2019-2020 First Past President: Jason Staebell

Where do you work?

Hennepin County Transportation Department - I am a Principal Project Manager in the design division. I manage various road design projects in Hennepin County. I have worked at Hennepin County almost 7 years. Prior to working at Hennepin County I started my career at HNTB and worked there for 12 years.

Tell us about your role on the ASCE board.

As of October 1 I am the 1st past president.

What previous positions have you held with ASCE?

Other than being on the board for the better part of a decade I have had roles with the Younger Members Group and was the transportation committee chair. I was also the chair of the first ever infrastructure report card for Minnesota.

Have you ever met anyone famous?

I once met Ice-T at a Burger King in the Las Vegas airport.

What was your first job?

My first job was a summer job at the Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota. I worked there for 2 summers. It was a fun job and was nice to be outside.

Meet Your Board Members - Director of Outreach

Q&A with your 2019-2020 Director of Outreach: Alysa Johnson

What do you do for work?

I work as a highway engineer focused on roadway design for SRF Consulting Group.

Tell us about your role on the ASCE board.

I am the Director of Outreach where I’ll focus on organizing activities in the community to help educate and excite the community about civil engineering.

What previous positions have you held with ASCE?

I was involved with the ASCE YMG as the outreach chair for a couple years, then as the president and past president.

Who inspires you?

My grandmother is my biggest inspiration. Not only is she kind and loving, but I am astonished on how she was able to get through life’s struggles while building her career and raising a family. My favorite days are drinking coffee or wine and talk about fun memories.

What was your first job?

My first job was working in guest services at the Elm Creek Park Reserve’s winter chalet where I sold passes, rentals, and lessons. The next summer I lifeguarded at their man made swimming pond where I met my future husband!