Activities log

As an activities log for the visit of the President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Governors of Region 10 to Athens, the following activities and events have been organized, during this occasion, by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), in collaboration with the Association of Civil Engineers of Greece (SPME) and the Hellenic Section of ASCE which took place at the TEE central offices in Athens, during the three-day period from Wednesday, September 6^th until to Friday, September 8^th.

Attendees in the Sessions:

Maria Lehman, ASCE President 2023, Tom Smith, ASCE Executive Director, Nives McLarty, ASCE Global Programs, R10 & AOC Liaison, April Lander (Region 10 Director), Brett Phillips (R10 Past Director), Elias Boutros Sayah (R10 Past Director και R10 Gov: Emirates, S. Arabia, Israel, Egypt), Constantine Memos (R10 Past Gov), Chao Li (R10 Gov: Greater China, Honk Kong, Singapore), Olga Marin (R10 Gov: South America), Kamal Laksiri (R10 Gov: Sri Lanka, India), Panos Chatzipanos (R10 Gov: Europe), Sissy Nikolaou, NIST, Andreas Brandner (President, European Council of Civil Engineers, ECCE), M. Karanasiou (Secretariat, ECCE), V. Bardakis (President, SPME), Ο. Markogiannaki (Vice President SPME), P. Charlaftis, G. Makris, (SPME) and C. Zeris (President, Hellenic Section ASCE), Α. Papadimitriou, (Vice President, Hellenic Section ASCE), G. Bariamis, A. Nikellis, T. Dimitrakopoulos, S. Lazaridou (absent in a Conference) from the Board of Directors of the ASCE Hellenic Section.

Actions and topics

Ø  On Wednesday, during the morning meeting at the TEE Amphitheater, ASCE President M. Lehman and Executive Director T. Smith presented to the invited guests in a closed session "ASCE Engineering the Future”. During the presentation, organizational issues of our profession from the perspective of ASCE, and ASCE's goals and current development actions, have been covered:

1. Description of the structure and the Institutes of ASCE, the Regulatory Standards (ASCE Standards) that have been issued and the status of their global application, the evolution of the Civil Engineering profession today in the USA and in other Western countries (education, hiring statistics, issues of employment based on social needs in the near future). During the discussion, the importance of the Civil Engineering profession to society was stressed, together with the lack, from our part, of informing society of the achievements and contributions of our profession, which results in a drop of new entries to the profession in developed countries. This will result to a significant reduction in civil engineers in developing countries, and, consequently, steps were discussed on how to revert this global trend.
2. The Infrastructure Report Card, an ongoing 4-year assessment and grading of US State infrastructure in 18 infrastructure categories; how the program is implemented and what is its direct relationship, at the federal level, with the planning and the financing of US infrastructure projects, particularly, for resilience against climate change and future societal demands.
3. Envision, an entire framework for the planning, the design, and the implementation and certification of construction of works (including infrastructure works) for sustainability. Evidence was provided of the acceptance of the Envision framework in projects at the US and internationally, and technical details for its implementation on a project-by-project basis were given.
4. The planning of the city of the not-so-distant Future World Vision, Mega City 2070, based on the evolution of technologies, social needs and lifestyle, with an emphasis on: the Mega City (cities with a population over of 20,000,000 inhabitants), but also in the City under the sea, the City in polar conditions, the underground City. During the break, the future City was demonstrated in VR goggles and as announced, a trailer was given that will be shown in IMAX screenings in Science Museums worldwide, following the official release in the Chicago Convention in October.Ø  On Wednesday afternoon, an international Symposium was scheduled, entitled "Sustainability and Infrastructure”, with the participation of speakers from the ASCE Administration as well as Greek executives from the academic and business community (due to International Exhibition in Thessaloniki, it was not possible for a representative of the Ministry to attend). Presentations were given by: the President of TEE on "Smart Bridges", the President, the Executive Director ASCE and Region 10 Director (subjects above), the President of HCIC on the "Management of infrastructure operated and financed by the private sector”, a "Contribution of BIMs to sustainable infrastructures" by J. Steene, the "Implementation of the infrastructure rating system in Spain" by the Spanish TEE, on "The Greek cement industry on the road to zero emissions" Association of Hellenic Cement Industries, and a presentation of "Important energy projects in Greece: The pump saving project in Amfilochia" by TERNA SA Energy. The evening ended with a dinner sponsored by TEE.
   

Ø  On the morning of Thursday 9/7, in a closed meeting, ASCE and TEE, ASCE and ECCE and ASCE and SPME signed Memoranda of cooperation (in the case of the TEE an existing MOU was reaffirmed). This event was followed, at noon, by a technical visit of the invited guests and the Greek delegates:

1.    at the Ellinikon Experience Centre, where an interactive tour was given of the currently ongoing largest urban redevelopment project in Europe. Technical details of the project were provided by the owner (LAMDA SA) representatives and staff.

2.    at the Cultural Center of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNIFC), where the staff and the Architect of the SNICF Engineering Dept gave us a tour of the buildings of the National Opera and the National Library and, subsequently, the isolated -suspended roof and the seismically insulated basement. The evening ended with a dinner sponsored by CERS SA on behalf of SPME.

Ø  On Friday 8/9, the ASCE Board convened with the Governors of Region 10 in TEE, to discuss issues that are going to be discussed during the Chicago ASCE Convention in October. The President announced the proposed changes in the membership categories of ASCE, in order to facilitate membership expansion to those related to Civil Engineering projects in the future (technicians, other trades), and emphasized the need and intention of ASCE for increased involvement of all Region 10 with US Regions 1-9 activities, possibly by providing funding for international travel of R10 ASCE members to US Conferences, and ASCE Student Member travel scholarships.

Conclusion

The visit of the ASCE BoD and the Governors of Region 10 in Athens laid the foundations for substantial cooperation opportunities and agreements with the participating and organizing organizations, namely ECCE, TEE, SPME and the Hellenic Section of ASCE, both on the key issues (1)-(4) discussed throughout their stay here in Athens, both internally between ASCE and the Hellenic Section of ASCE as well as with the host organizations.

In addition, due to the parallel ongoing Daniel Mediterranean cyclone that developed during the entire week, with the extensive news coverage of the resulting flood disasters in the Region of Thessaly, there were additional discussions about the immediate emergency practices that ASCE has implemented for the design and strengthening of infrastructure, while faced with similar problems in the US. It was emphasized that climate change, which is already developing, is a global and international problem, concerning all societies and the Civil Engineer profession, who are already dealing with the consequences at the local level. It was therefore agreed that the only way for a timely and optimal approach to address this escalating problem is through the exchange of experiences and practices among our engineering professional bodies, and cooperation at every level (technical, legislative, etc.).

We believe that this meeting laid a good foundation for this purpose.

C. Zeris

Professor, NTUA

President of the Hellenic Section of ASCE