Greetings to all the honorable members and supporters of our Bull Run Branch,
I am pleased to address you in this first issue of our Branch 2024 Newsletter. First of all, I would like to thank all of you who were able to attend our dinner meeting on February 21st in the Haymarket. After almost two entire years of exclusively virtual meetings, it was an honor to have the branch finally meets in-person like the old times. This has only been our first physical gathering of the year but we look forward to having more events like this in 2024. Things are starting to go back to normal again, and that brings exciting news. It was incredible to see a good number of wonderful attendants despite our invitation being sent out relatively late. I would like to take this opportunity and thank our two excellent presenters Mr. LEO J. TITUS, Chief Operating Officer of the ECS Group of Companies, and Dr. Myra Sawyers, Director of Mid‑Atlantic Region, at Cognia, who made an inspiring presentation and shared their experiences of STEM promotional activities they have been carrying out in schools across Northern Virginia.
Although we missed having our Branch President, Mr. Nick Meloy, and our President-elect, Ms. Vaibhavi Kamdar, among us, but the numerous personal challenges and family life engagements sometimes not allowing us to be fully active in these events as desired are fully understandable. We look forward to seeing them in our next event that we hope to schedule in one of the outlaying counties like Winchester or Stafford. I call on all of our members who reside in these areas to step up and take the lead on identifying a suitable place and make other logistic arrangement for a successful dinner meeting sometimes in early summer. Feel free to reach out to any of our branch officers to get this started now. We are really in need of more volunteers and I encourage our members to join the branch leadership and serve in any capacity they are willing to serve. Lately our branch has been suffering from lower levels of interest from our members to come forward and help us in achieving our branch’s goal and objectives in a more participatory manner.
I would like to appreciate the extraordinary support that Mr. Victor Crawford, our Treasurer, has extended towards the branch despite having so many other responsibilities and engagements with the Virginia Section Board and/or with the National Capital Section. He was instrumental in representing our branch at the STEM event of the Potomac Shores Middle School in Dumfries. While appreciating the active participation of our branches Younger Members Lead, Ms. Susie Olson, I would like encourage her to do more by bring younger engineers onboard. And with the help and coordination with Ms. Michelle Roy, who successfully represented our branch at the Workshop for Section, Branch and Institute Leaders (WSBIL) in Miami, initiate more innovative activities and events. Now that the pandemic is no longer putting us at high and constant risk, we must finally get ready to resume our field trips to facilities such as the Louden County Water Treatment Facility. Our younger member lead is expected to take the lead in making this happen before the end of this summer, if possible. Last but not the least, I would like to thank Mr. Joseph McClellan, who also attended our event and briefed our audience about his role and responsibilities representing our Bull Run Branch at the DCSM/Zoning Advisory Committee. We will continue supporting him in this valuable service.
We have had great achievements, but we have a lot of more work to do. One of our top priorities this year is providing networking opportunities for our members with their ASCE peers from across the counties within our branch’s jurisdiction. Professional development occurs only when those members who are experts in their field are willing to give back to their community by volunteering their time and knowledge to help others, and I highly appreciate the generosity of our meetings’ participants who have been sharing their expertise, energy, and time with their colleagues. We applaud you, and I call upon the rest of our expert members to follow in the footsteps of these exemplary citizens and honor us by sharing some of their time and knowledge, perhaps by serving as a keynote speaker in one or more of our professional development training events. Providing networking, continuing education and professional development opportunities via these events is one of the most important services our branch offers to its members, and it can only be done with all hands on board. The opportunities it brings to our members, and that sweet, wonderful feeling of making a difference is invaluable. Thank you to each and every one of you.
Best wishes,
Gul Saleh, PE, PhD, PMP
Bull Run Branch, Acting President
