Nominations for awards

The Washington Award, established in 1916 by WSE president John Alvord, is conferred each year upon an engineer whose professional attainments have advanced the welfare of all peoples. The purpose of the award is to express recognition of devoted, unselfish, and pre-eminent service in advancing human progress. A list of rules governing the Washington Award and nomination forms are available at www.wsechicago.org or in the WSE office. Nominations must be received by June 1. The Washington Award is given out in February during Engineers' Week.

The following three awards (Chanute, Charles Ellet, and Landmark) are given out each year at the Annual Meeting.

The Octave Chanute Award is given annually to the Western Society member whose paper on an engineering topic is judged meritorious. In 1901, during his term as WSE president, Chanute, an aviation pioneer, funded the cost of awarding a commemorative medal to the Society member who presented the best research paper before the Society each year. The following year, as retiring president of the Society, he established an endowment to fund future awards.

Chanute Award Criteria/Rules

Papers may be co-authored by non-members, but awards are made only to the author(s) who are WSE member(s).

Awards shall be given annually for up to three outstanding papers as judged by:

• Originality
• Applicability (practical or theoretical)
• Value as a contribution to the business or practice of engineering
• Logical development of contents, conclusiveness, completeness and conciseness.

The recipient will be selected by the WSE Awards Committee, and approved by the WSE Board of Trustees. Since WSE supports engineers working together, we do not require the WSE member to be the sole author of the paper; however, only the WSE member is eligible to receive the award. Nomination forms are available at www.wsechicago.org or in the WSE office. Papers must be received by June 1.

The Charles Ellet Award is presented annually to a member of Western Society of Engineers who is 35 years of age or younger and who has made outstanding progress in his or her professional development. The award was established in 1929 as a memorial to Charles Ellet, a Civil War hero and an engineer, who was considered to be the father of the modern suspension bridge. The recipient of this prestigious award receives a certificate, a small honorarium, and possession of a silver loving cup for one year. The cup is engraved with the names of each winner dating back to 1930. The recipient will be selected by the Awards Committee and approved by the Board of Trustees. Congratulations to our 2006 winner - Darren Olson of Christopher Burke Engineering.

Nomination forms are available at www.wsechicago.org or in the WSE office. Nominations must be received by June 1.

The Landmark Award was established in 1992 to recognize an outstanding engineer's body of work and contributions to the profession. WSE members, their coworkers, and clients are eligible for nomination. Applicants are judged on their technical and ethical insights; sharing of knowledge; promotion of engineering training; and participation in technical societies, publications, and seminar presentations. Nomination forms are available at www.wsechicago.org or in the WSE office. Nominations must be received by June 1. Congratulations to our 2006 Landmark Award winner - Owen Keenan.

Rebuilding Iraq�October Chicagoland Engineering Forum luncheon

LTC Norman M. Grady, Deputy Commander/Deputy District Engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, addressed the Chicagoland Engineering Forum luncheon on October 27, 2004, to describe his role in reconstruction work in Iraq.

At the end of the war in Iraq in April of 2003, there was an immediate need for infrastructure reconstruction, particularly in the southern region of the country. Although rich in resources, the southern one third of Iraq had been ignored by Saddam Hussein while he was in power; Hussein pulled resources from the southern region and the northern region into centrally located Baghdad where he could control them. As a consequence, the infrastructure in the south dated from the 1970s. Although this area had not seen much military action, one of Iraq's two major oil fields is outside Basrah in the south, thus making Basrah strategic, and the Army Corps of Engineers, under the direction of LTC Grady, took on the task of upgrading the infrastructure in this region.

The mission of the Army Corps of Engineers was to provide construction, not project, management for this undertaking. The objectives included planning, designing, and providing construction management for both civil public works projects and military construction projects. The project management was assigned to the Coalition Provisional Authority, although eventually the system was reorganized so that the two agencies worked as a team. Now the new Iraqi government has become involved as well.

The Army Corps of Engineers is working on six construction projects, at a cost of $1.3 billion to be completed through 2008:

• electricity
• water and public works
• oil (including repairs to Basrah refinery and to the pipelines)
• security and justice (naval base, army base, fire stations, police stations)
• transportation (roads and bridges repairs)
• building, health, education (Basrah airport, railroad stations, health clinics)

The construction projects in Iraq are not without challenges. First, there seem to be too many agencies involved; for example, the Army Corps of Engineers now works for the U.S. State Department. Secondly, the availability and security of construction materials are problems. Finally, the availability and skill levels of construction personnel present challenges. And there are concomitant problems of providing security and life support for personnel. For example, the Corps uses separate generators for its own fuel so there can be no accusations of stealing from the Iraqis to meet its own needs.

At the end of his presentation, LTC Grady offered his conclusions:

• Success or failure in these undertakings is in the hands of the Iraqi people
• the Iraqi versus the U.S. public's perspective of the situation is influenced by the media; as LTC Grady stated, 'The military knows it will take at least a generation to fix Iraqi.

Great Lakes Cleanup

The Great Lakes contain about 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply and serve as a source of drinking water for more than 30 million people in the United States and Canada. In May 2004, President Bush signed a Presidential Executive Order recognizing the Great Lakes as a national treasure, calling for the creation of a 'Regional Collaboration of National Significance� and a cabinet-level interagency Task Force.

After extensive discussions, the federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the Great Lakes Cities Initiative, Great Lakes Tribes, and the Great Lakes Congressional Task Force moved to convene a collaboration.

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) brings together a federal Task Force, the Great Lakes states, local communities, Tribes, regional bodies, and other interests in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Framework calls for these parties to design a strategy to restore and protect the Great Lakes now and into the future.

The GLRC convened in Chicago, Illinois, on December 3, 2004. The Conveners Meeting was the official launch of this collaborative effort. On this day, members of the President's Cabinet, the Great Lakes Governors, the Great Lakes Congressional delegation, Mayors, and Tribal leaders met and forged an intergovernmental partnership and officially voiced their support for a coordinated strategy to further protect and restore the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) is organized in two components:

• Conveners
  Approximately 400 regional leaders and stakeholders attended the ceremonial Conveners Meeting where the region's leaders declared publicly and formally their support for the development of a strategy and actions to further protect and restore the Great Lakes. Commitment to the GLRC is expressed in the Great Lakes Declaration while the Framework for the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration defines the process for developing a Great Lakes restoration and protection strategy.
• Issue Area Strategy Teams
  Following the Ceremonial Conveners Meeting, attendees and others met for the first time as Great Lakes Issue Area Strategy Teams. The Issue Area Strategy Teams were organized using the October 1, 2003, Council of Great Lakes Governors' priorities as a starting point. The Strategy Teams, made up of government representatives as well as representatives of organizations and entities, are the working bodies responsible for producing draft strategic action with specific action items and recommendations to address the issues considered by the specific teams. The strategic action plans from the Strategy Teams will be combined into a draft of the comprehensive strategy that will be provided to the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration members for review and consideration.

Specific targets include pollution controls for agricultural and industrial runoff into the lakes; new efforts to restore and protect wetlands, forests, and indigenous species; and the elimination of invasive species, such as the Illinois carp that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich called a 'terrorist of the Great Lakes system.'

Representative Rahm Emanuel of Chicago has introduced legislation providing $4 billion over five years for the same goals as those outlined by the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. Emanuel's bill, a bipartisan effort sponsored by more than 100 House of Representative members, and a companion Senate bill are still in committee. Emanuel points out that the GLRC's goals and participants are virtually the same as those who worked together on a similar objective in 2002 under then Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Whitman.

None of the 46 officials who spoke at the Conveners Meeting ceremony in Chicago discussed financing. This was partly because the groups involved do not know how much money is now being spent on Great Lakes cleanup. Instead, participants stated that their intent is to expand on the programs of the last 30 years, build coalitions, and rank goals so that any available money is spent appropriately. The emphasis is on networking and team building in an effort to establish a strong coalition of interested groups who will persevere to solve problems facing the Great Lakes now and in the future.

Environmental impact of Cape Cod wind project

The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a draft environmental impact statement indicating that a proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound off of Cape Cod will have little, if any, impact on air quality and sea life in the area. The wind farm developer claims that this project will provide greater energy independence, lower energy costs, new jobs, and a healthier environment. Public officials, however, criticize the report for ignoring aesthetic considerations.

Archived Society News

• March/April 2004
• September/October 2003
• July/August 2003
• May/June 2003
• March/April 2003
• January/February 2003
• November/December 2002
• September/October 2002
• May/June 2002
• March/April 2002
• January/February 2002
• November/December 2001
• September/October 2001
• July/August 2001
• May/June 2001
• March/April 2001