ASCE in Action — Advancing Infrastructure Resilience Worldwide
“I wish we had known about this sooner!” The Benefits of Inspection
It would be a tremendous asset if we possessed the ability to travel back in time and correct mistakes. Unfortunately, unless you possess a wayback machine, a phone booth at Circle K, a DeLorean, or a magic school bus, this is not yet possible. Therefore, inspection during every phase of a project: pre-construction, throughout construction, […]
Enhancing Seawall’s Resiliency against Coastal Erosion
Unlocking RFQ Success: Secret Insights from the Debriefs You Never Got
An inside look at how Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) procurements are evaluated in Texas and how firms can improve their success rate when pursuing municipal work. Drawing from experience as both a municipal engineer and private consulting engineer, the presentation explains the legal framework of Texas Local Government Code Chapter 2254 while revealing the practical realities […]
New Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Pavement Specification for Local Agencies, Engineers and Developers
The newly released dense graded Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Specification 341M is a streamlined version of TxDOT’s 341 specification from the 2024 TxDOT Spec Book and has been developed specifically for cities, counties and consulting firms doing designs for agencies and developers. This specification has been achieved in collaboration with the Texas Asphalt Pavement Association […]
Geohazard Instrumentation & Monitoring Applications for Safer Asset Management
The conference will describe the importance of geohazard instrumentation and a comprehensive suite of geotechnical and structural monitoring technologies designed to enhance safety and operational efficiency in mining and civil projects. It will highlight solutions including advanced sensors such as ShapeArrays, vibrating wire instruments, MEMS, GNSS, InSAR, and slope stability radars, integrated with powerful software […]
CSI: Guadalupe River: Investigating the Scene of the July 2025 Flood
The devastation from the flash flood event on July 4, 2025 on the Guadalupe River was a crime against humanity. Join me as we investigate the scene of this crime to track down the culprit. Although 11 inches of rainfall fell over the basin in a 3-hour period, the devastation was more intense than anyone […]
Bob Hall Pier, A Case Study in Resilience and Durability
Bob Hall Pier is a recreational fishing pier on the beach on Padre Island. This pier is an infrastructure project that incorporates climate adaptation, resource management, durability and resilience into the design. We will discuss how the design criteria was developed and materials were selected to incorporate durability, resiliency and forward thinking practices into the […]
Smarter Scans, Stronger Drains: Revitalizing Resiliency Through AI Driven Stormwater Infrastructure Assessment at UT Austin
As aging stormwater networks challenge long term infrastructure reliability, innovative assessment tools are essential to strengthening system resilience. The University of Texas at Austin partnered with Freese and Nichols (FNI) to modernize its storm drain system evaluation program by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the defect identification process for approximately 50,000 linear feet of CCTV […]
Seeing Trouble Early: Sugar Land’s Earned Value-Based Early Warning System for Municipal Project Risk Management
Municipal governments are expected to deliver capital projects predictably, yet they rarely have access to the cost systems, resource‑loaded schedules, or enterprise tools that make traditional Earned Value Management (EVM) effective. While contractors and consultants operate with sophisticated controls, cities are confined by taxpayer constraints and limited visibility. This creates a structural blind spot: municipal […]