President's Message - June 2015

It’s hard to believe my term is almost up. It seemed like only yesterday that the Board asked me to serve as President for a second time. We have had an exciting time this year.

Our Student Chapter, University at Buffalo, received the NYS Council 2014 Student Chapter Award and the ASCE Region 1 Student Chapter Award. The Steel Bridge Team placed 2nd in the Regional Competition at West Point and 4th overall at the National Competition in Kansas City. The list of activities they participated and volunteered in this year was extensive. I would like to extend a special thanks to Student Section President Anna Kelting and her officers for doing a fine job. I have been at many functions over the year and have heard the praises of our student group.

We have reached out this year and ran many successful events with our sister organizations: BAPG, ASCE Rochester Section, ASIC, APWA, ITE, ACEC, ABCD OF WNY, and NYSSPE – Erie – Niagara Branch. I hope you participated in a least one of them.

We have been fortunate to have a number of our section members recognized statewide and nationally.

• George Cotroneo received the NYS Council 2014 Government Engineer of the Year Award

• Dr. Michael C. Constantinou, Ph.D., M. ASCE of SUNY at Buffalo received the 2015 Nathan M. Newmark Medal for his work on seismic dampers

• Apostolos A., Sarlis, S.M. ASCE, Dr. Andrei M. Reinhorn Ph.D., P.E. F.ASCE, Satish Nagarajaiah Ph.D., F.SEI, Dr. Michael C. Constantinou, Ph.D., M. ASCE and Douglas P. Taylor A.M. ASCE received the 2015 Moisseiff Award for their report on Dampers

We also created a new section website. This was a long time coming and we appreciate your patience as we continue to update the new site with relevant information. We hope that the material is presented in a clear and precise manner, and that registering for events has become easier. If you see something we may have missed or have any comments please fill out a contact form. A special thanks to Robert Leipler and Brendon Reyell for all their work on our new website.

In spite of all our successes this year, we are still looking for volunteers to serve on our Board of Directors and Committees for the upcoming year. We are experiencing the same shortage of volunteers as other sections in the state. We are looking for an individual to serve as Vice President and Jason Havens has agreed to serve as President again in 2016. Please contact our President-Elect, Marco Scofidio, or myself if you are interested in serving.

Finally, I would like to thank the members of my Board for their patience and help in making this year a success.

Rick Kotecki
ASCE Buffalo Section - President

May Section Summary

The 8^th Annual ASCE/SAME Golf Tournament has been scheduled for Friday, August 21st at Rothland Golf Course

Section Member - George Controneo has been awarded the NYS Council 2014 Government Engineer of the Year Award

UB ASCE Student Chapter has received the NYS Council 2014 Student Chapter of the Year Award

UB ASCE Student Chapter places 1st overall at the ASCE Regional Competition

UB ASCE Student Chapter has been awarded the 2015 Distinguished Chapter Award for Region 1 based on the information in the 2014 Annual Report

Section Member - Dr. Constantinou has been awarded the Nathan M. Newmark Medal from ASCE National

2015/2016 Board Nominations

ASCE 2015-2016 Board Election to be held at the June Event

2nd Year Past President - Brian Carlson*

1st Year Past President - Richard Kotecki*

President - Marco Scofidio*

President-Elect - Jason Havens*

Vice President - Open**

Treasurer - Timothy Coyle

Secretary - George Kalkowsky

Director - Francis Mahaney*
Director - Andrew Klettke*
Director - Brendon Reyell
Director - Robert Leipler

*Position not subject to election.

**Position vacant. Duties will be performed via committee. If intersted in the serving on the Board please contact Brian Carlson.

President's Message - April 2015

The calendar says spring has sprung but the News says that spring will be delayed by our record ice cap on Lake Erie. We are well on our way, planning our spring meetings anyway, which will culminate with our Annual June Tour.

In April we will be having a joint meeting with ABCD of WNY on “New Technologies in Concrete”. It will be an overview of some of the exciting advances that have taken place in the concrete industry over the last ten years or so. Topics to be discussed include Pervious Concrete, Roller Compacted Concrete, Self-Consolidating Concrete, Tilt-Up Construction and Insulated Concrete Form Construction.

In May we will have a joint meeting with NYSSPE on the Environment entitled: Robert Moses Parkway South Restoration Project - This project involves removal of the south segment of the old parkway from the falls to John Daly Blvd. The parkway will be replaced with a local road and the waterfront park will be restored to meet the original Olmsted/Vaux intent.

In June, our Directors are planning for a Tour of the Concrete Silos along the Buffalo’s First Ward waterfront, and of course the Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament will be in August.

See additional details at our meeting page.

1st Past President Brian Carlson is busy working on Nominations for Officers and President- Elect Marco Scafidio is busy working on his committee chair list for 2015 – 2016. If you are interested in becoming an Officer of this Section please contact Brian and if you’re interested in serving on a committee please contact Marco.

On April 11th the Buffalo and Rochester Sections will host PR University, the innovative day long program which will teach participants skills for communicating with the Public and Press. Contact Katie Dugan at (585) 330-6980 or email Kdugan@mjinc.com for details

In addition Robert Leipler and Webmaster Brendon Reyell are busy revamping our web site to make it easier to navigate and update.

Our SUNY at Buffalo Student Chapter will be battling starting this month in the Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge and Seismic Design Competitions. I wish them Luck.

And last but not least remember that 2021 is the 100^th Anniversary of the founding of the Buffalo Section. A celebration is being planned.

Rick Kotecki
ASCE Buffalo Section - President

President's Message - October 2014

Here it is October 1st and all the trees in my neighborhood still have all their leaves and there has been no change of color. I asked the little boy next door:” Cory will we have snow on your birthday again.” You guessed it; he was born on the Friday of the October surprise 8 years ago.   His dad said he will remember that ride for the rest of his life. Being prepared is important and let’s face it, it is not called the October Surprise for nothing. Isn’t being prepared for those "surprises" what sustainability is partially about, and having our critical infrastructure survive the unexpected?

Currently my biggest concerns are the sustainability of this Section and continuing our mission of “providing essential value to its members, their careers, our partners, and the public through developing leadership, advancing technology, advocating lifelong learning and promoting the profession.”

To accomplish these goals we need participation in committees and active Board members. I ask you, our members, to seriously consider joining one of our committees or considering joining our Section Board. Age and occupation should be no barrier. Robert Stevens, who will be sworn in as our new National President is a Life Member and yours truly will be one in 2015. As one of our Directors’s told me at the last Board meeting, six years ago he was in high school. Please check the Chair list on this website and contact them to volunteer.

I just met with our SUNY at Buffalo Student Chapter and it was great to see a room full of enthusiastic young people. They have committees for the concrete canoe, steel bridge and seismic design along with various community projects. I wish them a great year.

This month we have our Joint venture with the Rochester Section at the October 19th Bills game versus the Minnesota Vikings. You don’t have to go to the game to go to the tailgate party. Check this website for details.

The ASCI / ASCE Steel seismic seminar will be in Batavia on November 4th. Details will be on the website shortly and the brochure will be coming out soon.

Finally we have a very important Anniversary coming up in 2021 – the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Buffalo Section. You’ll be hearing more and more about what we plan to do as the date approaches.

Rick Kotecki

ASCE Buffalo Section - President