Program areas at ASCE
Publications: the dissemination of technical and professional information to asce members and others in the Civil engineering profession is a major goal of the Society and the primary goal of the Society's publishing program. This is accomplished through a variety of publications and information products, including 35 technical and professional journals, Civil engineering magazine, an online bibliographic database, conference proceedings, standards, and technical reports.
Conferences & meetings: the Society hosts approximately 50 conferences and meetings each year. The conferences are separated into two categories - specialty and corporate. The specialty conferences provide continuing education and professional development allowing the professional engineer to maintain their licensure in their respective states. Each specialty conference is generally comprised of an educational program, technical tours and an exhibit hall, and is specific to a designated discipline within the Civil engineering field. These programs provide information on the latest technical advances, best practices, and promote the sharing of ideas. The corporate conferences also provide continuing education and professional development catering to leadership, management, best practices and overarching issues and topics with a broad appeal to the Civil engineer in general. Meetings include committees, task forces, focus groups, workshops and seminars designed to bring together Civil engineering experts either from specific fields or those with a broad range of experience and skills. These meetings deal with specific topics and issues facing Civil Engineers such as america's failing infrastructure, sustainability, earthquakes, and bridge collapses.
Engineering programs: the Society's engineering programs division directly supports the Society's purpose of advancing the science of engineering by producing technical content for publications, conferences and continuing education programs. The division consists of nine discipline specific institutes and six technical groups. The work of the division is accomplished by members participating in more than 700 technical committees. The division has responsibility for oversight of the editorial boards of 28 of asce's 35 journals. Each year the division holds more than a dozen congresses and specialty conferences. Both asce members and non-members are eligible for membership in the institutes.
Membership services: in addition to developing members, providing value to existing members, engaging and retaining student members, promoting member accomplishments and marketing the Society's products to members, membership conducts research on member needs and satisfaction, provides career resources including a salary survey and associated publication on Civil engineering income as well as an online mentoring program. Membership also works with various service providers to offer asce members special insurance and financial programs.
Government and public affairs: the Society's public affairs programs encompass a broad range of activities intended to better inform the public and policy leaders of critical issues and the vital role the Civil engineering profession plays in the every day lives of citizens. These programs include coordinating all interviews and meetings with media/news outlets; writing and dissemination of all Society news releases; training Society leaders and members in public communications and effective media relations; providing communications counsel to the Society's various state and local units; providing input and feedback to various Society marketing initiatives; overseeing certain communications research efforts; contributing to web site and content management; coordination of all asce k-12 pre-college outreach programs; and management of asce diversity programs. The Society's government relations and communication activities include: research, development and updating of the organization's 172 public policy statements pertaining to a wide range of Civil engineering topics including infrastructure, transportation, water, environment and r & d; monitoring federal legislative and regulatory developments and reporting back to Society members and leaders; providing expert testimony to congressional committees; maintaining a congressional fellows program; training asce members; building and maintaining issues-based coalitions; promoting Civil Engineers for federal appointments and nominations to key policy positions in government; and monitoring policy and issue developments in the various u.s. states.
Member communities: member communities provides member support, engagement, and communication for and to the Society's geographic units including its regions, sections, branches, younger member groups, and student chapters. It also promotes engineering education exposure for students in grades k-12 and engagement for college students via student conferences. The Society provides financial and administrative support to its geographic units to support their delivery of a broad range of educational, scientific, and public service offerings at the local level. The Society also provides leader training through events such as the multi-region leadership conferences.global programs advance Civil engineering practice by disseminating knowledge on engineering in the global environment. The Society collaborates with engineering societies and organizations around the world to develop relationships, exchange ideas, share knowledge for professional growth, and advance the science and practice of Civil engineering. Additionally, this area serves the needs of the Society's international members and the operations of international sections and groups with the goal of providing networking and education opportunities at the local level. Global programs also coordinates with other Society activity areas to support international conferences, events, education, and information exchange, especially via global link, the international newsletter.
Educational activities - the Society's educational activities programs improve the formal educational preparation of Civil Engineers from kindergarten through graduate studies. These activities enhance Civil engineering education by defining the Civil engineering body of knowledge (bok) to be fulfilled before professional practice as a Civil engineer, conducting accreditation activities to assure quality educational outcomes and processes, presenting faculty development workshops to hone the teaching skills of university engineering faculty, and hosting interactions among students, faculty and practitioners. Specifically, the Society has comprehensively defined the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to enter the Civil engineering profession. The Society fosters accomplishing this bok through formal education curricula and documented experience. Further, the Society leads the accreditation activities of university programs in conjunction with abet, Inc., the engineering accreditation organization in the us. To improve the teaching abilities of engineering faculty, the Society conducts its world-renowned asce excellence in Civil engineering education (exceed) teaching workshops with more than 1000 graduates from 256 institutions.
Grants & contracts: the Society receives federal and private grant and contract funds that pay for specific activities relating to improvement of Civil engineering in the u.s. and foreign countries.
Honors and awards: the honors and awards program prides itself in recognizing the outstanding achievements of Civil engineering professionals. It presents 92 Society awards, distinguished membership, outstanding projects and leaders awards (opal) and several external awards to acknowledge laudable and superb projects and individuals.
Professional activities: through its professional advancement activities, asce encourages, guides, and promotes the professional development of Civil Engineers. These programs include definition of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to practice as a Civil engineer, including those related to ethical and professional behavior. The Society develops education, training, and resources to help Civil Engineers develop these knowledge areas and skillsets and promotes the use of appropriate credentials, such as licensure and certification, to demonstrate competence. Asce works towards its vision of Civil Engineers as global leaders by offering online and in person leader development trainings and workshops on topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion and effective communication. The Society also offers career advancement resources to inform current and prospective Civil Engineers on the diverse career paths available in the profession and equip them to better navigate career challenges, transitions, and opportunities. Asce has long considered sustainability a strategic issue confronting practicing Civil Engineers. Its integration into professional practice is required to address changing environmental, social, and economic conditions ethically and responsibly. Although challenging issues such a climate change, urbanization, and the rapid pace of technological advancement create opportunities, they also require serious re-evaluation of current professional practice and standards. To address this state of affairs, asce has outlined a roadmap to transform the profession. Asce's efforts are guided by the asce five-year roadmap to sustainable development with four specific goals: 1) sustainable project development - do the right project2) standards and protocols - do the project right3) expand technical capacity 4) communicate and advocate.
Other program services: miscellaneous small programs that support the Society's exempt purpose.
Fundraising program activities: provides support of programs within strategic areas of leadership, education and student activities programs that support current and future Engineers; programs that encourage infrastructure investment and advancement to protect the health and safety of Society and encourage the incorporation of sustainable practices.
Continuing education: a key goal of the Society is to encourage and provide the tools for lifelong learning to aid our members' continued growth through their careers. Lifelong learning is critical to Civil Engineers in keeping up to date with the latest technical advances and ensuring that they can remain competent. In fy22, asce maintained a robust online learning program, and re-introduced in-person training after a suspension during the height of covid. Our new livestreaming capabilities provide participants with the option of in person or online for a growing number of our courses. In fy22, over 110,370 professionals development hour (pdh) credits were awarded and over 40 new courses were offered. In addition, our professional engineer (pe) review courses are now offered year-round and have been updated to align with the new computer based testing format. These courses assist Civil and architectural Engineers in passing the pe licensing exam.
Future world vision: infrastructure reimagined. Engineers are confronting a variety of environmental challenges, demographic shifts and technological changes that will require a drastic rethinking of how we build, operate, and maintain infrastructure systems. To help anticipate the coming changes and their effects on Engineers and the communities they serve, the American Society of Civil Engineers has launched a project to help Engineers prepare for future change, known as future world vision. The future world vision program addresses these challenges by creating a simulation/vr/ar enabled immersive computer model to allow Engineers to demonstrate and visualize how infrastructure problems and potential solutions will occur in the future. It will create the virtual infrastructure of five communities of the future, each addressing a range of potential advances and time horizons, and all informed by interviews with experts and scenario planning exercises involving academic, government, and industry professionals.