THE LOUISIANA CIVIL ENGINEER - lasce

President’s MessageBy E. R. (Ray) DesOrmeaux, PENational electionASCE has made it exceptionally easy formembers to vote in its national election. Amember may elect to vote either by paper, mailinballot, or through the internet with an e-signature.If you are not aware of your personale-signature, you may access the ASCE web sitefor information on how to obtain it. In pastnational elections, there has been a low percentageof members voting. Let’s attempt to changethat in this election by casting our individualvote and encouraging fellow members to do thesame.The Louisiana Section is part of Region 5.This year the Region has two candidates forRegion Director of which one is Norma JeanMattei, PE, the current Region 5 Governor fromthe Louisiana Section, and the other is Jorge A.Jaramillo, PE, the current Region 5 Governorfrom the Florida Section. The LouisianaSection sent a nomination letter on behalf ofNorma Jean on February 23, 2008. Voting endsAugust 13, 2008.PE exam reviewThe ASCE live PE exam review course onthe web is designed to aid civil engineeringinterns in preparing to successfully pass PEexam. Taught by a team of experienced PEexam review instructors, the course will be presentedin a series of 12 two-hour modules heldover a 6-week period. The popular ASCE liveweb seminar format will be used. TheLouisiana Section, with the Acadiana, BatonRouge, and New Orleans Branches is coordinatingplans in each area for presenting this examreview course at a very reasonable cost to participants.All civil engineering interns in theSection who are preparing to sit for the PEexam in the near future are hereby encouragedto contact the sponsoring ASCE Branch in theirrespective area to register.Section members Matthew J.Granberry, PE, Nathan Earl Jordan, PE,Brett A. Misenheimer, PE, Byron D. Racca,PE, John C. Savoie, PE, and Kelly C. Tucker,PE recently earned their professional engineeringlicense in Louisiana. If you are in contactwith any of them, please offer your congratulationson thier accomplishment.Louisiana residents Daniel E. Beyke, PE,Akhilendra S. Chauhan, PE, Lori AnnEngland, PE, John A. Gates, PE, Bruce J.Hix, PE, Robie J. Lasseigne, PE, Charles W.Munce, PE, Jennifer R. Nicaud, PE, BrianD. Nunes, PE, Marcus N. Redford, PE, NinaJ. Reins, PE, Patrick J. Shepherd, PE,– Career Benchmarks –Section Operating GuideWith the assistance of long-time memberand Section journal editor, Jim Porter, theSection’s Operating Guide has been reviewingand revised after a several years of being a staticdocument. The Section’s committee chairsand the Branch Presidents are also reviewingvarious sections of the document, and revisingits contents to reflect current operating practiceswhere appropriate. The revised document willbe distributed to the Section Board of Directorsfor review and comment during its next meetingscheduled in August.Body of knowledgeDuring the Louisiana Civil EngineeringConference and Show sponsored by the NewOrleans Branch and the Louisiana Chapter ofthe American Concrete Institute scheduled tobe in Kenner September 24-25, 2008, there willbe a 2-part session on the body of knowledge(BOK) related to ASCE Policy Statement 465 -Academic Prerequisites for Licensure andProfessional Practice. It will be presented byASCE members Jeffrey S. Russell, PE,Kenneth J. Fridley, PE, and Kenneth L.McManis, PE, that have been substantiallyinvolved with its development and are quiteknowledgeable of the subject. It is importantfor all ASCE members to become familiar withthe initiatives and goals of the BOK. This isthe second opportunity for Section members toattend a session addressing the BOK in thisyear, and all members are encouraged to attendand become familiar with the issues. Russell,who made the previous presentation during the2008 Annual Spring Meeting and Conferencein Lafayette, has been a key leader in thedevelopment of the BOK and ASCE PolicyStatement 465.For many years, ASCE has studied theissues concerning future educational require-Steven R. Skeele, PE, and Dishili S. Young,PE recently earned their professional engineeringlicense in Louisiana. They are civil engineersor in a related discipline and they are notmembers of the ASCE. A copy of this issue ofthe journal is sent to them as an informal introductionto the Section. If any of them wish tojoin and/or find out more about the ASCE,they are hereby invited to visit the ASCEnational website, http://www.asce.org. If youare in contact with any of these engineers,please consider formally introducing them tothe Section by inviting them to attend a branchmembership meeting as your guest.__________________________________________________________________________________Editor’s note: The environmental, structural and architectural engineering disciplines licensed bythe Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board may be considered closelyrelated to civil engineering. As of June 2008, the active engineering licenses conferred by the Boardwere approximately 4871 in civil, 706 in environmental, 105 in structural and 17 in architectural.ments of for civil engineers, including the typesof education and experience required to obtainprofessional licensure and recognition. YourSection President authored an article publishedin the November 1995 issue of this journal thataddresses the issues that future civil engineeringgraduates may face.Leadership ConferenceEach of the ASCE student chapters inLouisiana will be awarded a $700 grant fromthe Section to offset the expenses to send delegatesto the workshop for student chapter leadersand the ASCE Eastern Regional YoungerMember Council meeting to be held in conjunctionwith the Multi-Regional LeadershipConference for Regions 1, 2, 4 and 5 scheduledfor February 6-7, 2009 in Cherry Hill, NewJersey. The Conference that also features aworkshop for section and branch leaders is animportant element for the development of thecurrent and future leaders in the ASCE. It providesopportunities for section, branch, and studentchapter members in the 4 regions to networkand attend outstanding presentations onproven leadership techniques and activities.The Section traditionally sends thePresident Elect to this conference. Each Branchis also encouraged to send delegates. TheASCE notes that the branches that have traditionallysent representatives to these annual conferenceshave experienced excellent results andrenewed member participation in subsequentyears.About the cover: The need for a larger databasefrom a more extensive load testing programfor precast prestressed concrete test pilesis discussed in the feature article. A test pileinstallation and test over the waters of LakePonchartrain are depicted. This load test is fora 36 inch square precast prestressed concretepile. The load test is a Statnamic load test thatis part of the pile load test program for the I-10Twin Span bridge that is being replaced followingthe extensive damage to the existing bridgeduring the coastal surge caused by HurricaneKatrina.4 THE LOUISIANA CIVIL ENGINEER / FEBRUARY 2008