The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP) and the American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh Section (ASCE) presented our biennial “PDH Boot Camp” on Thursday, August 22, 2019.

Bringing together over 90 professionals, this all-day conference provided timely and interesting technical sessions suitable for professional development hours (PDHs) for our members and affiliated groups.

We offered programming under three concurrent breakout sessions. The attendees could attend sessions from any track. The tracks presented were transportation, water & wastewater, industrial, technology and legal & ethics. Each session is approved for a PDH credit by ESWP’s Continuing Education Committee. ESWP is recognized as an approved Continuing Education Provider by New York State and the State of Florida Board of Licensure. Attendees had the opportunity to earn up to 8 PDHs for the day. With the PA P.E. License Renewal Date approaching on September 30, 2019. This event offered exactly what every P.E. was looking for – PDH Credits.

Over 20 speakers made this event possible, with one that presented via webinar from California! The event would not be possible without our sponsors:

Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. – Lanyards

Covestro – Portfolio

HDR – Transportation Track

Koryak – Technology Track

Michael Baker International – Lunch

Total Equipment Company – Industrial Track

Finally, thank you to our planning committee for making the event possible.

PDH Boot Camp Planning Committee

Justin Brooks, Beaver County Community College, Beaver, PA

Douglas M. Clark, P.E., Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA

David Scotti, Esq., Scotti Law Group, Pittsburgh, PA

Sam Shamsi, Ph.D., PE, F.ASCE, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Imperial PA

Dawn Spence, P.E., Michael Baker International, Moon Township, PA

John Tricini, Michael Baker International, Moon Township, PA

Attendees that need a PDH certificate for attending the one-day conference to claim your credit, please complete our PDH Request Form at https://eswp.com/about/bootcamp/.

Paul Hoback, Director of Development for the Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) was guest speaker at ESWP’s luncheon event on June 25.  Mr. Hoback presented an update on the ACAA Terminal Modernization Program to an audience of more than 70 members and guests at ESWP. Mr. Hoback presented a detailed overview of the preliminary plans for the airport modernization, along with a video which simulated many of the facets under consideration.  The ESWP Program Committee thanks Mr. Hoback for his very informative presentation!

On February 12, ESWP was pleased to partner with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) in presenting a program on the Emergency Rehabilitation of Route 30, presented by Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, P.E., District Executive of PennDOT District 11-0; Brian Heintzl, P.E., of Gannett Fleming, and Eric Klimas, P.E., of Golden Triangle Construction. The three presenters provided a very informative inside look into the analysis, planning, and construction required to bring Route 30 “back to life” in less than three months, following the major collapse of this busy State highway, which carries 25,000 motor vehicles daily.  The Route 30 Rehabilitation was recently recognized by the ESWP as the 2018 Emergency Rehabilitation Project of the Year. To learn more about this project, visit the ESWP Awards Page, found here.

ESWP was honored to host Arletta Scott-Williams, Executive Director of ALCOSAN, at our May 22 Women’s Roundtable Luncheon, attended by 80 guests. ESWP Board Member Tanya McCoy Caretti (ARCADIS) served as Master of Ceremonies for the interview, which was very lively and informative, as well as entertaining! The gathering learned so much about Ms. Scott-Williams education and career path as well as family and life interests beyond ALCOSAN. Big thanks to both Arletta and Tanya for participating! If you have suggestions for future guests at ESWP’s Women’s Roundtable, please contact us!

Great turnout last night at the ESWP President’s Reception, in honor of incoming President Robert J. Ward, P.E. (CannonDesign) and the entire Board of Directors. Guests were treated to a sumptuous buffet filled with delicious items from Chef Kevin. Everyone at the gathering enjoyed great networking as well – it really has the feel of a homecoming – it seemed that no one wanted the evening to end!

Thanks to ESWP officer Bob Ward (CannonDesign) and Jamie McMaster (Westinghouse) for serving YOU at the July “The Board Serves You Luncheon.”  We had a near-full Dining room, with many happy diners! This monthly event has become very popular, with some members supporting each of this years monthly luncheons.  However, for the month of August we are debuting a new member FLASH SALE promotion….to help with the parking crunch you may encounter when coming to the ESWP, we are offering a $5 discount at select downtown garages when you have lunch at the ESWP. One discount per table, valid only in August. Don’t let parking get in your way of a great lunch!

So, it has been a very busy June at ESWP! Looking back, the month has just flown by and I can’t believe the month is almost over.

We began the month with the 34^th Annual International Bridge Conference in National Harbor, MD, attracting almost 1,300 attendees and a record-high number of exhibitors. The four day conference was very well received, indicated by the many, many positive comments we received onsite and in our post-conference surveys.

Then, the ESWP Program Committee planned two great events, including our annual PNC Park Tailgate Party, and the Women’s Roundtable Luncheon.  What an honor it was to have three commissioner chairs of Beaver, Butler and Westmoreland Counties participate in a panel discussion moderated by KDKA’s Jon Delano! (pictured below) Mr. Delano featured excerpts of the discussion on the evening news.

In between these events, our International Water Conference webinar series conducted another successful webinar, and our “Board Serves You” June installment went off without a hitch! Don’t forget the ESWP Dining Room will close over the week of July 4, and we look forward to serving you again on our re-opening of July 10.

Save the date now for July 19 to come in for lunch to see 1^st Vice-President Bob Ward and Board Secretary Jamie McMaster at the July “Board Serves You” lunch.  Have a happy and safe 4^th!

We have a couple of great events planned for June at ESWP.  Our annual PNC Park tailgate event is set for June 14 – this is a great night out at the ‘ol ballyard.  Save the date.

On June 27, our two celebrity servers, (Bob Roell and Chris Hill), will be serving you in the dining room, that is, if you come out to lunch that day! This monthly event has been a lot of fun for everyone in attendance.  Reservations, please.

And our third event in June is the Women’s Roundtable Luncheon on June 28.  Remember: Men are welcome! The guests for this event are three local county commissioners -check our event page for details and to make a reservation.

Remember that ESWP will be closed over the week of July 4.  Have a safe and happy summer holiday break!