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CUA-ASCE is a very active chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Our goal to have students become as involved as possible with their profession and their colleagues.
General Meetings: The general meetings of ASCE are composed of a brief introduction period where students are informed about the latest events occurring within the student chapter, the national capitol chapter, the national level of ASCE, and Civil Engineering department. This information period is then followed by a guest lecture by a professional engineer. The presentations usually consist of an overview of their particular branch of civil engineering, and a detailed presentation of a recent engineering project they have worked on.
Site Visits: Site Visits to active construction sites is the best means for ASCE to bridge the classroom education with its real world applications. Professional engineers volunteer their time to give detailed tours of their current construction projects. Many of them take the time to educate students on engineering problems that they have faced and how to overcome them.
Professional Dinner Meetings: The National Capital Section of ASCE has a monthly dinner meeting where they invite members of the engineering and political community to present to its members information on current events. The Younger Member Forum a subsidiary of the national capital section holds similar meetings with the exception that the presentations are geared towards bettering your career. Students are invited to these meeting which is a great opportunity for them to learn about their profession from both the presenters and the professionals who attend the meetings.
Community Service: The student chapter of ASCE has an ongoing relationship with Rebuilding Together. This is an organization that sponsors community improvement projects. Examples being renovating a senior citizens home, retrofitting individual?s homes who have come back from the war handicapped, and cleaning up rubbish on the road side. ASCE has also participated with the national building museum and their events during engineering week.
Social Functions: Before you can inform the students you have to unify them. This is why ASCE holds social events like barbeques and holiday celebrations. These events draw students to the organizations and unify them. One of the main goals of ASCE is to bring the students together allowing them to communicate and learn from each other, establishing friendships that will last through their collegial and professional career.
Executive Board Meetings: The executive members of ASCE meet on a weekly basis to accomplish all their functions.
ASCE Regional Competition: Each year the national level of ASCE sponsors an engineering competition that tests the skills of universities from around the nation. The two major events in the competition are Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions. The concrete canoe is a competition in which a team designs a canoe made out of reinforced concrete that can be paddled by four people and is completely buoyant. The team spends the entire year making and testing concrete samples to improve upon previous designs. The steel bridge team meets weekly to work on their design for a twenty foot long steel model bridge that must support several thousand pounds of loading. These designs are then tested at a regional competition. If the school qualifies than they may proceed to the national competition.
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