ASCE Plot Points Podcast American Society of Civil Engineers

Diniece Mendes is director for freight mobility at the New York City Department of Transportation and serves on the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute’s Board of Governors.
She’s also – as of this spring – a movie star.
Mendes is one of five ASCE members to feature in the new IMAX film Cities of the Future, playing on giant screens around the world.
In episode 166 of ASCE Plot Points, Mendes talks about the movie experience, living and working in New York, and what she sees as the most important things that civil engineers need to do to bring the cities of the future to life.

Los Angeles is No. 1 on the 2024 list of ASCE Best Places for Civil Engineers.

That’s three straight years for L.A., if you’re keeping track at home.

So what’s the city’s secret to success? What’s so special about the civil engineering scene there?

Ruwanka Purasinghe, P.E., M.ASCE, civil engineering associate for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and president-elect of the ASCE Los Angeles Section, has some answers.


In episode 165 of ASCE Plot Points, Purasinghe talks about, yes, what makes Los Angeles such a great place for civil engineers.

Aaron Shavel is New York through and through. Born and raised there – and now works as a project manager for TCE, specializing in rail infrastructure.
And New York breeds a certain kind of toughness.
Where did Shavel learn his civil engineering toughness?
From his civil engineering mom.

In episode 164 of ASCE Plot Points, Shavel talks about growing up around his mom’s civil engineering projects as a kid and why he thinks now is a golden age for civil engineering.

Erin Novini has blended chemical engineering with environmental engineering as an engineering specialist for consulting firm Trihydro since 2005.
And in that nearly two-decade span, she’s seen sustainability develop in the corporate world quite a bit.
In the conclusion of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee’s sustainability miniseries, Novini discusses her career, her work, and how she sees sustainability playing in the corporate space.

It’s part two of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee’s sustainability mini-series on the ASCE Plot Points podcast.
Christopher Chini started his undergrad studies at Texas A&M majoring in computer science. But found he wanted to make a more tangible, direct impact on communities and on the environment.
Today, he’s a research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Labs and a former chair of the EWRI Sustainability Committee.
And in episode 162 of ASCE Plot Points, Chini talks with guest hosts Brianne Duncan and Wendy Cohen about his sustainability work.

This Earth Day, the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute’s Environmental Health and Water Quality Committee is a launching a sustainability mini-series on ASCE Plot Points.
Three podcasts this week; three different sustainability professionals discussing how they’ve navigated their careers to keep issues of sustainability at the forefront.
Up first is Emily Grubert, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, associate professor of sustainable energy policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.