ASCE Plot Points Podcast American Society of Civil Engineers

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.

Is civil engineering leadership about people? Or is civil engineering leadership about technical expertise?
Yes.
Civil engineering leadership is all of that and more in 2024.
Lauren Taylor is a great example of civil engineering leader in the modern era, blending people skills with project management.
Taylor Taylor works for WSP, based in Austin, Texas, as the Texas planning and advisory services lead.
Last month, she was named an ENR Top 20 under 40 young professional.
In episode 160 of ASCE Plot Points, Taylor discusses her approach to civil engineering leadership and why she loves it.

“We all want to do something that matters,” Isabella Salgado says.
She is a civil engineer for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and the social activities chair for the ASCE Los Angeles Younger Member Forum.
And one way she’s found recently to connect to something larger is advocating for the profession as part of the ASCE Legislative Fly-In.
In episode 159 of ASCE Plot Points, Salgado talks about her eye-opening trip to Washington, DC (including meeting one of her idols), and how she’s following in the footsteps of her civil engineering mother, Minerva Rodriguez.

Travis St. Louis and Michael Palmer are evangelists of sorts for modular construction and design.
Each took their backgrounds in architectural engineering and moved into the modular construction practice from different angles – St. Louis on more of the civil engineering side as an enclosure engineer and associate principal for Simpson, Gumpertz, and Heger based in Oakland, California; and Palmer more on the business side as head of strategy and real estate for the Volumetric Building Companies, headquartered in Philadelphia.
In episode 158 of ASCE Plot Points, St. Louis and Palmer discuss all things modular, and why it might be the future of construction.

Alyssa Sooklal, P.E., M.ASCE, has accomplished a lot early in her career.
She works as a water resources engineer for McCormick Taylor in Baltimore, and serves as president of ASCE’s Maryland Younger Members Group.
But it hasn’t come without moments of frustration or insecurity.
Office politics are a real thing, especially when you’re a woman in the civil engineering industry – and especially if you’re a woman sensing competition with other women in your industry.
It’s not always easy to navigate.
In episode 157 of ASCE Plot Points, Sooklal discusses how she’s worked to avoid those situations and focused on building partnerships not rivalries.