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The American Society of Civil Engineers’ Oregon section recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. The weekend was marked by a reception at OMSI as well as an engineering competition sponsored by Portland State University. Civil engineering students from 14 schools around the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia, competed in a variety of engineering-related activities. Those included building bridges, constructing a concrete canoe, surveying and presenting papers. The event concluded with a dinner for the 370 students who participated.

The profession is in good hands for the future. The student engineers who participated in this event will be the leaders of tomorrow. These engineers exhibited creativity and intelligence as well as a knowledge of the engineering profession. Some of the students explained their budding professional activities in ways that are far beyond their years. Some of the local schools’ students acquitted themselves quite well. Some went up to the stage to get awards more than once.

This dinner was a peek into the future of the engineering profession. Criticism of the younger generation often is a topic of conversation among the profession’s more senior members. Yet none of that criticism would be well placed at this event. The challenges that are facing these future professionals will be challenges of environment, societal support of projects as well as financing. But expertise will not be lacking.

The civil engineers of the future will be dealing with issues that the current crop of engineers can only begin to understand. These are issues such as limited resources and projects with a much higher degree of sensitivity to the environment.

In addition, the general population is much more involved in making decisions on projects nowadays than in the past. The previous generations of engineers had the luxury of carrying reputations as experts who understood social needs and constructed the projects. This generation will have to operate in a consensual environment that requires more work on the social and public involvement side than their forefathers ever faced.

In Oregon in particular, engineers will have to gauge the appetite of residents for signature projects. If the recent past is any indication, then this indeed will be a tall challenge for these professionals to tackle. Arguments will have to be made to engage the population before major infrastructure replacement projects are built. Oregonians have not shown that they have the appetite for the level of infrastructure investment that their forefathers and grandfathers had.

Christian Steinbrecher is president of Columbia River Port Engineers Inc. and the immediate past president of the Oregon Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is the editor of ASCE Oregon’s Report Card on Oregon’s Infrastructure. Contact him at cfs@[email protected].