Cecil's Corner (EWRI 2002-2003 President)

Cecil Lue-Hing, D.Sc., P.E., F. ASCE - EWRI 2002-2003 President

Nearly five years ago, I said yes to a group of my colleagues on the ASCE Environmental Engineering EXCOM, who suggested that as past chair, I take on the role of Vice President of the, soon to be created, Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE. Having been involved in some of the discussions associated with the Institute's creation, I was fully aware of the fact that I was taking on a five-year assignment. So far I have survived my first three years, two as Vice President, and one as President-elect with minimum wear and tear, and look forward to the privilege of serving my fourth year as your President for 2003. My goal here is to briefly introduce myself to you, and hopefully engage you in lengthier (but not too lengthy) conversations in future columns.

Like so many of you, my association with ASCE started as a Student Member, and like many of you, I have served on several committees, chaired some, contributed to manuals, monographs, and other society publications as a writer or reviewer. Again like many of you, I felt obligated to give something back to an organization which was there when I needed professional guidance, support, and mentoring. My seniors in the Society membership with whom I had the good fortune to work, learn and mature professionally, instilled in me the notion that the most satisfying part of receiving, is the act of giving back. Hence my commitment to help make EWRI and ASCE the premier professional organizations we all want them to be.

As a Fellow and Life Member of the Society and now your President, I have witnessed growth, and many changes in the organization, not the least of which is the creation of the Institutes. I personally believe that the Institutes represent a very positive step in the right direction, and I plan to continue to work tirelessly to make them and particularly EWRI the success they deserve to be.

Among the issues I plan to pursue in my short term as President, is that of better communication between the Governing Board, its committees and the membership at large. As a first step, we will begin immediately to communicate more frequently with you via mechanisms such as Board Grams, and Board Alerts etc. which will give you virtually real time reports on what your Governing Board is doing, and the decisions it makes on your behalf. However, it takes two to have a conversation, so you are invited to write to us because we want to hear from you.

In my next column, I will share with you some of my other ideas for 2003, and what I see around the "CORNER."