Hello and Happy Holidays to the ASCE Wisconsin Southwest Branch! While we aren’t back to normal yet we are trying to get there. With the help of you and the board we are hoping to have a great year getting back the Section, Branch, and Younger Member activities that we have missed. To comply with the ASCE National memo and to do what we can to help keep our members safe we are going to be pursuing only virtual options until January 3, 2022 and then hoping the current situation improves to allow for in-person meetings again. We had a quiet summer with one event by SW Branch Younger Member Group (YMG). The YMG held an outdoor social event on July 22 at the Olbrich Park Biergarten. The event was sponsored by the Southwest Branch who provided a drink ticket and appetizers. We had a smaller turnout than hoped for but were happy to see those that could make it. We are all looking forward to seeing many more branch members in the future. Thank you to the Northwest Branch for hosting the Annual meeting in September. It was a virtual event but had great presentations starting with spotlight ethics presentation by John Frauenhoffer and followed by the keynote speaker K.N. “Guna” Gunalan discussing “Engineering in the Future”. Then there were three technical sessions covering a myriad of topics. I hope many of you were able to attend. On November 4th the 2021 SW Branch Scholarship dinner was held with a presentation by Dean Arnold featuring information and photos from the construction of the Lone Rock truss bridge over the Wisconsin River. Then the branch awarded scholarships to three deserving civil engineering students. Congratulations to Ryan Mai, Taylor Hopkins and Austin Kaszubski on being selected this year. Thank you to the private sponsors, Wisconsin Section and Southwest branch board for continuing to make this annual support of students entering the industry possible. Looking to the future, the Southwest Branch and the YMG are planning to host meetings and events over the winter and spring months. If you have not already done so, please check our website and calendar for updates to upcoming events! The board has opted to have more of the meeting fees subsidized by the SW Branch to keep costs down and as a thank you for sticking with us during the last 18 months where we haven’t been able to meet like normal. I invite you to get more information by checking out our branch website (ascewisw.org) or Facebook page. These are great ways to keep up with branch activities. These are updated frequently to reflect the latest news, meeting information and opportunities for involvement. We are always looking for feedback from our members on what we can do to help you out more. Please feel free to contact me anytime at ASCEWISW.President@gmail.com with any comments, suggestions or requests. |
| Thank you, Matt Buckli, P.E. ASCE Wisconsin Southwest Branch President |