More than 6,200 civil engineers and allied professionals serve on numerous technical committees and provide other services that benefit the Society and the profession. The Society's Technical Activities Committee (TAC) has 12 Divisions and Councils, some of which are further divide into committees. The 12 Divisions and Councils include the following:
- Aerospace Division (ASD)
- Committee on Metrication (COM)
- Committee on Sustainability (CS)
- Council on Disaster Reduction (CDR)
- Energy Division (EYD)
- Geomatics Division (GMD)
- Pipeline Division (PLD)
- Technical Council on Cold Regions Engineering (TCCRE)
- Technical Council on Computers and IT (TCCIT)
- Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE)
- Lifeline and Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE)
- Technical Council on Wind Engineering (TCWE)
ASCE also has eight full-service institutes created to serve working professionals working within specialized fields of civil engineering:
- the Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI)
- the Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI)
- the Construction Institute (CI)
- the Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI)
- the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI)
- the Geo-Institute (G-I)
- the Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI)
- the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI))
ASCE is an ANSI accredited standards development organization that produces consensus standards under direction of the Codes and Standards Activities Committee. Civil Engineering Certification Inc. (CEC), affiliated with ASCE, has been established to support specialty certification academies for civil engineering specialties. The Committee on Critical Infrastructure (CCI) provides vision and guidance on ASCE activities related to critical infrastructure resilience, including planning, design, construction, O&M, and event mitigation, response and recovery. ASCE also serves as Secretariat for The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP), a public-private partnership focused on improving the nation's criti, affiliated with ASCE, provides a multi-discipline security rating system for buildings and a certified professional building security credential for individuals.
Peer reviews
ASCE provides peer reviews of public agencies and projects, at their request. Peer reviews are "a means to improve the management and quality of [public agency] services and thus better protect the public health and safety with which they are entrusted." But in 2007, several complaints arose about its participation in the investigation of the failure of floodwalls and levees in New Orleans after Katrina. In response, ASCE announced the appointment of retired U.S. Rep Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., to lead an independent task force of outside experts to review how the professional organization participates in engineering studies of national significance. Task force will review engineers' studies- NOLA.com ASCE President David Mongan said the review is aimed at addressing criticisms of the organization's role in assisting the Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored investigation of Katrina failures. The results, released on September 12, 2008 recommended that the society should immediately take steps to remove the potential for conflict of interest in its participation in post-disaster engineering studies.
Controversy in New Orleans levee investigation
In October 2005, after the failures of the federally designed and built levees in Greater New Orleans, Lt Gen Carl Strock P.E.,M.ASCE, commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers requested that ASCE create an expert review panel (ERP) to peer review the Corps-sponsored Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), the body commissioned by the Corps to assess the performance of the hurricane protection system in metro New Orleans. Lawrence Roth P.E.,F.ASCE, Deputy Executive Director of the ASCE led the ERP development, served as the panel's Chief of Staff and facilitated the panel's interaction with IPET. The role of the ERP - composed of 14 specialists who possess a range of technical expertise - was to provide an independent technical review of the IPET's activities and findings. Roth stated at a National Research Council meeting in New Orleans, that "an independent review panel" such as the ERP "ensure[s] that the outcome is a robust, credible and defensible performance evaluation." All members of the ERP panel received Outstanding Civilian Service Medals from Lt. Gen Strock on February 12, 2007. The ERP's findings were released three months later on June 1, 2007 in a report entitled
The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why.
Shortly after the release of the ERP's findings, ASCE administration was criticized by The Times-Picayune for an apparent attempt to minimize and understate the role of the Army Corps in the flooding. The Times-Picayune editorial called attention to a press release issued by ASCE which accompanied the ERP report that contained information not present in the report and information that conflicted with the report.
On November 5, 2007, New Orleans-based grassroots group
Levees.Org released an online Public Service Announcement criticizing the ASCE's close relationship with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Levees.Org » Watch our new Public Service Announcement! On November 12, 2007 the ASCE asked Levees.Org to take the video off of the internet, threatening the organization with legal action. Engineer group not amused by online spoof of levee review- NOLA.com On November 13, the Times-Picayune reposted the controversial video on their website. Controversial Levees.org video - New Orleans Video - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
On November 14, 2007, following the controversial video affair, the ASCE confirmed the launch of an internal ethics probe of its staff and members based on complaints Microsoft Word - W F Marcuson III_a_.doc by University of California-Berkeley professor Dr. Raymond B. Seed, who served on a separate independent panel investigating levee failures. President David Mongan, in a letter to the Times Picayune, assured the citizens of metro New Orleans that ASCE takes "this matter very seriously and that appropriate actions are being taken." ASCE is investigating- NOLA.com
On December 14, 2007, Levees.Org reposted the controversial video to the internet citing Louisiana's Anti-SLAPP statute which allows courts to weed out lawsuits designed to chill public participation on matters of public significance. Levees.org reposts controversial video - New Orleans News - NOLA.com
In March 2008, Levees.Org announced that records obtained in a request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that as early October 2005, the US Army Corps of Engineers directed the ASCE and later paid the group more than $1.1 million for their peer review and for giving presentations which the non-profit claimed contained at least 10 falsehoods, 4 significant omissions and numerous misrepresentations. Members of the ASCE are forbidden from making false or exaggerated statements and also from making statements for an interested party unless this is disclosed. Levees.org founder accuses Corps of spinning blame | News for New Orleans, Louisiana | Top Stories | News for New Orleans, Louisiana | wwltv.com