Post Notes Archives

San Diego and Orange County Posts Support Military Families at Camp Pendleton Day

The annual Camp Pendleton Day symposium, which is hosted jointly by the SAME San Diego and Orange County Posts, garnered unprecedented support by A/E/C industry professionals and uniformed personnel. Held at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., South Mesa Ballroom on June 23, the event brought together nearly 700 attendees from the public and private sectors, 70 exhibitors and more than 50 sponsoring organizations. Two charities that support local military families, Operation Homefront and Armed Services YMCA, were the beneficiaries of $30,000 in proceeds raised from the event.

The agenda included a slate of distinguished speakers who delivered a timely and relevant program on the theme of “Energy, Energy, Energy!” The program focused on the growing investments in energy initiatives and how Marine Corps Installation West (MCIWEST) and Navy Region Southwest have asserted their leadership in this arena via precedent-setting initiatives in energy management and sustainability. Against this backdrop, keynote speaker Maj. Gen. Anthony L. Jackson, USMC, Commanding General, MCIWEST, was joined by policy-level speakers from Navy Region Southwest, Naval Installations Command, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) and San Diego Gas & Electric.

The program kicked off with a welcome from Capt. James Wink, USN, Executive Officer of NAVFAC Southwest and SAME San Diego Post President, and Jim Carter, Orange County Post President. Gen. Jackson then delivered a powerful and inspiring talk on his views of the struggles in the Middle East and how our country needs to respond. He recalled memories of waiting in line to get gas during the energy embargo in the 1970s, and also of sitting in 16 lanes of gridlocked traffic on southern California’s I-5 freeway. Gen. Jackson challenged the A/E/C industry to develop future technologies and implement existing ones that improve our use of energy and eventually eliminate our reliance on foreign oil.

The remainder of the program delivered a comprehensive overview of energy reduction mandates, challenges, budgets and upcoming contracting opportunities at Navy and Marine Corps bases throughout the Southwest. Cdr. Gus Lim, USN, Camp Pendleton Public Works Officer, discussed the opportunities and challenges facing the base with the sometimes conflicting needs of training activities and geographical constraints with energy programs. Kathy Stewart, NAVFAC Southwest Resources & Assessments Product Line Coordinator, followed with a presentation detailing the challenges to energy programs with a focus on environmental considerations.

Tom Bialek of San Diego Gas and Electric discussed plans for installation of energy security and microgrid technology in San Diego County and at Camp Pendleton, and Andy Paterson of the Environmental Business Journal gave a very interesting talk on the current state of affairs in Washington, D.C., including projections and predications for the 2012 presidential and congressional elections. Dr. Bob Wolff, SAME Executive Director, provided his comments on the SAME organization and our direction moving forward. He also presented a stirring video on the Quality of Life Plus program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo that utilizes the engineering lab and students to create new assistive devices for our wounded and disabled military personnel.

The event was punctuated by the charity donations, which, as a result of the extraordinary support for Camp Pendleton Day, allowed the Orange County and San Diego Post Presidents, together with Dr. Wolff, to present Operation Homefront and the Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA with donations of $15,000 each.

Outreach to the A/E and contractor community included support from the cooperating organizations of the SAME Inland Empire and Los Angeles Posts; the American Council of Engineering Companies Orange County and San Diego chapters; Associated General Contractors–California; the Business Development Association of Orange County; the Professional Environmental Marketing Association; the Society for Marketing Professional Services Orange County and San Diego chapters; the Women’s Environmental Council San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles chapters; the Women’s Transportation Seminar; and the Construction Management Association of America.

Presentations are available on the SAME Orange County and San Diego Posts’ websites. Additionally, several of the key players from the event, including Gen. Jackson and several of the speakers, were interviewed on internet radio for the event. These interviews are available for listening or downloading at www.wsradio.com.

Future Engineers Benefit from Minneapolis-St. Paul Post Education Grant Program

The SAME Minneapolis-St. Paul Post has long supported the SAME goal to encourage young members of the local community to explore future careers in engineering. In years past, the Post has provided scholarships, sponsored SAME engineering camps and supported local engineering and science programs. Recently, at the Post’s April meeting, the Post membership saw firsthand the benefits from the launching of an Education Grant Program for elementary and high-school students more than two years ago.

Cheri Warmka, a teacher at Harriet Bishop Elementary School in Savage, Minn., was able to purchase two stream tables for the school as the result of a grant awarded by the Post last year. The stream tables allow students to study how variables like rate of flow or ground cover can change the impact of the water on the land. Rain and wave simulators also make it possible to study many real-world situations. With the purchase of this equipment, the school was able to implement the Minnesota science standards in a hands-on way, making it fun for the students to learn.

Ms. Warmka and two of her students, Matt and Anna, gave a presentation about their use of stream tables in science class at the Post’s April meeting. Matt and Anna talked excitedly about all they learned on how water will go where it wants to go, no matter how hard they tried to manage or control it. Matt and Anna used their creativity to recreate situations they read or heard about in the news. Matt set up an experiment to determine how to protect bluffs along the Mississippi River from erosion. Anna set up a leaky pipe to investigate formation of a sinkhole beneath a sidewalk. Ms. Warmka expressed how thankful she was to have been able to receive the grant funds and put them to use on an asset that will be used for years to come in helping give the students firsthand experience with the dynamics of water.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Post is refreshed to see how the ingenuity and creativity of our school teachers, such as Ms. Warmka, is helping develop young minds. Without a doubt, Matt and Anna will make great engineers in the not too distant future. Matt and Anna were awarded Minneapolis-St. Paul Post coins as a token of the Post’s appreciation for their great presentation to one of the most widely-attended Post meetings this year.

Wayne Wambold, Minneapolis-St. Paul Post

Denver Metro Post Sponsors, Operates Engineering Explorer Post 827

The SAME Denver Metropolitan Post has completed three years of sponsorship and operation of Explorer Post 827, an Explorer Post specializing in engineering for young women and men ages 14 to 22.  Operating under the Boy Scouts of America Learning for Life Program, 32 youth explored careers in structural engineering, architecture, hydrology, geology, mechanical engineering and computer engineering during the 2011 session. SAME Sustaining Member Companies and other organizations who sponsored or contributed to meetings include HDR, Leo A Daly, Colorado School of Mines, Synthes USA, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Several of the nearly 100 youth who have participated in the SAME Denver Metro Post-sponsored Engineering Explorer program over the last three years are now pursuing engineering degrees. America’s youth are the future of our nation, and introducing our brightest and most capable young women and men to careers in engineering helps assure America’s greatness for future generations.

Boston Post Awards 18 Scholarships at Annual Spring Meeting

The Boston Post held its 51st annual Spring Meeting on May 10 at the Marriott Hotel in Newton, Mass. Attended by more than 300 Post Sustaining Members, sponsors and guests, the event was a rousing success.  This year’s guest speaker, John Warner, Ph.D., of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry (formerly of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell), discussed the growing use of green chemistry, how it can change our daily lives for the better and why it offers a growing and exciting field for today’s students.

The highlight of the evening, as always, was the awarding of scholarships to deserving engineering students from 11 local colleges and universities. Scholarship funds were raised through revenues received from scholarship endowments, the Post’s two annual golf tournaments, Small Business Committee activities and the Spring Meeting itself. This year, the Boston Post awarded scholarships totaling $57,000 to 18 wonderful young Americans to pursue careers in engineering and science. Since the Boston Post started awarding scholarships, it has given out well over $1 million to help further the education of hundreds of students, many of whom have since gone on to work for SAME member firms.