ECH Houston

Representatives of various Houston engineering organizations have selected Mr. H. Thomas Kornegay, P.E. as the 2008 Houston Area “Engineer of the Year.” The selection of Mr. Kornegay is a result of his distinguished record of service to his profession, contributions to numerous technical and professional societies, and long-standing involvement in civic and humanitarian activities. Mr. Kornegay will be honored during the nationwide celebration of Engineers’ Week on Friday, February 22, 2008.

Appointed executive director of the Port of Houston Authority in April 1992, Mr. Kornegay served as the PHA’s managing director for five years. Since joining the PHA staff in April 1972, Mr. Kornegay worked his way through the ranks, serving in the engineering department for 15 years before being appointed as managing director.

Mr. Kornegay has been affiliated with the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) for more than 25 years and served as president for two years. He has served as chairman of the board of the American Association of Port Authorities and chairman of the U.S. Delegation of AAPA, which represents more than 140 public port authorities in the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. Kornegay also served as president of the Gulf Ports Association.

In February 2005, Mr. Kornegay was named among the “Annual Journal of Commerce Leadership Roll,” a listing of the top 12 leaders in trade and logistics organizations. The magazine cited his leadership in designing at the Barbours Cut Terminal in the 1970s and his leadership in the current construction of the Bayport Container Terminal.

He was appointed to serve on the executive committee of the Transportation Research Board, which is responsible for recommending transportation policy and programs to the National Research Council. He has also served on the board of directors of the World Trade Division of the Greater Houston Partnership and as a committee chairman for the Marine Board of the National Research Council and the College of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas.

The Houston Engineering Community is extremely proud to bestow upon Mr. Kornegay the honor of Houston Area “2008 Engineer of the Year” in recognition of his life long service and contributions to the engineering profession, and to his community. A licensed professional engineer in Texas, Mr. Kornegay serves on the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, the TSPE-Greater Houston Chapter, and the National Society of Professional Engineers.

For information on the 2008 Engineers’ Week Celebration, please contact Publicity Chair for HEW Committee: LaTasha Brown, TxDOT at (713) 802-5370 or lbrown2@dot.state.tx.us.

Or visit the website at www.houstonengineersweek.org.

9-Jan-08 7:00 PM

The National Engineers Week Houston Area Future City competition is in need of Engineer Mentors!

noemail@echhouston.org — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:30:00 GMT

The work for this year’s Future City competition is just beginning and we do not want to see this team of students miss out on this great opportunity. Please consider volunteering a small amount of your time to share your engineering experiences with these children as a Future City Engineer Mentor.

The role of mentor may be served by one person or a group of individuals, all of whom must be Engineers. Many times the mentor position is shared by several people from the same company, each taking turns meeting with students. It would not be necessary for the mentor to attend every meeting time.

This is only a three month commitment beginning in November and ending January 19th. The majority of the work is done through student-teacher interaction, so the mentor(s) typically only meet with their team of students once or twice every two weeks for about one hour each meeting. This means a possible minimum time commitment of just 6 hours over 3 months.

The Future City competition is an excellent program and needs the engineering community’s support! The list of schools in need of an Engineer Mentor is below. If you are interested and would like to participate, please contact me at andrew.hunt@mustangeng.com or the Future City Regional Coordinator Dr. Zafar Taqvi at z.taqvi@ieee.org or for additional information. If you are not able to help out this year, please pass this information to others that may be interested.

More About National Engineers Week Future City Competition

The mission of the National Engineers Week Future City Competition is to provide a fun and exciting educational engineering program for 7th and 8th grade students that combine a stimulating engineering challenge with a "hands-on" application to present their vision of a City of the Future.

This is accomplished by:

Fostering engineering skills, such as teamwork, communication and problem solving skills.
Providing interaction among students, teachers, and engineer mentors.
Informing the community about the multi-disciplines within the engineering profession.
Inspiring students to explore futuristic concepts and careers in engineering.

The National Engineers Week Future City Competition requires:

Problem-solving
Team work
Research and presentation skills
Practical math and science applications
Computer skills

The competition uses a team-based approach. All members of the team have an important role that is necessary for the completion of the project.

At the local school level, a team of 3 students, a teacher, and an engineer mentor complete a SimCity 3000 computer model, create a to-scale display model, and participate in a local competition held January 19th. The winning regional team, with the teacher and students fully sponsored, is sent to Washington D.C. to compete nationally during National Engineers Week.

The Regional Competition on Saturday, January 19th will be held at San Jacinto Community College.

I can be reached at:
andrew.hunt@mustaneng.com
713-350-7643 – Office Direct

979-324-0022 – Mobile Phone

Thank you for your help!

Andrew Hunt

Civil/Structural Engineering

Mustang Engineering, L.P.

Future Cities Competition Schools In Need of an Engineer Mentor

Please Contact the Teacher Directly. If you have any questions, contact Andrew Hunt at 713-350-7643 or andrew.hunt@mustangeng.com

Name of School: The Woodlands Preparatory School

Teacher: Michele Kosin

Email: mkosin@woodlandsprep.org

School Address: 27440 Kuykendahl Rd., The Woodlands 77389

School Phone: 281-516-0600

Link to Map

Name of School: San Jacinto Intermediate

Teacher: Maricela Rodriguez

Email: msrodriguez@pasadenaisd.org

School Address: 3102 San Augustine, Pasadena 77503

School Phone: 713-740-0480

Link to Map

Name of School: Deer Park Junior High

Teacher: Michael Schoen

Email: mschoen@dpisd.org

School Address: 410 E 9th Street, Deer Park 77536

School Phone: 832-668-7500

Link to Map

Name of School: T.H. Rogers School

Teacher: Thomas Wilson

Email: twilson2@houstonisd.org

School Address: 5840 San Felipe St, Houston 77057

School Phone: 713-917-3577

Link to Map

Name of School: Lutheran South Academy

Teacher: Sheila Psencik

Email: sheila.psencik@lea-hou.org

School Address: 12555 Ryewater Dr, Houston 77089

School Phone: 281-464-8299

Link to Map

Name of School: Al Hadi

Teacher: Fariba Nazemi

Email: nazemi35@att.net

School Address: 2313 South Voss Rd., Houston 77057

School Phone: 713-787-5000

Link to Map

Name of School: Hogg Middle School

Teacher: Juan Salinas

Email: jsalina1@houstonisd.org

School Address: 1100 Merrill St, Houston 77009

School Phone: 713-802-4700

Link to Map

Name of School: Cornerstone Academy
Teacher: Carla Barden
Email: carlotta.barden@springbranchisd.co
School Address: 9016 Westview Drive, Houston 77055
School Phone: 713-365-5766
Link to Map

Name of School: St Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School
Teacher: Mimi Stidham
Email: mstidham@seascs.org
School Address: 6646 Addicks-Satsuma Rd, Houston, TX 77084
School Phone: 713-365-5766
Link to Map

23-Oct-07 6:30 PM

The Knowledge Box: Making The Connection

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Article reprinted from American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) June 2007 Newsletter by Andy Ellis, National Board of Directors President.

The Knowledge Box is a traveling exhibit showcasing the many aspects of the oil and gas industry. It's purpose is to provide educators a forum to effectively present the petroleum industry, and to inform students of the vast career opportunities in the field. Designed to help teachers, this box includes teacher resources, hands-on activities and interactive lessons correlated to state and National Science Standards. This educational curriculum follows in line with other national initiatives such as “Project Learning Tree”, “Project Wild”, and “Project Wet”.

To give you an idea about the goals the Knowledge Box hopes to achieve, here are a few of the objectives.

• Discuss the importance of petroleum in our lives
• List several everyday objects made from petroleum
• Communicate connections between geology, petroleum and future careers
• Understand economic significance of the petroleum industry
• Explain the contributions of scientists and technology in the fields of geology and petroleum
• Analyze the effects of faulting, folding and earth’s movement
• Describe the origin of oil and natural gas
• Evaluate the economic and environmental impact/issues of fossil fuels
• Summarize the steps in locating, drilling and producing a well
• Compare and contrast land and offshore drilling and production

Several Chapters have already started sponsoring these Knowledge Boxes in their areas. If your chapter isn't listed yet, it's not too late. Contact your chapter representative for details or click here for more information:
http://www.aade.org/Downloads/KboxV1.pdf

29-Jun-07 10:00 AM

Nation's Governors Focus on Federal Role in Competiveness and Innovation

noemail@echhouston.org — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:00:00 GMT

The winter meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA) concluded with a plenary session focused on the federal role in promoting competitiveness and innovation in the states and across the nation.

According to an NGA press release, “State governments fund the majority of public education, set graduation and teacher standards, fund a substantial part of the applied research and development taking place in public universities and pursue specific policies for improving infrastructure, facilitating entrepreneurship and promoting cluster strategies. At the same time, the federal government has a major role to play in addressing the competitiveness challenge.”

The governors also discussed a legislative proposal that would create the framework to assist states, universities and the private sector to accelerate the rate of U.S. innovation by focusing on:

Improving the math and science proficiency of all children in grades K-12 in order to increase the number and quality of scientists and engineers who attend and graduate from college.
Promoting innovation broadly throughout the states and targeting innovative regions that compete globally.
Creating more flexible workforce programs.

For additional information, go to http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.6c9a8a9ebc6ae07eee28aca9501010a0/?vgnextoid=083e450163be0110VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=759b8f2005361010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD.

21-Mar-07 8:00 PM

Your Professional Home

noemail@echhouston.org — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Your Professional Home – Once upon a time, when many engineers spent most of their time at one corporation, you could build up a network of friends and colleagues to meet your needs. Furthermore, the corporation tried to meet you half way. They looked for a job where you fit fairly well, and they cared about your long-term development. Can you say that today?

Multi-Profession Careers – Once upon a time, the majority of people who got a degree in chemical engineering stayed with the profession throughout their career. Some became managers, sales engineers, etc., but they stayed within the chemical processing industry. That has changed significantly, and will change further with time. Professional societies can help you reduce the number of forced career changes, help you decide where to go next, help you get there, and help you come up to speed in your new career area.

Job Hunt Networking – Engineering is a cyclic business. There will come times when you need jobs, and they’re hard to find. At those times, the majority of jobs are found by networking. A professional society is a great place to network.

Active membership takes it a step further. Somebody you know casually in your professional society will be happy tell you about opportunities and pass your resume along. Furthermore, if you have worked closely with somebody in your professional society and you have favorably impressed them, they can give you valuable advice and vouch for you with their employer.

How to Job Hunt – During hard times, job hunting skills are critical. They aren’t taught at engineering school. The professional society and the people you meet there can provide critical information on how to job hunt in your field.

Source of Mentors – Once upon a time, every company had plenty of gray-haired engineers around to serve as mentors. That’s no longer true. Furthermore, finding a good mentor is like finding a good friend – not everybody is right for everybody else. You can look over lots of potential mentors at your professional society.

Technical Information – Once upon a time, there were lots of gray-haired engineers where you worked, and when you had a technical question, they had an answer. That is no longer true. However, there are lots of experienced engineers in your professional society. If you help other people, they will help you.

Networking for New Ideas – More people work for smaller companies, where technical resources are slimmer. In addition, people change jobs more frequently, and have fewer old friends to help and advise them at their current job. Your professional society can help fill these gaps.

Continuing Education - Professional societies offer continuing education for professional development and licensing requirements. The cost is far lower than commercial and university-sponsored classes.

Social – Professional societies offer opportunities for social friendships. For young engineers, there are young professional groups in the societies. Some societies have formal professional development programs for young members. STS-AIChE offers some good opportunities, and the programs of other societies are available through ECH (Science, Engineering & Technology Council of Houston).

Opportunity to Try New Job Functions – Interested engineers get to try functions such as sales, marketing, technical writing, teaching, etc., on a low risk basis. You get to learn and test yourself before changing jobs. If a field isn‘t for you on a full-time basis, you haven’t lost much. Or, it gives you a chance to broaden your skills without changing the main thrust of your career.

Work on Professional Skills – If you’d like a project to broaden your skills, the society will help you define a project where you can learn something of value to yourself, while you help your profession or society. This could help you explore or get into a new engineering specialty.

Project Management Experience – Perhaps you want to try managing a project or two on a low-risk basis, before you try it at work. Or, success at managing a project with your professional society could help convince a reluctant manager that you can handle it at work.

Supervisory Experience – Supervision of others is a skill that most engineers don’t learn quickly on the job, but it can be learned. Professional societies have courses on it, and you can practice being a committee chair or chapter officer.

Strategic Planning – Again, this is something you don’t automatically experience on the job, but can learn and practice in a professional society.

Experience Running Trade Shows & Meetings – Many businesses have events for advertising, demonstrating their skills, attracting new employees, etc. Again, participating in and running these events, is learned by experience, and professional societies are a great place to learn.

What if you have needs that the professional society doesn’t seem to meet? Perhaps the programs that STS-AIChE advertises don’t meet your particular needs. First, you can propose an idea that you feel would be mutual beneficial. As volunteer recruiter, you could come to me, and I’ll work with you. Second, there are many other professional societies that might meet your needs better. Visit the ECH web site: www.echhouston.org.

24-Feb-07 6:00 PM

Technical Communication: Your Profession. Your Career. Get the Most of Them.

noemail@echhouston.org — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Discover the Benefits of STC Membership. See attached file /attachments/wysiwyg/17/STCbrochure.pdf .

22-Feb-07 7:00 PM

Podcast on How to Build a Loyal Following for a Blog

noemail@echhouston.org — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:00:00 GMT

In this podcast interview with Anne Gentle, Information Developer at BMC Software, Inc., Anne discusses her popular blog on TalkBMC and gives advice on how to build a loyal following for a blog. Where does blogging fit in an enterprise communications strategy? Anne touches on this topic, and all the topics she is most enthusiastic about, like the technology that makes it easier for people to find information, social media, and wikis.

Download the podcast at http://talk.bmc.com/podcasts/podcast-gentle.

4-Feb-07 3:00 PM

Photos from ECH January Retreat

noemail@echhouston.org — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:00:00 GMT

Photos courtesy of Ed Johnson.

Officers (from left to right) Sunny Tang, Fred Stoerkel, Art Shroeder, Glenn Carlson, Brad Hoge, Bazel Crowe, Matt Kolodney

Vita Como

Vita's presentation on U of H future building plans

Bazel and Fred

Bill Rizer, Bazel, and Fred

Richard Howe

Brad Hoge

Matt Kolodney

Claudia Ludwig presenting check for SEFH (with Richard Howe)

Art Schroeder

Larry Spears

Sunny Tang

Victoria Rockwell

Young Professionals presentation and K. C. Dugal

K. C.

Deborah Silvi

U of H Main Campus - Now

30-Jan-07 9:00 PM

Photos from Young Professionals Reception

noemail@echhouston.org — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Photos from Young Professionals reception at Houston Museum of Natural Science in October 2006. ECH participated in sponsorship.

26-Jan-07 10:00 AM

Convocation on Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing Regions, States, and Cities

noemail@echhouston.org — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 15:00:00 GMT

Convocation on Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing Regions, States, and Cities

The purpose of the Convocation on Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing Regions, States, and Cities was to:

convene leadership of industry, government, research, and education community from all 50 states and the federal government
share knowledge and encourage leadership of initiatives at the state and local level to strengthen US competitiveness
discuss current national proposals to respond to the nation’s competitiveness challenge and their implications for states, localities, and regions

The focus of the convocation was on the key action areas identified in the National Academies report: Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. These include:

K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education
Higher education
Research
Innovation environment

To order a copy of the report, see http://fermat.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html.

The Convocation took place in Washington D.C. on September 28, 2006. The Convocation brought together over 600 government, industry, research and education leaders from all 50 states to discuss ways in which to advance U.S. competitiveness. The discussion focused on education, research and innovation; all key action areas identified in its report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" released earlier this year.

The Convocation was split into three parts: a morning plenary session that included marquee speakers from Congress, business and industry, and state government like Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST; a mid-day set of best practice workshops; and afternoon regional breakout sessions. ASME member Dr. John W. Ahlen, President of the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority, chaired the southeastern regional breakout session at this event.

This website will provide information as it is available: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/gatheringstorm/.

6-Oct-06 10:00 AM

Geophysical Society of Houston

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:00:00 GMT

The Geophysical Society of Houston was formed in 1947 to promote the science and profession of geophysics, and to foster fellowship and cooperation among all persons interested in geophysics. The GSH forms the heart of a Houston-based geophysical community and gives opportunities to interact with colleagues throughout the profession. GHS is the largest Section of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

Bill Gafford
geogaf@hal-pc.org

14811 St. Mary’s Lane, Suite 250

Houston, TX 77079

(281) 370-3264

United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE)

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:05:15 GMT

The United States Association for Energy Economics was founded in 1994 to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experience and issues among professionals interested in energy economics. USAEE is the largest affiliate of the International Association for Energy Economics, which is as worldwide in it's scope, as are its members, who come from diverse backgrounds - corporate, academic, scientific and government.

Jonathan Story
jonathan.story@chevron.com

Chevron Corporation

Bellaire, TX 77401

(713) 432-3119

United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE)

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:18:27 GMT

The United States Association for Energy Economics was founded in 1994 to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experience and issues among professionals interested in energy economics. ISAEE is the largest affiliate of the International Association for Energy Economics, which is as worldwide in it's scope, as are its members, who come from diverse backgrounds - corporate, academic, scientific and government.

The USAEE Houston Chapter is committed to expanding the reach of energy information in both the private and public sectors of Houston, and the surrounding area.

Jonathan Story
jonathan.story@chevron.com

4800 Fournace

Bellaire, TX 77401

(713) 432-3119

Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC)

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 02:00:00 GMT

The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council is a national nonprofit organization established in 1994 by producers, state organizations and the DOE to connect people and impact domestic production. PTTC distributes applied technology information via newsletters, websites, exhibitions, as well as participation in workshop and industry events. While emphasizing the needs of independent oil and gas producers, PTTC’s activities also benefit consultants, service and supply companies, and other industry participants. The connections achieved and technology information transferred through PTTC’s programs are reducing costs and increasing recovery in existing mature fields, expanding recovery from unconventional reservoirs, profitably developing ever-smaller domestic production and reserves, and increasing environmental stewardship.

Lance Cole
lcole@pttc.org

P.O. Box 246

Sand Springs, OK 74063

(918) 241-5801

Texas Southern University

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:00:11 GMT

TSU is a special purpose institution of higher education for urban programming. Located near the heart of downtown Houston. TSU is one of two comprehensive Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the world and one of only two, four-year colleges in Texas with an open enrollment policy, accepting all eligible students with a high school diploma or GED equivalent. The university measures its success by the impact its graduates have on society. TSU has served as a cornerstone for developing the greatest potential in leaders from various socioeconomic, cultural, and racial backgrounds.

Fisayo Jejelowo
Jejelowo_OA@tsu.edu

3100 Cleburne Street

Houston, TX 77004

(713) 313-7841

Association of Chief Operating Engineers (ACOE)

Thu, 24 May 2007 02:00:00 GMT

The A.C.O.E. is a Professional organization offering fellowship, networking and continuing education for Stationary Engineers. Our goal is education for Chiefs, and the industrial equivalent, who have a special interest in the practices of plant engineering, as well as to help produce the Chiefs of the future by training them today.

Danny Rodriguez
dannyr@metronational.com

P. O. Box 53616

Houston, 77052

(713) 586-6260

Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC)

Thu, 24 May 2007 02:00:00 GMT

HARC fosters the implementation of policies and technologies based on rigorous principles of social science, natural science, and engineering.

Linda Birchfield
lburchfield@harc.edu

4800 Research Forest Drive

The Woodlands, TX 77381

(281) 363-7984

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:30:00 GMT

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 133,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide, and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE's vision is to position engineers as global leaders building a better quality of life. The Houston Branch of ASCE was established in 1943 and currently has a subscribing membership of over 1,300 members.

LeAnne Napolillo
LNapolillo@HNTB.com

13280 Northwest Freeway #F351

Houston, TX 77040

(713) 357-2026

American Society of Mechanical Engineers - South Texas Section (ASME)

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:00:00 GMT

The South Texas Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is one of many local ASME sections across the nation. The South Texas Section has more than 4000 members spread across South East Texas including metropolitan Houston. The primary mission of the STS is to provide for the continuous improvement of our members through professional development lectures, seminars, trade shows, and networking events so that they can strive to be the best mechanical engineers possible.

Ryan Schmidt
schmidtr2@asme.org

P.O. Box 25045

Houston, TX 77265

(832) 545-3103