What civil engineers are reading this week

• ASCE voters choose Haddock as president-elect, support simplified member grades

  “Together we can accomplish great things,” says Carol Ellinger Haddock, the Society’s next president-elect. Also, member grades simplification received enough votes to be installed into the ASCE Constitution.

• Texas concludes it is running out of water

  State lawmakers consider extending for 20 more years a big $1 billion annual water-related spending account they established in 2023 to help avoid what they finally view as an impending catastrophe.

• Huge planet discovered around tiny red star challenges our concept of solar systems

  Scientists discover a giant planet called TOI-6894b, orbiting a star that should be far too small to have formed it. The discovery could further challenge theories of planet formation.

• University of Florida earns 5th straight Student Steel Bridge Competition victory

  Topping 43 competitors, the Florida Gators student team placed first in both stiffness and efficiency. What makes them win year after year? See how other universities fared.

• US Supreme Court changes the game on federal environmental reviews

  For lawyers, industry, advocates, and the courts, environmental review after the Eagle County, Colorado, decision is not just a new ballgame. It is a new sport. 

• Mysterious ‘mega-tsunamis’ that shook the entire world for 9 days revealed by satellite

  A new satellite has captured the first direct evidence of a mysterious nine-day seismic signal that shook the world in 2023.