AAWRE Ceremony and Special Sessions Announced for EWRI Congress

AAWRE Ceremony May 2009 Inductees - Kansas City

AAWRE Diplomate Induction Ceremony (Tuesday, May 24)

6:00 pm to 6:40 pm

American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE) will host its 7^th annual Diplomate Induction Ceremony at the EWRI's World Environmental & Water Resources Congress in Palm Springs on May 24. AAWRE will honor five new Honorary Diplomates Keith S. Dunbar, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE; John T. Morris, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE; Otis J. Sproul, D.Sc., P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE; W.E. Bill West, Jr.; Don J. Wood, Ph.D., F.ASCE and recognize all new Diplomates who earned the Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (D.WRE) certification from fall 2010 to spring 2011. Ceremony speakers will include EWRI President Rollin Hotchkiss, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE; ASCE Past-President Blaine Leonard, P.E., D.GE, F.ASCE; and AAWRE President S.K. Nanda, P.E., P.H., D.WRE, F.ASCE. At this event, you will have the opportunity to meet and congratulate the new Inductees and interface with ceremony participants and attendees.

AAWRE Special Sessions

AAWRE is sponsoring special engineering sessions the week of May 23-25, at the 2011 EWRI World Water and Environmental Resources Congress. The Academy will conduct two separate engineering ethics panel discussion sessions and an additional two Expert Witness sessions. These sessions are to provide all attendees a convenient opportunity to fulfill annual Professional Development Hour (PDH) Ethics requirements. The sessions will be presented as interactive 2-hour courses, with opportunities for small group discussions. These sessions will be a solid opportunity for engineers to freshen up on engineering ethics and to gain understanding of what other engineers consider to be the best solutions to specific cases presented.

Monday, May 23

Being an Effective Expert Witness (10:45 am to 12:45 pm)

Rick Van Bruggen, P.E., D.WRE

The role of the expert witness in litigation support and trial testimony will be discussed, offering various methods for being a more effective expert, both in dealing with your client lawyer, and providing more effective and memorable testimony to the judge and jury at trial. The process of delivery of testimony will be discussed in the context of the expert being the teacher, and the jury his class. Six persuasive strategies for making complex technical concepts more understandable to the jury will be presented by way of examples in the field of water resources engineering.

Panel Discussion on Engineering Ethics (1:15 pm to 3:15 pm)

Steve Starrett, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE (moderator), Don Frevert, P.E., D.WRE, Amy Lara, Ph.D., Brian Wahlin, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, Lisa Wahlin, Esq.

A diverse group of panelists (Don Frevert, retired government engineer; Dr. Amy Lara, philosophy professor; Brian Wahlin, consulting engineer; Lisa Wahlin, attorney) will be discussing what they feel are the most challenging ethical situations engineers are currently facing and what approaches they use to solve dilemmas. Steve Starrett, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE will facilitate discussion.

Tuesday, May 24

Panel Discussion on Engineering Ethics (1:15 pm to 3:15 pm)

Steve Starrett, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE (moderator), Don Frevert, P.E., D.WRE, Amy Lara, Ph.D., Brian Wahlin, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, Lisa Wahlin, Esq.

Wednesday, May 25

How to be an Effective Expert Witness (11:00 am to 1:00 pm)

Kenneth Goodwin, Esq. and Michael Ports, P.E., P.H., D.NE, D.WRE, F.ASCE

Serving as an expert witness is both a vital service to the judicial system and a secondary means of income production to the expert engineer. Most states follow the federal rules and case law regarding the qualities an expert must possess to be accepted as an expert in any given field and, thus, permitted to testify. Qualifying for Diplomate status in the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers would be a minimum baseline of education and experience for qualifying as an expert in court. Beyond that baseline, experience in the specific areas relevant to the issues of the case in which the expert is asked to render an opinion are absolutely critical. The session will explore the legal basis for allowing expert testimony, the qualifications an expert must possess in order to qualify to render an opinion on any given subject, what an attorney looks for in an expert, how to approach the "project of serving as an expert witness," rendering the expert report, giving an expert deposition, and giving live testimony at trial. Extensive questions will be encouraged and anecdotal examples of "good" (i.e., effective) and "bad" (i.e., ineffective) testimony will be presented.

AAWRE's mission is to improve the practice, elevate standards, and advance the profession of water resources engineering by certifying engineers with specialized knowledge in water resources, recognizing the ethical practice of water resources engineering at the expert level, encouraging continued professional development for engineers, and supporting positions on water resources issues important to the public health. The Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (D.WRE) credential program is the first voluntary, post-licensure, advanced-level specialty certification program created under Civil Engineering Certification, Inc. (CEC) and ASCE. For more info: www.aawre.org

American Academy of Water Resources Engineers
1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191 USA
Phone:703-295-6414 Fax:703-295-6415
E-mail:[email protected]