The Engineers' Extra
The Raleigh Engineers Club (REC) has been in existence since 1926. The club seeks to promote the Engineering field through monthly technical meetings and support of those pursuing a future in the Engineering discipline. We award an annual scholarship to a Raleigh area graduating high school senior to enter the school of engineering at NC State. Our members have a diverse background of engineering disciplines and represent several companies and government agencies located in the Raleigh area.
The Raleigh Engineers Club
Join the Raleigh Engineers Club!
Annual membership is only $35 per year and the meeting costs are a value with lunch included! Our goal is to provide great programs to its members, offer licensed members an opportunity for continuing education credits, and award a semester of tuition to NC State University. The scholarship goes to a deserving, graduating Raleigh area high school senior choosing engineering as a career at NC State. Membership is available to anyone working in support of the engineering profession. You do not have to be an engineer. Download an application here and bring it and your payment with you to the next meeting or email the completed application to secretary@raleighengineersclub.org. We'll get you on the mailing list right away!
The Raleigh Engineers Club has monthly lunch meetings that cover engineering topics of interest to all types of engineers and people interested in engineering activities regardless of discipline. The Raleigh Engineers Club is a NC Board of Registration for Engineers Certified provider of professional development hours (PDH credits) for licensed engineers. Eleven meetings are held annually with one set aside for scholarship awards and updates on successes of engineering graduates from NCSU. So ten professional development hours are provided each year. Note that you do not need to be a licensed engineer or a graduate engineer to be a member! View our Constitution and Bylaws !
Chelsea Parkinson, PE
2020 Club President
Announcements
- Scholarship Donations - Each year we offer one scholarship for one semester of NCSU tuition paid to one Wake County high school graduate who is entering their Freshman year at NCSU and have been accepted into the College of Engineering. The success of our scholarship depends on your donations. If you would like to donate, you can do so through our Eventbrite or on any meeting event or anytime on our 2021 Raleigh Engineers Club Membership Dues Event.
- 2021 Membership Dues - You can pay for your 2021 dues starting today. The promo code for free webinars is included in your confirmation email of your paid dues. Click on this link to pay now if you are not already registering for this webinar.
- The Raleigh Engineers Club is continuing to offer free webinars to their members. The non-member webinar fee is $10. Webinars will be offered until it is deemed safe to return to our lunch meetings.
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WEBINAR
June 21, 2021
12:00 - 1:00 PM
DOT Materials Testing
with
Matt Hilderbran, PE and Joseph Barbour, PE
NCDOT
The Materials and Tests Unit (M&T) is responsible for establishing acceptance criteria for materials and manufactured products to be incorporated into the North Carolina highway system and ensuring that these materials and manufactured products meet these criteria and will function as intended. A sub-unit of the Materials and Tests Unit, the Data Collection & Investigation Section is responsible for providing the Department with both destructive and non-destructive testing, investigation services, data collection efforts, research, and analysis on pavements and subsurface structures. Quality assurance inspections, emergency investigations, and data collection activities are performed in and available to all 14 NCDOT Divisions along the North Carolina Highway Network. See attached flyer for additional details on the Data Collection and Investigation Section.
Matt Hilderbran is the State Field Operations Manager within the Materials and Tests Unit at NCDOT. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from NC State and is a professional engineer and CPM. His past roles include: NCDOT Trainee Associate (2007 - 2009), NCDOT Staff Engineer - State Road Maintenance Engineer (2009 - 2014), NCDOT Project Manager - Division of Aviation (2014 - 2015), and NCDOT State Data Collection & Investigation Engineer (2015 - 2020).
Joseph Barbour is a State Data Collection and Investigations Engineer within the Materials and Tests Unit at NCDOT. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from NC State and is also a licensed professional engineer. Additional certifications include: FAA Remote Pilot, NASSCO PACP, and ACI Field Testing Technician. Prior to his current role at NCDOT, he was a State Data Collection Engineer from 2019-2020. Before joining NCDOT, he was a Project Design Engineer within automotive, hydraulic, electrical engineering industries focusing on design, testing, manufacturing, and project management.
The link to attend the webinar will be emailed after registration on Eventbrite. Those who have paid or are paying their 2021 dues will receive the discount code for future webinars in their confirmation emails.
Note - Your 2021 membership promo code will unlock a free "Webinar Attendee" for this meeting.
This event will provide 1 PDH
2021 REC Scholarship Awarded
The Raleigh Engineers Club is proud to announce Asher Hancock as the 2021 recipient of the REC's annual engineering scholarship. He graduates from Raleigh Charter High School and plans to pursue a Biomedical Engineering degree at North Carolina State University this fall, combining his interests in medicine, math, chemistry and physics. His academic and extra-curricular activities are impressive, and demonstrate his passion and interest in one of the concentrations within the program, Pharmacoengineering, focusing on engineering drug delivery systems to localize and optimize treatments. He was chosen from a pool of highly-qualified graduating seniors from throughout Wake County. Our scholarship will cover the cost of tuition for his first semester. Congratulations to Asher and we wish him the very best.
Cicadas - Brood X is arriving!
By Extension Master Gardner Joan Newman
(Reprinted with permission from Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association )
May is here and when the ground temperature about 8 inches deep reaches 64°, we can expect to see the cicadas emerge. This is about the same time that bearded iris begins to bloom.
Brood X (known as The Great Eastern Brood) covers 16 states across the eastern United States. Females will begin laying eggs about two weeks after they emerge and are active for approximately 6 weeks. The female cicada lays eggs in slits she has cut in thin branches - typically pencil width, a process called oviposition. The eggs hatch after 6-10 weeks and the nymphs leave the twigs and drop to the soil restarting the entire 17-year cycle.
The egg implantation causes the branch to split and wither, known as "flagging", which causes the leaves to turn brown and die. On larger, mature trees and shrubs this process is unsightly but usually not harmful to the tree. Since cicadas can emerge in overwhelming numbers, as many as 1.5 million an acre, young trees as well as small trees are particularly vulnerable.
There are no effective biological controls for cicadas. While birds and various mammals will feed on adults and cicada killer wasps attack adults, moles will eat nymphs and eggs are attacked by parasitic wasps and flies and predatory mites, all these together are insufficient to control the vast quantities of emerging cicadas.
Typically, the damage caused by these insects does not warrant chemical control by homeowners. Additionally, often sprays will cause worse problems by affecting other beneficial insects. If you decide that chemical treatment is necessary, consult the current Virginia Pest Management Guide or the Spray Bulletin for Commercial Tree Fruit Growers referenced below for current chemical(s) recommended for control. If you choose to use a chemical, ensure you read and follow the label.
The best way to avoid damage to young trees would be to delay planting until this fall. If you didn't wait or don't want to wait, there are several things you can try for new tree whips, small ornamental trees, shrubs and fruit trees:
- Plant a new tree slip in a protective tree tube and cover the top with a piece lightweight fabric row cover held in place with string or tape.
- Cover small trees or bushes with netting of ¼ inch mesh or less, or with very lightweight fabric row cover. This will only work for small plants since the netting/fabric will need to be secured around the trunk to keep the cicadas out. Inspect any netting regularly since birds and other creatures can get caught in netting.
- Bands of duct tape with the sticky side out or sticky adhesive on burlap strips can be wrapped around the base of a tree trunk to trap emerging nymphs as they crawl up the tree and the nymphs can be removed each morning.
- On young fruit trees, if you didn't prune already, postpone winter pruning until summer and then prune and remove damaged limbs. If this is done after the eggs are laid but before the nymphs drop to the ground it will also help reduce the number of nymphs feeding on the tree roots.
- Damage in mature vineyards is usually limited to the ends of the vines and can be pruned off. Female cicadas will sometimes lay eggs in the trunks of young vines and for that reason young trunks should be protected using a physical covering such as aluminum foil.
- If you have an ornamental pond, consider covering it with screening or mesh to avoid an accumulation of decomposing cicadas in the water.
Once you have taken the precautions you need, sit back and try to enjoy (or ignore) the chorus that will serenade you from about 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day with an occasional prelude or nocturn for about six weeks . Remember, you won't see the offspring of Brood X until 2038!