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
November 2, 2020
12:00 - 1:30PM
Watershed Processes and the Built Environment:
Considerations for Infrastructure Planning and Protection
with
Michael Ellison, PE
North Carolina is reported to have the highest drainage density (stream length per unit area) of the coterminous states, so most significant infrastructure projects have some interaction with streams. Stream impacts are highly regulated in NC, with redundant layers of state and federal rules that can impose excessive compliance costs on project owners. Expensive permits do indeed significantly reduce the impacts of new infrastructure. However, a lot of stuff got built long before we had all of today's rules and regulations, and along the way streams were straightened, wetlands were ditched and drained, and countless acres of natural forests cleared.
Streams are now protected from new infrastructure, but what about protecting the infrastructure from streams? Hundreds of miles of water and sewer lines have been installed in our stream valleys to better appropriate gravity. Watershed systems naturally adjust to indirect changes in water and sediment loads, as well as to more visible direct impacts like straightening and culverts. Given that most streams in the Carolinas naturally tend to meander, it should not be surprising to find that many streams that were historically altered to accommodate development are now impacting our utility lines. Stream channel erosion can result in acute water pollution and expensive repairs.
This presentation will provide an overview of channel adjustment processes, describe predictive models and proven solutions. Channel adjustment processes are well understood and analytical tools exist to help utility owners prioritize and budget maintenance actions to avoid future failures. Native material revetment techniques often provide less expensive alternatives to traditional armoring practices and are generally preferred by permitting agencies. Project examples will emphasize water and sewer lines in the Piedmont region because these utilities tend to have the most extensive conflicts, but the concepts apply to all utility types.
Michael Ellison is a program manager with WK Dickson and has over 30 years of experience in ecosystem restoration and environmental science. He provides natural systems analysis and regulatory compliance services to private and institutional landowners, nonprofits, and government agencies. His technical expertise emphasizes watershed hydrology and fluvial processes. He has completed over 300 projects to restore streams, wetlands, forests, and prairies across North Carolina and thirty other states.
Michael is a nationally recognized expert on Clean Water Act mitigation policy and restoration practice and has been an invited speaker at dozens of professional conferences and technical training workshops. He served as the Director of the NC Division of Mitigation Services and was the delegated trustee authority for all Natural Resource Damage litigation in North Carolina. He also received gubernatorial appointments to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Board and the Governor's Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation, providing oversight and executive direction for the utilization of funds from the BP Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage settlement and the RESTORE Act.
This event will provide 1 PDH
The link to attend the webinar will be emailed after registration on Eventbrite. All 2020 Raleigh Engineers Club members will attend free of charge.
WEBINAR
The Raleigh Engineers Club is proud to announce Gautham Reddy as the 2020 recipient of the REC's annual engineering scholarship. He graduates from Green Hope High School in Cary and plans to pursue a mechanical engineering degree at NC State University. His academic and extra-curricular activities are impressive, including Eagle Scout. 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 Gautham and we wish him nothing but the best.
The link to attend the webinar will be emailed after registration on EventBrite. All 2020 Raleigh Engineers Club members will attend free of charge by using their coupon code.
