Annual Report 2003

American Society of Civil Engineers

Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute

Information Report to the Board of Direction

August 1, 2003

The Board of Governors met on October 25, 2002, and May 9, 2003.  The next meeting is scheduled for October 6-7, 2003.

1.0       RESOLUTIONS

1.1       No resolutions are awaiting committee action.

2.0       ACTIVITES RELATIVE TO ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE ANNUAL ELEMENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN

2.1       Objective 2.4:  Be the primary source of technical information

Element 2.4.5:  Produce new conferences that deliver technical information to civil engineers and related professionals consistent with identified market needs.

COPRI prepared the technical program for the following conference that will be managed by ASCE since the last report:

• Coastal Structures 03

COPRI cosponsored the following conferences since the last report:

• Scour of Foundations ’02, College Station, TX
• Long Wave Symposium ’03, Thessaloniki, Greece

COPRI committees helped to develop the technical program for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).  OTC had over 50,000 attendees in May, 2003.

COPRI is in the process of developing the following conferences with ASCE and others:

• Deepwater Mooring Systems ’03, Houston, TX
• Coastal Engineering Today, Gainesville, FL
• Asian and Pacific Coasts ’03, Chiba, Japan
• Ports ’04, Houston, TX
• ICCE ’04, Portugal
• Solutions to Coastal Disasters ’05, Charleston, SC
• Waves ’05, Madrid, Spain
• ICCE ’06, San Diego, CA
• Civil Engineering in the Oceans VI, TBD
• Ports ’07, TBD
• Coastal Structures ’07, Venice Italy

2.2       Objective 2.5 :  Enhance the understanding, delivery and exchange of technical information

Element 2.5.18:  Organize and hold the 2003 Coastal Structures Conference. 

The conference is slated for August 26-30, 2003 in Portland, OR.  At the time of this report, the room block is sufficiently filled to avoid any hotel attrition penalties and registrations are flowing in.  COPRI staff has raised $4500 in sponsorships to offset the cost of the conference.  A short course “Design of Coastal Structures” has been developed to be held in conjunction with the conference.   

 

• Other Institute Activities

• Coastal Engineering Manual Short Course.  COPRI has offered a short course on the new Coastal Engineering Manual in conjunction with all recent COPRI Conferences.  Using a new model, the short course was taken to a local Section when COPRI partnered with The Boston Society of Civil Engineers (BSCE) to offer the manual at Woods Hole.  This phenomenally successful partnership drew an audience of over 130 participants.   

• Local Groups: The Deepwater Infrastructure Forum (DIF) was established within COPRI.  The purpose of DIF is to serve the offshore industry in the Houston area.  The group has been in place since 2001 and continues to help meet the needs of an audience that was not currently drawn to the local ASCE community.  DIF serves as the clearinghouse for all local offshore activities and will coordinate closely with other organizations in the Houston area.  The DIF meetings occur approximately quarterly and typically draw 30 to 75 people.

• Newsletter (Waterways): The newsletter has been highly acclaimed.  It serves as a promotional piece for COPRI products and services and a reporting of the past events.  Numerous pictures give the newsletter a community feeling.  The newsletter is being sent to high-level individuals at USACE and high level congressional staff to keep the COPRI name out front.

• Exhibiting:  COPRI partnered with the Association of Coastal Engineers to exhibit at the Coastal Sediments Conference this year at low cost.  Both groups were able to promote products and membership at half of the cost of having their own booths.  The booth was staffed with volunteer leadership attending the conference at no cost to COPRI.

• Publications:  COPRI prepared the following publications for printing/sale by ASCE since the last report:
• Carbonate Beaches 2000
• Advances in Coastal Structure Design
• Deepwater Mooring Systems

• Membership Statistics:

COPRI began Oct. 1, 2000 with approximately 1100 ASCE members

Membership in July 2002 

                        ASCE Members:                  2300

                        COPRI Only Members:         40

Total Membership:             2340

Membership has grown over 100% in less than 3 years.

Membership drives have been concentrated on capturing attendees from COPRI conferences.  These efforts have been highly successful at low cost.

The retention rate of COPRI only members from the second year was 42 percent.   This rate is considered to be extremely strong because most were offered a free membership for attending a COPRI conference, and only 3 paying members did not renew for 2003.  To be retained, they had to choose to become a paying member after the free period.  It signifies that COPRI is offering a product worth paying for. 

 

• Partnering:  COPRI is actively partnering with PIANC, IAHR, the Marine Technology Society, numerous universities, and government agencies on its numerous conferences.  Formal MOUs are in place with PIANC and IAHR.  Current activities include:

• COPRI partnered with IAHR to produce the Long Waves Symposium in Thessaloniki, Greece.
• CEDEX will host the COPRI Waves ’05 Conference in Madrid, Spain.
• IAHR will host the COPRI Coastal Structures ’07 Conference in Venice, Italy.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute

Robert A. Dalrymple, President

Charles C. Calhoun, Jr., Vice President

James E. Dailey, Past President

William M. Hall

Louise A. Wallendorf, ASCE Appointed Governor

Michael J. Briggs, Secretary

            Thomas H. Christensen,Treasurer

            Patricia S. Brown, Director

Report prepared by:             Patricia S. Brown, P.E.