Annual Report 2004

American Society of Civil Engineers

Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute

Information Report to the Board of Direction

August 1, 2004

The Board of Governors met on October 6-7, 2003, and May 6-7, 2004.  The next meeting is scheduled for October 18-19, 2004.

 

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 was managed by ASCE since the last report:

• Ports ‘04

COPRI cosponsored the following conferences since the last report:

• Deepwater Mooring Systems Symposium ’03, College Station, TX
• Coastal Engineering Today ‘03, Gainesville, FL
• Asian and Pacific Coasts ’03, Chiba, Japan
• America’s Wetland Technical Summit ‘03, New Orleans, LA
• Headwaters to Oceans (H2O) ’03, Long Beach, CA
• Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Conference ’04, Vancouver, Canada

COPRI is the ASCE support unit for the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).  Specifically, the COPRI Ocean and Offshore Engineering Committee has a subcommittee on Offshore Technology Conference Support that performs functions that are critical to the success of OTC.  This committee helped develop the technical program for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) ‘04.  OTC had over 50,000 attendees in May, 2004.  Bill Luyties, the ASCE representative on the OTC Board of Directors, will become the Chair of the Board next year. 

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

• International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) ’04, Lisbon, Portugal
• American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) Fall ‘04 Conference, New Orleans, LA
• Civil Engineering in the Oceans VI, Baltimore, MD, in conjunction with the ASCE Annual 2004 Conference
• 4th International Surfing Reef Symposium ’05, Manhattan Beach, CA
• Solutions to Coastal Disasters ’05, Charleston, SC
• Waves ’05, Madrid, Spain
• Coastal Dynamics ’05, Barcelona, Spain
• Coastlines, Structures and Breakwaters ’05, London, UK
• International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) ’06, San Diego, CA
• Ports ’07, San Diego, CA
• Coastal Structures ’07, Venice Italy
• International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) ’08, Hamburg, Germany

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

Element 2.5.30:  Organize and hold the 2004 Ports Conference. 

The Ports 2004 Conference was held in Houston, TX on May 23-26, with great success.  The conference exceeded budgeted numbers with (1) the roughly 750 attendees, (2) the exhibit hall selling out with 75 exhibitors, and (3) the final sponsorship amounting to $93,500.   Preliminary feedback indicates that attendees were happy with the strong technical content and the networking functions.  Three pre-conference workshops and the Order of the Engineer Induction Ceremony were held on the first day of the conference. The exceptional key-note and luncheon speakers included Maj. Gen. Carl A. Strock (Chief of Engineers/Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and COPRI member), Rear Admiral Kevin J. Eldridge (Eleventh District Commander, U.S. Coast Guard), and Alberto Aleman Zubieta (Panama Canal Administrator and COPRI member). 

 

• Other Institute Activities

• Public Policy:  COPRI has recently become more involved with public policy issues relating to the COPRI mission.  At the May Board meeting, the COPRI Board approved the formation of a public policy committee.  COPRI worked closely with the ASCE Government Relations Department to submit comments to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy regarding its much awaited Ocean Policy Draft Report.  The Institute has also been monitoring the Senate hearings and legislative developments of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). 

• New Committees:  The COPRI Governing Board recently approved the formation of two new subcommittees.  The Waterways Committee will now have a Dredging Operations Subcommittee whose mission will be to study and disseminate information on all aspects (technical, legal, policy, etc.) of dredging operations and its potential impacts.  The subcommittee will establish and maintain contact with other national and international organizations interested in the dredging process and seek opportunities for joint efforts.  Through this entity, ASCE and COPRI will have a voice to influence international treaties and other agreements that directly impact the requirements for dredged material disposal and ultimately the cost. This subcommittee will also schedule and organize dredging conferences as a continuation of the Dredging ’84, ’94, and ’02 series.  The COPRI Board also approved the formation of a new Coastal Structures subcommittee, Monitoring of Rubble Mound Structures.  The committee plans to organize a workshop and write a report for publication. 

• 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 coordinates closely with other organizations in the Houston area.  The DIF meetings occur approximately quarterly and typically draw 50 to 75 people.  The DIF approach is also being used in the L.A./Long Beach area to meet the needs of the port and coastal technical communities located there.  The local organizers are in the initial planning stages. 

• Newsletter (Waterways): The newsletter has been highly acclaimed.  It serves as an important promotional piece for COPRI products and services, and as a report of past events.  Numerous photographs give the newsletter a community feeling.  This year, COPRI has started the transition to an electronic newsletter in an effort cut expenses and to provide more timely information without space limitations.  The Spring and Summer 2004 issues were e-mailed to COPRI members with e-mail addresses (80 percent), and a hard copy was mailed to the remaining 20 percent.  The newsletter is also mailed to a “non-member distribution list” which includes top Army Corps of Engineer officials, members of Congress and staffers, and other prominent people in COPRI related fields. 

• Website and Brochure:  In a continuing effort to streamline or “brand” COPRI’s look, the Institute developed two new marketing pieces. The new COPRI website was launched in June 2004.  The redesigned site not only has a new and improved look, but it also features new navigational options which allow the user to search by different subject areas or categories.  For example, it is now possible to click on “Coasts” to find all of COPRI’s coastal conferences, committees, and meetings.  A general informational brochure about COPRI was also developed and contains information on membership, member benefits, COPRI activities, and technical committees.  It is now used for conference exhibiting, marketing, and membership information packets. 

• Exhibiting:  The COPRI booth was exhibited at the Headwaters to Oceans (H2O) Conference this year at low cost since the booth was staffed with volunteer leadership attending the conference.  COPRI exhibiting materials were displayed at the following conferences:  Coastal Engineering Today ’03, Japanese Coastal Engineering Conference ’03, OTC ’04, OMAE ’04, and the WEDA Annual Dredging Seminar and Exhibition ’04.

• Publications:  COPRI prepared the following publications for printing/sale by ASCE since the last report:
• Dredging 2002
• Urban Beaches
• Ports 2004
• America’s Wetland Report and White Paper

• Membership Statistics:

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

Individual Membership in July 2004 

                        ASCE Members:                  2497

                        COPRI-only Members:         82

Total Membership:             2579

Organizational Members:

            Bean Stuyvesant

Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc.

Manson Construction Company

Moffatt & Nichol

MWH Americas Inc.

Ocean and Coastal Consultants

Sequoia Scientific, Inc.

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Waterway Surveys & Engineering

Supporting Organizational Members:

            Institute for Water Resources

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company

Membership drives for individual membership have concentrated on capturing attendees from COPRI conferences or co-sponsored conferences.  These efforts have been highly successful at low cost.  The retention rate of COPRI-only members from the third year was 77 percent.   This rate is considered to be extremely strong. 

COPRI started an Organizational Membership program this year.  The purpose of the program is to encourage private companies, government agencies, and universities to join and become involved in the Institute, thereby making themselves more visible to the technical community.  There are three membership levels (Organizational Member, Supporting Organizational Member, and Sustaining Organizational Member) with varying benefits and dues.  The interest shown in the program thus far is promising, as is evident by the eleven members who have signed up in only a six month period. 

• Partnering:  COPRI is actively partnering with PIANC, IAHR, ACE, SNAME, ASBPA, universities, and government agencies on its numerous conferences and activities.  Formal Partnering Agreements are in place with PIANC, IAHR, and ACE.  Current activities include:

• COPRI signed a Partnering Agreement with the Association of Coastal Engineers (ACE) in May 2004.
• COPRI is partnering with SNAME, OOAE, and IMarEST as a financial sponsor for the annual International Student Offshore Design Competition.
• PIANC will hold their Annual Meeting 2004 at the ASCE Conference in Baltimore.
• PIANC will hold their Annual General Assembly 2005 in Charleston, SC at the same time as COPRI’s Solutions to Coastal Disasters ’05 Conference.  Joint activities are planned.
• 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

Charles C. Calhoun, Jr., P.E., F.ASCE, President

Gordon Sterling, P.E., M.ASCE, Vice President

Robert A. Dalrymple, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Past President

Doug Thiessen, P.E., M.ASCE

John Headland, P.E., M.ASCE, ASCE Appointed Governor

Michael J. Briggs, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Secretary

            Thomas H. Christensen, P.E., M.ASCE, Treasurer

            Kelly J. Barnes, Program Director

Report prepared by:             Kelly J. Barnes