Cincinnati State's ASCE Student Chapter is proud to announce that the 2015 Ohio Valley Student Conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Lawrenceburg Indiana. University of Cincinnati will be the main host for 2015 as Cincinnati State will be the main host for 2016. Both universities have formed a co-host agreement in which both schools will benefit from each other's support when planning the conferences.

The Cincinnati State ASCE Student Chapter is always looking for ways to help the community. This will be our 7th year competing in Cincinnati's 2014 Canstruction Competition. The chapter looks forward to donating thousands of canned goods to the Free Store Food Bank to help the community while constructing a Cincinnati themed steam boat entirely out canned goods.

In addition to donating canned goods, ASCE students organized a volunteer team to participate in the 2014 Prepare Affair, the event involves cleaning up yards and doing some home repairs for elderly and low income property owners.

This will be our 7th year teaching students the importance of civil engineering at Bright Elementary. The visit begins with a presentation of the different types of engineers and an explanation of what civil engineering is. The students then compete in groups building cup towers, the towers are judged upon strength and height.

Cincinnati State's ASCE Student Chapter takes pride in being one of the most active organizations at Cincinnati State. We strive to give back to the community and explore the engineering field. Cincinnati State's Student Chapter has been involved in numerous activities throughout the year.

ASCE began the year off strong with a joint meeting with UC SEAoO and Dan Peak (THP) presenting about the Banshee Rollercoaster. We also hosted the Society of American Military Engineers professional meeting on campus in September and learned about the Milton-Madison bridge project by Kevin Hetrick (INDOT). October was full of presentations by Martha Kelly and Reiner Reising from the City of Cincinnati as well as a tour of the Cincinnati Zoo hosted by IBI Group. In November Reese Johnson (CH2M Hill) finished the semester with a presentation on waste water management and environmental engineering.

For the Spring Semester, ASCE officers plan to attend the ASCE Leadership Conference for workshop training. Our presentation schedule is in the works and we are looking for presentations on professional topics in addition to projects. In March, UC is co-hosting with Cincinnati State for the Ohio Valley Student Conference. We are still in need of sponsors for the event which will be March 26-28, 2015. In addition to co-hosting, our students will also be competing in the numerous competitions offered during the conference including the Steel Bridge, Concrete Canoe, Land Surveying, Civil Site Design, Balsa Wood Bridge, Concrete Softball Bat, Concrete Horseshoe, and Environmental competitions. In addition to these competitions, we are looking to create our own unique competition designed to test the Geotechnical Engineering capabilities of the students.

We appreciate the support of ASCE and its members as sponsors, presenters, and mentors. Your influence encourages engineering students in their studies, their co-ops, and in their future careers. 

The Ohio Council of ASCE Sections was organized in 1969 to focus statewide attention on issues of interest and concern to civil engineers. There are six local ASCE sections in Ohio, each having representation on the Ohio Council in proportion to its membership. The Council meets twice annually, in spring and fall. The April meeting is normally held in Columbus, and the October meeting locations rotate among the sections. All ASCE members are welcome to attend Ohio Council meetings.

Ohio Council addresses several areas of interest to members of ASCE in the State of Ohio. In the most general sense, the Council fosters communication among the six sections. At the semi-annual meetings, each section gives a report on the section's activities during the 6 months since the previous meeting, and there is an opportunity for questions and discussion of new activities by the sections. The Council also reviews policies and actions under consideration by the ASCE National board, and may vote to make a recommendation to the Board. The Council may at also initiate actions with respect to the National Board on topics of interest.

The Ohio Council was also responsible for developing the Ohio Infrastructure Report Card, which is a component of the ASCE Report Card for America's Infrastructure. The Council also maintains and updates the Ohio Infrastructure Report Card to coincide with updates to the national report card.

The Council has also conducted a legislative program for many years, initially as an independent effort, and currently in cooperation with OSPE. The program includes cooperative monitoring of legislation with OSPE, partial support of a lobbyist, and conducting a State Legislative Day each year.

Another long running Ohio Council activity is the annual Robert O'Shea younger member award for a paper on engineering ethics, which carries a $500 prize split evenly between the author and the Section Younger Member group, or Student Chapter. More information regarding the competition will be distributed to the section when available.

ASCE Cincinnati Section plans to hold an event(s) TBD this year in honor of Engineering Week to help promote civil engineering with young children.