7 th Annual Engineers Day Conference
June 10-12, 2025 Presented by ASCE-NH & Shea Concrete Products
During the second week of June, the 7 th Annual Engineers Day Conference took place virtually over a threeday period. Each day was comprised of breakfast and lunch presentations that provided a total of six( 6) professional development hours for licensed professionals. Attendees were treated to a diverse program that was led by excellent speakers, which were handpicked by the ASCE-NH Board of Directors. Most importantly, the Conference was able to continue to give back to the next generation of engineers by raising over $ 18,000 for the ASCE-NH Scholarship Fund!
Day one of the Conference began with a presentation from the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation( NHDOT), Bill Cass, PE. His presentation provided updates on NHDOT’ s progress on their 10-year plan. In addition, he discussed NHDOT’ s established mission – Serving and connecting New Hampshire through transportation, as well as its vision – A safe, reliable connected, and multimodal system, effectively managed by a dedicated and skilled workforce. The mission / vision is ultimately achieved by executing their core values and priorities. The day one lunchtime presentation was led by Josh Gilman, PE, who is the Director of Sustainable Infrastructure at the Portland Cement Association. Mr. Gilman treated attendees to an inside look into the world of optimizing cement and concrete design. His experience and expertise in the optimization world was on full display during his two-part presentation, as he provided insights into many processes / improvements / advancements that are allowing the industry to create more resilient / sustainable solutions.
Day two of the Conference was kicked off by Duncan Mellor, PE, who is the Principal Coastal Engineer at Civilworks New England. Mr. Mellor’ s presentation highlighted some very interesting coastal improvement projects. This included an update on repairs needed for the wall at the Wood Island Life Saving Station, replacement of a mortared stone seawall at a residential property in New Castle, and major foundation improvements that were needed at the Lake Sunapee Lighthouses. Specific to the Lighthouses, Duncan was able to go through numerous designs that were considered and discussed how they ultimately came to the final repair designs. The second presentation on day two was given by Brian Carloni, Col, NHANG, who is the Director of Staff( Air) with NHANG. Mr. Carloni presented on the 157 th Air Refueling Wing that is based at Pease AFB. During his presentation, he began by giving an overview of‘ The Guard Concept’, their dual mission, and the legacy of service that has taken place at Pease AFB. Attendees were then treated to learning about their daily operations, training, missions, and the aircraft. This included many incredible photos and discussion on local‘ flyovers’ that they have been a apart of.
The breakfast presentation for the last day of the Conference was led by Alexandra Branton of the Mount Washington Observatory, who is a Weather Observer and Education Specialist. Ms. Branton was able to demonstrate numerous tools and weather monitoring equipment utilized by the observatory on a daily basis. She discussed what her experience has been like living at the observatory, discussing numerous extreme weather stories and the responsibilities of her team; this included a few extreme weather video clips to get a sense of what the Weather Observers experience when going out during the most challenging months. Closing out the Conference was Patrick Hummel, who is the Director of Mount Washington State Park. Mr. Hummel kicked off the session by discussing some quick facts about Mount Washington – Home of the World’ s Worst Weather. This included the warmest temp ever recorded on the summit( 72-degrees F) and coldest(-47-degrees F, with wind chills as cold as-109-degrees F); he also highlighted that hurricane force winds are recorded 110 days per year on average, and the World record wind speed of 231 mph was recorded on April 12, 1934. He then provided great details on the Sherman Adams Summit Building and the summit stakeholders( Mount Washington Observatory, Mt Washington