SAN DIEGO SECTION

Quarterly Report May 2015

National Engineers Week (NEW)-San Diego Annual Awards Banquet National Engineers Week is the fourth week of February. It is observed by more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. The purpose of National Engineers Week is to call attention to the contributions to society that engineers make. It is also a time for engineers to emphasize the importance of learning math, science, and technical skills. On February 27, 2015, a handful of PECG members attended the NEW-SD Annual Awards Banquet. Corporate President Roy Flores, Section Secretary Cristina Nunez, and members Cynthia Hoffman and Rachel Mueller were in attendance to cheer on Caltrans District 11’s award for Outstanding Centennial Historic Engineering Project for the Cabrillo Bridge Retrofit Laurel Street Overcrossing Project. Deputy District Director of Project Management Ross Cather was on hand to speak about the project and answer

questions. Later in the evening, Ross received the ASCE San Diego Section award for the project on behalf of Caltrans.

Rachel Mueller, Cynthia Hoffman, Ross Cather, Chris

Thomas & Roy Flores

Presented by San Diego Section Officers 2014-2015 Section Director Mehrdad “Mo” Maher Section President John W. Williamson President Elect Azar Habibafshar VP Supervisory Abu-Bakr Al-Jafri VP Rank & File Manuel Rivas VP At Large Joseph Tang Secretary Cristina Nunez Treasurer Diane Vermeulen

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PECG Legislative Day 2015

On March 3, 2015, PECG representatives from around the state went to Sacramento for “PECG Legislative Day 2015”. Representatives from San Diego included Roy Flores, Robert Lumahan, John Williamson, Fred Abdipour, Mehrdad Nabizadeh, and Mehrdad Maher. Current issues important to PECG members were discussed with legislators, such as Assembly members Rocky Chavez, Shirley Weber, Brian Jones, Brian Maienschein, Marie Waldron and Lorena Gonzalez. The group also met with State Senate members Ben Hueso and Marty Block.

Mehrdad Nabizadeh, Roy Flores, Robert Lumahan, Honorable Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins, Mehrdad Maher & Fred Abdipour

Bruce Blanning, PECG Corporate Past President Cathrina Barrios & Fred Abdipour

Sacramento Quarterly Meeting Mo Maher (Section's Director) and John Williamson (Section President) represented San Diego at the PECG Board of Directors meeting held in March. The following are some of the issues discussed: The Collective Bargaining team compiled the questionnaire that was sent out in February. The top issue was the inclusion of a pay raise in our upcoming contract. Right behind that was retirement security. Prefunding of retiree health insurance will be addressed in the upcoming contract as well. PECG is the sponsor for AB 320 (creates an Environmental Engineering Title Act) which recently passed the Assembly and will be considered by the Senate at a later time. Caltrans will be offering an on line Senior Exam either in May or June. PECG is a sponsor of seven Science and Engineering Fairs (statewide) which were held in March and April. PECG was also a sponsor for the California Academic Decathlon which included various high schools from the San Diego Area. We are also advocating for additional funding for transportation infrastructure through our Congressional Outreach program.

Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair On March 25, 2015 Corporate Secretary Robert Lumahan gathered about twenty PECG members to judge the 2015 Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Each member took personal time off from work to attend the Science Fair, held at the Balboa Park Activity Center. PECG Corporate sponsored three scholarships for the event.

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PECG Volunteers reviewed and met with over 100 students, 7th-12th grade, whose projects were focused on math and science ideas. Each volunteer selected their favorite projects, shared and ranked these students amongst each other. The top three students were selected and each PECG volunteer met with these three students, one last time, in order to vote on the winners.

Winner Alfred Vargas, Azar Habibafshar, Cristina Nunez, Retired PECG Member Bob Avilla & Diane Vermeulen

Brent Berge, Cristina Nunez, Cynthia Hoffman, John Williamson, Javad Rhezaii, Edmund Kennedy, Fred Abdipour, Azar Habibafshar, Jay Kinhal, Mehrdad Nabizadeh, Diane Vermeulen & Robert Lumahan

On March 26, 2015, scholarships were awarded at the SDSU Viejas Arena. Congratulations to the winners! $1000 PECG Scholarship Ananya Rao - Comparing the effects of natural and chemical oil dispersants on brine shrimp.

$500 PECG Scholarship Alfred Vargas – Solar desalination

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$500 PECG Scholarship Robert Henning - The Exchange iMproving Unit: An Auditory Device for Directional Filtering

Section General Meeting It was a full house for the General Meeting that was held on April 8, 2015, at Barra Barra Restaurant in Old Town San Diego. Jesse Rodriguez, PECG Counsel was on hand to discuss a variety of PECG topics, as well as answer questions from members.

The 35th Annual Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt Dinner

PECG Officers and guests had the pleasure of attending the 35th Annual Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt Dinner on April 11, 2015 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The theme of this year's Democratic gala was "Setting the Stage" -- A nod to political forebears as well as to the importance of today's activism for future generations.

Toni Atkins, the Speaker of the Assembly;

Kevin de León, President pro Tempore of

the Senate; Alex Padilla, California

Secretary of State, and Assembly Member

Shirley Weber were all in attendance.

Awards were presented to exemplary

volunteers and leaders from around the

county, and a special tribute to the Voting

Rights Act marked the 50th anniversary of

the passage of that landmark bill.

Steven Merrick, Diane Vermeulen, Azar Habibafshar, Speaker

of the Assembly Toni Atkins, Fred Abdipour & Cristina Nunez

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Steven Merrick, Azar Habibafshar, Roy Flores, Josan Feathers, Dave Ortman, President pro Tempore of the Senate Kevin de León , Abu-Bakr Al-Jafri, Diane Vermeulen, Mehrdad Maher

Diane Vermeulen, Josan Feathers, Assembly Member Shirley Weber, Abu-Bakr Al-Jafri, Fred Abdipour, Roy Flores, Azar Habibafshar, Mehrdad Maher & Cristina Nunez

Bring Your Child To Work Day Bring your child to work day was held on April 23, 2015. Many PECG members volunteered to be presenters as well as brought their children to enjoy the day. PECG contributed $150 to support this District event. PECG member Frank Contreraz and Omar Bendeck from Advanced Planning were presenters for the 2015 Bring Your

Child To Work Day. Frank and Omar along with Roy Flores designed a racetrack game called "Fast & Furious: Caltrans Edition."

The children first listened to a quick presentation from Frank and Omar, about Caltrans, in which some of the answers to the game's trivia were included. After the presentation, the kids divided into teams. Each team picked a toy car and dice and were ready to "Start Their Engines." To get the game started, a multiple choice trivia question was randomly selected out of a hard hat and read to all the teams. Each team would consult amongst themselves and agree to the correct answer. Teams that answered correctly rolled their dice, and moved their car per the roll of the dice. Questions continued until a winner emerged. The kids enjoyed the interactive game experience and worked as teams to be able to roll their dice more and move their cars towards the finish line. Stay tuned for next year's "Fast and Furious: Caltrans Drift!"

Presenter PECG Member Paul Swearingen

Frank Contreraz and Omar Bendeck presenting “Fast and Furious: Caltrans Drift”

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Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Meet PECG PECG Members Cynthia Hoffman, Rachel Mueller and Cristina Nunez, are extending their reach into the engineering community by serving on the Executive Board of the local Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers San Diego Professional Chapter (SHPE SD). On May 1, 2015, they were sworn into office during SHPE’s scholarship and officer instillation annual banquet. SHPE SD collaborates with other local engineering organizations, high schools, community colleges, and universities (UC San Diego, San Diego State University, University of San Diego) to promote STEM awareness, to increase the number of engineering graduates, as well as to encourage professional development among the chapter’s professional members.

Cristina Nunez, Cynthia Hoffman, Rachel Mueller

Members Retiring After 33 years of service, Electrical Transportation Engineer Thomas Harris retired. Fred Abdipour attended the retirement activities.

Thomas Harris & Fred Abdipour

Recruiting a New Member Do you know of someone who is not yet a PECG member? Would you like to receive $50 from PECG? Well, all you have to do is sign up that person as a new PECG member and you'll receive $50 from PECG! Membership applications can be downloaded from the PECG website at http://www.pecg.org/Benefits/Application.pdf and can be submitted to PECG either by faxing them to (916) 446-0489 or mailing them to: PECG 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 501 Sacramento, CA 95814

Member Involvement If you are interested in volunteering on the Political Committee, Science & Engineering Fair Committee, Scholarship Committee, Retirement Committee, Membership Committee, or Events Committee, please contact our President, John Williamson at: Phone: (619) 688-6847 Email: John_W_Williamson@dot.ca.gov

Upcoming Events

• 6/5-6/6 - PECG Corporate Quarterly Meeting

• August - Section Annual Meeting

(Date & Time TBD)