American Society of Indian Engineers (ASIE): 2020 Year at a Glance
Houston: American Society of Indian Engineers and Architects (ASIE) is a networking platform for engineers and architects of Indian origin. First, we would like to pay our respects to those who are in the frontline helping the public during the pandemic, and our condolences to the families and friends who suffered unthinkable loss due to COVID-19. We also want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our sustaining members and corporate sponsors — they are who make it possible for us to do the good work!
For the past 26 years, the non-profit organization has been helping the members to network with the peers and experts, promoting volunteering opportunities and organizing professional events for improving technical and leadership skills and to gain professional development hours.
After splendidly celebrating the 25th Silver Jubilee gala in 2019, ASIE entered 2020 with momentum and pride to take the organization’s outreach to the next level in terms of supporting the community in the Houston area and beyond, networking, and information sharing. ASIE selected Chaitanya Kasturi, P.E., PMP, ENV SP as the 2020 President. Ms. Kasturi has been member of the ASIE for over 5 years and was the ASIE’s 2019 Young Engineer of the Year (YEOY). In January, Honorable Judge Natalia Oakes presided over the Oath Ceremony and inducted the Board of Directors (BOD). Following the induction, the first monthly meeting was held during which Ms. Kasturi, welcomed the Board members and the Advisory Council (AC) committees were formed, roles & responsibilities and budgets were discussed, selected volunteering opportunities during the year, brainstormed 2020 plans, including, increasing member base and corporate sponsors, monthly networking events, website upgrades, ideas for reaching out on social media, and annual student scholarships.
The Board of Directors for 2020 are: President – Chaitanya Kasturi, Vice President – Archana Sharma, Secretary – Raghu Veturi, Treasurer – Apoorv Kumar, Membership – Vishakha Kaushik, IT – Varenya Mehta, Young Members – Maanasa Vemuri, Public Relations – Aravind Marella, Programs and Events – Aravind Nimma.
The Advisory Council for 2020 are: Naresh Kolli, Raj Tanwani, Chad Patel, Showri Nandagiri (2019 President), Raghu Nednur
February is called the Volunteering Month. ASIE’s BOD continued with long-time tradition of participating and sponsoring the community events, including MATHCOUNTS, Houston’s Science and Engineering Fair, the Houston area’s Young Engineer of the Year Recognition Dinner, Engineer’s Week, University of Houston’s Student Engineer Awards and Run of Pi. For the February monthly event, Reddy & Neuman for sponsored luncheon – Immigration Changes to Expect in 2020. It was an excellent session where the proposed changes to the immigration matters related to F-1/F-2, H1B-/H4/Transfers, Green Card and U.S. Citizenship through naturalization were. In addition, ASIE’s revamped website, LinkedIn and Facebook pages were went live.
March & April 2020 – ASIE’s BOD and AC decided to hold the March monthly board meeting and all the future monthly meeting and events online due to COVID-19.
May 2020 – John Ho, P.E., F. NSPE with Huitt-Zollars, presented the webinar on “Some of the Lesser-Known Rules and Laws of the Texas Engineering Practice Act. The event was very informative, and it was well received.
June 2020 -The topic was “Overview of the Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework” by Michael Bloom, P.E., ENV SP, CFM with R.G. Miller Engineers. Mr. Bloom presented a detailed overview of the ENV SP process with great project examples.
July 2020 – Thanks to the City of Houston’s Permitting Center for their two excellent online workshops on building code enforcement electronic plan review process, tiled “Code Enforcement Electronic Plan Review Workshop”. The city shared the information on how to apply for building permits online, track and respond the building permits efficiently. Both the sessions had full-house participation and the event was a tremendous success.
August & September 2020 –Matt Lopez and Dara Ward with Cobb, Fendley & Associates presented webinar on Innovative Utility Solutions. This webinar was well received. In addition, ASIE announced the due date for submitting applications for the Annual Student Scholarship awards.
October 2020 – Prafull Kumar with Dream Realized gave a webinar titled, “Project Management: Fundamentals and Practical Approach”. In addition, the BOD and AC paid respects by maintaining one (1) minute silence to late Mr. Prakash Shah and late Mr. Rao Ratnala, P.E. The BOD formed a holiday committee and started planning and organizing an all-virtual event on November 20, 2020.
November 2020 – ASIE collaborated with the ASCE Houston and other local professional organizations and hosted the Joint Engineering Societies meeting. Alan Black P.E., Director of Operations, Harris County Flood Control District presented webinar, titled, Update on the Newly Created Harris County Infrastructure Resilience Team and the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force. The virtual Annual Holiday Event was held on November 20, 2020.
December 2020 – Last but not the least, Jay Patel, P.E. with the Houston Public Works and Randy Hickey, NCARB, RA, RID with Huitt-Zollars presented a webinar about the award-winning Ardmore Drinking Water Operations Facility project lifecycle.
