Sunday, October 18, 2015

Supernetworks and Critical Infrastructure at American Council of Engineering Companies Conference in Boston

Several months ago I received an invitation from Beth Larkin, who is a Vice President at HNTB, and also a UMass Amherst Civil Engineering alumna, as to whether I would be interested in speaking at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Conference in Boston, October 14-17, 2015. 

In her message to me, Beth told me that ACEC is a national organization which represents the business interests of the engineering consulting industry. Beth is an ACEC/MA Past President.

Also, she added that: It is an industry that desperately could benefit from hearing from women thought leaders.  She also mentioned that she is part of a group of women who are trying to get more of the sessions to include women both as presenters/panelists and moderators.

Moreover, Beth wanted me to speak on Supernetworks and Critical Infrastructure.

How could I refuse such an invitation? In the meantime, I also ended up accepting an invitation to take part in the Amazon Supply Chain Optimization Summit this past week in Seattle and next week I am flying to Northwestern for a big book launch to be a panelist. One has to take advantage of opportunities!

I SO much enjoyed speaking at the ACEC conference (I was teaching on Thursday my Transportation and Logistics class, which always gets me very pumped up and supernetworks and critical infrastructure are themes that I am very passionate about).

The ACEC conference was at the Westin Copley Place hotel. The drive to Boston on Friday with the gorgeous foliage was smooth and lovely, the hotel was grand, registration was flawless, the exhibits were great, the snacks delicious and ample, and I enjoyed meeting so many professionals in this very important industry.

My presentation, The Application of Supernetworks to Critical Infrastructure from Transportation to Electric Power, can be downloaded here. 

Below are some photos from the ACEC conference with the top one of Beth Larkin with me after my presentation on Friday afternoon.

And, given that the location of the conference was Boston, it was fabulous afterwards to also walk (alot) in this great city!
And the grand finale was having dinner in the North End with tiramisu at Mike's Pastries!
Many thanks to the ACEC for such an exceptional conference experience!