PIANC USA Young Professionals

What is a Young Professional?

A Young Professional member of PIANC USA is described as any member (student, individual or corporate) who is under 40 years of age. PIANC USA has formed a Young Professional Group dedicated to providing opportunities for young professionals in the field of navigation to meet other professionals locally, nationally and globally.

Why a Young Professionals Group?

At present, there is a large generation gap among active members in PIANC. Internationally, PIANC is encouraging young professional involvement and in 2006 formed a permanent commission, called YPCom. PIANC USA has formed a national section Young Professionals Group to focus on the needs and interests of young U.S. professionals in the field of navigation and to support the international PIANC organization in their parallel effort. Country representatives of YPCom meet twice a year to discuss Young Professional development at the international and national levels.

More information on the Young Professionals Group

PIANC USA welcomes young professional members to help shape the USYP. Interested members should contact Jessica McIntyre of Moffatt & Nichol to receive emails of Young Professional activities and/or to help with the formation of the USYP.

Ongoing Young Professionals Events

PIANC seminars and Working Groups provide young professionals in the navigation field a way to meet with other professionals, both those new to the community and members with more experience. At receptions, exhibits, technical presentations and tours, participants broaden their awareness of the most current issues in their field, listen to presentations of award-winning research, and extend their network of professional contacts.

Recent Events:

• YP "Meet & Greet" Coffee at PIANC USA 2010 Annual Meeting
• 2nd Biennial YPCOM Technical Visit
  Smart Rivers '21 , September 2009
  Vienna, Austria
• YP Activities at Ports 2010 , April 2010
  Jacksonville, FL
• YP Activities at PIANC World Congress 2010, May 2010
  Liverpool, UK
• YP Happy Hour Gulf Coast Hurricane Conference 2008, Mobile, AL, November 11, 2008.
  This happy hour provided a relaxed, social forum for young professionals to network with their peers and members of the PIANC USA Board of Commissioners.
• United States Hosted Young Professionals Commission, Washington, DC, October 24-25, 2008
  Members of the international YP Commission held a meeting at the Pentagon and met with Mr. George S. Dunlop, Principal Assistant Secretary of the Army, and other personnel of the civil works division of the Army. They also participated in a technical tour of the DC Urban Waterfront Development.
• PIANC USA Annual Meeting, Alexandria, VA, July 15, 2008
  Andrew Thomas, winner of the 2008 De Paepe-Willems Award, presented his paper "Subsurface 3D Modeling: An Application to Waterfront Project Planning and Site Evaluation." A Young Professionals Happy Hour was held that evening.
• Ports 2007 in San Diego, CA, March 25-28, 2007
  PIANC USA and COPRI co-hosted a Young Professionals Reception at the conference. Ken Connell, winner of the 2007 De Paepe-Willems Award, presented his paper titled "Modeling Navigation Channel Infilling and Migration at Tidal Inlets: Sensitivity to Waves and Tidal Prism" at the PIANC USA Annual Meeting held in conjunction with Ports 2007.
• PIANC Young Professional Technical Visit - Venice Locks, July 5-6, 2007 (pdf, 20.5KB )PIANC Italy organized the first technical visit of the Young Professionals Commission to the M.O.S.E. project and Experimental Centre for Hydraulic Models with the support of the Venice Water Authority.

You can find additional information about upcoming and recent PIANC USA events.

PIANC Working Groups

Each national section is allowed two Principal representatives and one Young Professional representative in each PIANC international working group. In addition, some working groups have subcommittees composed of several members from one or more countries. Interested in joining a working group? Contact PIANC USA at pianc@usace.army.mil.

Scholarship Opportunities

The De Paepe-Willems Paper Award was created to encourage professionals 40 years of age or younger to submit for presentation outstanding technical articles in the fields of interest of PIANC, including policy, management, design, economics, integration with other transport modes, technology, safety, public involvement and the environment.

• 2010 International Winner: Thomas Gernay, Belgium, "Optimisation and Analysis of Lock Gates in the Framework of the "Seine-Escaut-Est" Waterway Upgrading."
• 2009 U.S. Winner: John Henriksen (Texas A&M), "Investigation of Turbulence Characteristics for Model Cutter Suction Dredging Operation"
• 2009 U.S. Runner-ups: Derek Wilson (USACE ERDC), "Pipeline Dredge Analytical and Sceduling Program" & Edward Brauer (USACE), "The Limitations of Using Specific Gage Analysis to Analyze the Effect of Navigation Structures on Flood Heights in the Middle Mississippi River"

More Information about De Paepe-Willems Paper Award

USYP Contact Information

YPCom USA Representatives (4 year term ends Spring 2010)

• Jessica McIntyre, Moffatt & Nichol

Regional USYP Representatives

• East - To be determined.
• Central - To be determined.
• West - To be determined. 

Corporate USYP Representatives

• Interested in becoming a corporate representative? Email Jessica McIntyre

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revised 27 June 2011