ASCE Met Section Spring Seminar - Session 1

Wednesday, May 20 - 5:00-6:30PM

Data Empowered Engineering: Practicing Engineers Leveraging Large Datasets with AI

Speakers: Erik Zuker, PE and Luke Dragon

Practicing engineers increasingly operate in an environment defined not by a lack of data, but by an excess of it. From bridge inspection archives to national-scale freight and resilience datasets, the challenge has shifted from data collection to processing, interpretation, and prioritization. This presentation centers on a practitioner-focused framework for data-empowered engineering, demonstrating how AI can be leveraged by everyday engineering workflows to extract insights from large datasets.

Drawing on real-world applications in bridge engineering, the work highlights how generative AI facilitates scalable data pipelines transforming time-intensive tasks. Case studies include restructuring NOAA weather data to calculate real-time rainfall demands, analyzing billions of truck passages from nationwide Weigh-in-Motion dataset to quantify true structural loads, and transforming Coast Guard vessel transponder data into refined vessel collision risk. These technical capabilities are paired with broader engineering considerations, illustrating how data-driven insights can inform local designs and regional/national decision making for stakeholders at all levels.

Rather than replacing engineering judgment, these tools amplify it, allowing engineers to focus on interpretation, validation, and design decisions instead of time-consuming programming. A central theme is the evolving role of the practicing engineer as both domain experts and system architects, merging traditional engineering and emerging technology. Ultimately, data-empowered engineering reframes AI as a practical extension of the engineer’s toolkit, enabling better-informed decisions and more resilient, efficient infrastructure systems.

Wednesday, May 20 - 7:00-8:00PM

Retrofitting for Flood Resilience: The Brandywine Museum of Art

Speaker: Alexander D. Stephani, P.E.

Flood hazards intensified by climate change are increasingly exposing deficiencies in existing structures located within floodplains—many of which were designed under outdated flood criteria or without consideration of increased inundation. Retrofitting these structures presents complex technical challenges, requiring engineers to reconcile structural performance, constructability, regulatory requirements, and owners’ risk tolerance within highly constrained sites.

This presentation will examine a detailed case study of the Brandywine River Museum, a flood-pronecultural facility in the Mid-Atlantic region. The project demonstrates how structural engineers applied flood hazard data, historical flood records, and performance-based evaluation methods to quantify risk and inform retrofit strategies for an existing building system. This session will explore the evaluation of existing structural vulnerabilities under flood loading, the selection and design of structural and non-structural mitigation measures, and the integration of constructability and operational constraints into the engineering solution.

Attendees will gain technical insights into applying risk-informed, performance-based approaches to flood mitigation for existing structures, as well as practical lessons on interdisciplinary collaboration and adaptive design in resilient infrastructure projects.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher ASCE SEI Metropolitan Section