Committees and Interest Groups

ASDSO has several committees, interest groups, task forces, and work groups that meet throughout the year and work towards building a stronger dam and levee safety community.

  • Committees are small groups of volunteers executing ASDSO’s strategic initiatives via a Board‐approved annual plan. Committee members actively work, resulting in tangible, valuable resources each year.
  • Subcommittees, at the direction of the Committee Chair/Co‐Chair, come together to work on Committee projects as needed.
  • Task Forces/Groups are volunteers working together on narrow‐issue projects for ASDSO. Task Forces convene for a particular period to work on the project.
  • Interest Groups bring together like‐minded colleagues to connect, learn and lead the organization toward success. ASDSO Interest Groups offer peer‐to‐peer networking, problem‐solving, solution sharing, and education. 

ASDSO frequently seeks volunteers at all levels, from assisting with small tasks and virtual participation to committee and leadership positions. To see current opportunities, visit the 'Volunteer Opportunities' page on Collaborate.

Committees 

Advisory Committee (AdCom)

The AdCom is a technical advisory committee made up of private sector members. The ASDSO Board of Directors chooses members.

Chair: Jennifer Williams, P.E. (AECOM)

 

Ambassador Program Committee

The committee assists new ASDSO members by serving a welcome team, answering questions, providing avenues for participation in ASDSO activities and projects.

 

Annual Awards Committee

The committee's mission is to recognize dam safety engineering excellence and innovation. The committee reviews the National Rehabilitation Project of the Year nominations and helps facilitate awards, award criteria, and distribution. 

Chair: Jonathan Garton, P.E. (Iowa Floodplain and Dam Safety Section)

 

Annual Conference Program Committee

Develops program and activities for ASDSO's Annual Conference.

Chairs: John Ritchey, P.E. (French & Parrello Associates) and Kallie Bauer, P.E. (Colorado Division of Water Resources)

 

Committee on Career Development and Student Outreach

The committee's mission is to develop and promote programs that stimulate interest in dam safety to increase the number of professionals specializing in dam engineering and dam safety and satisfy the long-term demand for qualified engineers working in dam safety fields.

Chairs: Ben Webster, P.E., PMP (Schnabel Engineering) and Cory Miyamoto, P.E. (Pacific Gas & Electric Company)

 

Dam Failure & Incidents Committee

The committee's mission is to assist the States and other ASDSO members in improving the practice of investigating and learning from dam failures and incidents.

Chairs: Mark Baker, P.E. (Pacific Gas & Electric Company) and Lee Mauney, CFM, P.E. (HDR Engineering, Inc.)

 

Dam Owner Outreach Committee

The committee's mission is to assist states with owner outreach and education, including developing workshops, tools, and guidelines.

Chair: John Moyle, P.E. (Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control)

 

Dam Safety Toolbox Committee

The mission of the committee is to identify, consolidate, and disseminate industry utilized design and construction information for dams that meets the standard of care through the use of the DamToolbox.org website.

Chair: Jeremy Franz, P.E. (Colorado Division of Water Resources)

 

Extreme Precipitation Investigation Committee

The mission of this committee includes: (1) Support ASDSO communications with media requests regarding climate change and extreme precipitation impacts on dams. (2) Represent state dam safety programs, dam owners, the dam engineering community, the hydrometeorological community, academia, and affiliated organizations during the upcoming NOAA PMP modernization project.  (3) Lobby for Federally developed Precipitation Frequency estimating tools to very rare exceedance probabilities to enable risk assessments for high hazard dams. 

Chair: Bill McCormick, P.E., PG (Black & Veatch Corporation)

 

Finance Committee

The mission of this committee is to oversee the financial management and fundraising programs of ASDSO.

Chair: John Roche, P.E. (Maryland Department of the Environment)

 

Government Affairs Committee

The mission of the Legislative Advocacy Committee is to assist ASDSO in its efforts to educate State and Federal legislators and policymakers so that laws, policies and government programs serve to improve the safety of dams and reduce the risk to the public.

 

Media Outreach Committee

The committee's mission is to assist ASDSO in considering long-term communication goals and policies and internally preparing the association and its spokespeople to produce timely and effective messaging.

Chair: Ken Smith, P.E. (Retired, Indiana Dam and Levee Safety)

 

Mentoring Program Committee

The committee is creating a pilot a program that will connect early-career dam safety professionals (i.e., mentees) with more experienced practitioners in the industry (i.e., mentors). The purposes of the program are to foster professional growth, facilitate knowledge sharing, and encourage industry connections. 

 

Peer Review Committee

The committee's mission is to oversee, evaluate, and improve the Peer Review Program. The objective of an ASDSO Peer Review is to provide professional guidance to improve the performance and management of dam safety programs.

Chair: David Gutierrez, GE, P.E. (GEI Consultants, Inc.)
 

Public Safety Around Dams Committee

The committee's mission is to promote measures that enhance public safety associated with all dams and their operations.

Chair: Manuela Johnson, CEM (Christopher B. Burke Engineering, LLC)

 

Technical Journal Editorial Committee

Committee members select and review papers for ASDSO's quarterly Journal of Dam Safety.

Chair: Greg Paxson, P.E. (Schnabel Engineering)

 

Technical Training Committee

The committee's mission is to support ASDSO's strategic goals of improving state dam safety programs and increasing the technical expertise of dam safety professionals and owners/operators by developing and delivering high-quality and accessible training opportunities.

Chair: Tom Woosley, P.E. (Georgia Safe Dams Program) and David Griffin, P.E. (Georgia Safe Dams Program)

Interest Groups

Speakers Bureau

The ASDSO Speakers Bureau comprises volunteers with experience and expertise in dam engineering, best practices, dam safety, and public education. Volunteers make presentations before student and community groups to raise awareness of careers in dam engineering and of dam safety issues, including the safety of dams and safety around dams, and to provide general education on the role of dams in society.

 

Young Professionals Interest Group

The Young Professionals (YP) Interest Group works to engage professionals 35 years old and under in the dam safety community through ASDSO participation and service.

Chair: Nicole Chiles (HDR Engineering, Inc.)

Additional Resources
Collaborate