Margaret S. Petersen
By 198 1 there were about 10,000 enrolled in the Hydraulics Division of ASCE and today
there are about 27,000 enrolled in the Water Resources Engineering Division of ASCE.
Also, the number of papers published and the number of journals have both increased
dramatically in the last forty years. There was a lot more personal exchange of information,
I think, in the
So many projects were being planned or under design, under
construction, and we all learned as we went along.
So there was a lot of activity'?
A:
Yes, there was a lot of activity
Importance of the WES Experience
How important was that WES experience in your later career?
It was really very important because: (1) we were exposed to a wide variety of hydraulic
engineering work (rivers, sediment, hydraulic structures, flood control); and (2) of the people
we worked with. All the people in the Hydraulics Laboratory at WES were very competent.
And the consultants we had were helpful and wonderful role models. It was great to work
with all of them. Many were active in the local branch and the Hydraulics Division of the
American Society of Civil Engineers. My own long-term involvement in the ASCE
Hydraulics Division dates back to those people.
Graduate Work at the University of Iowa
You mentioned earlier that Irene and you returned to the University of Iowa in
Yes. When we finished there in 1947 with our Bachelors, we didn't think we were ever
going to get a job. We sent out, I don't know, a hundred applications. think that we had
two offers. One, I remember, was from one of the paper companies in Wisconsin to work
in their library. The other one was something similar--I really don't remember what it was.
We
Panama, and we would
liked to have gone overseas again at that time.
One of the most interesting letters we got in response to our applications was from Harza
Engineering Company, which was building a railroad in Brazil at the time. We both spoke
some Spanish, and we thought even though Brazil is Portuguese, it's not that much different.
We got a very nice reply from Ed Fucik at
saying that working overseas was no place
-1
Previous Page
