Two UAA engineering faculty members named inaugural diplomats of the Academy of Coastal Ocean Port & Navigation Engineers

The American Society of Civil Engineers announced on April 25 that two University of Alaska Anchorage faculty members are inaugural diplomats of the American Society of Civil Engineer's (ASCE) Academy of Coastal Ocean Port & Navigation Engineers (ACOPNE). The announcement was made at an Inaugural Diplomate Induction Ceremony on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at the PORTS 2010 Conference in Jacksonville, Florida.

• Jack Colonell, PE, Ph.D., Environmental Resources Management, UAA School of Engineering Advisory Board member and Adjunct Professor
• Orson P. Smith, PE, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, UAA Department of Civil Engineering

Specialty certifications programs are growing in most professions as the knowledge needed to practice continues to rapidly increase. Specialty certification supports the explosion of continuing professional development.

Founded in October 2009 by practicing Coastal Ocean Port & Navigation Engineers (COPNE) who are members of the ASCE Coastal Ocean Port and Rivers Institute (COPRI); ACOPNE was created to offer a voluntary, post-license credential that provides professional engineers an opportunity to gain further recognition in the broad field of geotechnical engineering. The goal of ACOPNE is to improve the practice, elevate the standards and advance the COPNE profession and provides recognition to those individuals who have excelled in one or more of the sub-disciplines embraced by COPRI.

COPNE is the branch of civil engineering engaged in the sustainable development and protection of coastal, ocean, port and navigation environments for the benefit of society in the United States and foreign countries.

For more information about ACOPNE, go to www.acopne.org. For more information about the 2010 PORTS Conference, please visit http://content.asce.org/conferences/ports2010/.