Looking Back on 2024

Before 2024 winds to a close and everyone scatters for the holidays, we want to take this opportunity to reflect on the year for ACEC, recognize some great achievements and important milestones, and look ahead to what’s on the horizon for 2025. Because this has been such a full year, we’ll use this letter and next week’s as well to highlight the year in review. Next week we will focus on our Education and Advocacy efforts, so you won’t want to miss that.?

Starting with the ACEC Research Institute. The Institute’s Economic Assessment of the Engineering & Design Industry and Engineering Business Sentiment Study have become industry must-reads benchmarking in an industry that has grown its annual revenues to well beyond $430 billion. This year, the Institute also released its much-anticipated study on lump sum contracting and began work on the next phase of its Design Build study, both of which are a great help as we push back against the commoditization of engineering. All these reports can be found atwww.acecresearchinstitute.org.?

At our Fall Conference in New Orleans, the Institute conferred more than $1 million in scholarships to nearly 100 outstanding engineering students representing every state in the nation. And thanks to the Institute’s ongoing Firm of the Future and Diversity Roadmap initiatives – both now in their second year – our industry will be better positioned to attract newly-minted engineering graduates.?As we work to expand the talent pipeline, the scholarships, the Firm of the Future research and the Diversity Roadmap all represent important tools in our efforts.?

Our Communications and Marketing team continued to tell the story of engineering, personalizing and humanizing the work of our industry through a range of mediums and platforms. The team produced dozens of Engineering Influence podcasts with industry and political leaders ranging from unlocking digital transformation to the power of personal perseverance. To date, we have over 460 episodes of the podcast and we hope you will tune in.

Also, this year, our Communications team won some awards, including a Silver Telly Award for videos we produced focusing on Duty to Defend. Who knew Duty to Defend was a hot topic?

The Engineering and Public Works Roadshow made 11 stops between January and October, spotlighting infrastructure projects in every corner and region of our country. From a pump station built to protect low-lying Gulf areas from the ravages of flooding to a sweeping infrastructure project that will support a massive semiconductor plant, these Roadshow stops demonstrated how engineering upholds our way of life and secures our future. This summer, the Roadshow was selected by the American Society of Association Executives as a “Power of Associations” award honoree.

Keeping with a world increasingly driven by technology, the team produced our first-ever digital Annual Report, shifting us from a static, printed document to a dynamic, interactive experience. If you have not yet read this year’s Report, we urge you to do so.?

This year’s two major ACEC conferences?– the Annual Convention and Legislative Summit in May and Fall Conference in October --?were both big hits, thanks in large part to our Meetings, Exhibits & Awards team. The Convention attracted a post-pandemic record number of attendees (915) and broke its previous record for Engineering Excellence Award Gala attendees (798). Our Fall Conference in New Orleans also saw record numbers, hosting 1,032 attendees. Let this serve as a reminder to you that the 2025 EEA Competition is now open. Get those entries in! ?

Looking ahead to our Awards ceremony at the Fall Conference next year in San Diego, we also have made a change in how our Award of Merit will be chosen. Formerly reserved to the ACEC Fellows Committee, nominations are now open to all ACEC members. More information can be found here. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 20, so before you head out for the holidays, consider giving the gift of recognition to a stellar industry colleague.?

We will be back next week with an Advocacy and Education roundup. Meanwhile, have a great week.