Academia Panamericana de Ingeniería
Academia Pan-Americana de Engenharia
Pan American Academy of Engineering
ACTIVITIES 2002
Summons for the nomination of new Members
2002 started with a Summons for the nomination of Charter and Corresponding Members addressed to the Organizations that can nominate them - UPADI, WFEO, National Academies and the Charter Members of the Academy. The due date for the remittance of nominations to the Headquarters of the Presidency was set for February 28, 2003, date which will allow performing the process of selection with the intervention of the Election Committee and the Charter Members, with just enough time for the Solemn Ceremony of Incorporation scheduled for July 19, 2002 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
The summons had a good answer from the Members of UPADI and the Charter Members. The result was the election of 12 Candidates to Charter Member and one Corresponding Member.
From Argentina: Eng. Rodolfo E. Biasca *
Eng. Ernesto Guillermo Bendinger *
Eng. Raúl Lopardo
From Brazil: Eng. William Paulo Maciel
Eng. Antonio Helio Guerra Vieira
Eng. Henrique B. Cavalcanti *
From Colombia: Eng. Alfonso Orduz Duarte
From USA: Eng. Robert Kersten *
Eng. Robert H. Page *
Eng. Leroy S. Fletcher *
Eng. Louis Martin-Vega *
Eng. Elbert Marsh *
Corresponding Member from Hong Kong - China - Eng. Ching-kwong Lau.
Solemn Ceremony of Incorporation
It was held on Friday, July 19 at 10:00 a.m. in the Auditorium of the College of Civil Engineers of Honduras (CICH) opportunity on which 8 Charter Academicians (*) and the only Corresponding Academician Eng Lau (H.K. China) were incorporated. The remaining Charter Members were incorporated in Montevideo 2003.
The Presidium of the Ceremony was formed by the President of the Academy, Eng. Miguel Angel Yadarola, the President of UPADI, Eng. Claudio A. Dall'Acqua, the President of WFEO, Eng. Jose Medem Sanjuan, Past President of WFEO Eng. Conrado E. Bauer and the President of CICH Eng. Leon Paredes Lardizabal.
After the welcome words by the Presidents of CICH and the Academy, the President of UPADI addressed a short speech. The main speech was in charge of Eng. Conrado Bauer.
Dr. Robert D. Kersten spoke in the name of the new Academicians.
Forum: Engineering as an Instrument for the Improvement of the Socio-Economic Structure of Countries - Cooperation for Technological Development.
The theme was suggested by the host organization, CICH, to fit in with the General theme of the XXVIII UPADI Convention "Engineering for human development" that was held simultaneously with the meetings of the Academy.
The Forum was held in the same place as the Convention, the Honduras Maya Hotel during the day of Thursday July 18, 2002. Almost all the new Academicians, including Dr. Lau from China presented a paper some of them of a technical nature and also several Founder Academicians. The summary was the responsibility of Academicians Eng. Manuel Torres Parra and Dr. Vladimir Yackovlev.
2nd Plenary Session
This meeting was held with the participation of 22 Charter Members at the Board Room of CICH.
Outstanding decisions in the full agenda of themes were:
- Create the Membership Committee coordinated by Robert Kersten the mission of which is to: make a survey of the present Academicians to know in which area and specialty of engineering they perform their work. Promote the increase of members on the basis of quality and the specialties that are not covered or are a minority.
- Modify the By Laws. A Committee formed by Academicians Gustavo Rivas Mijares and Manuel Torres Parra was created and contributions and suggestions were requested from all Academicians. The Project will be analyzed by the Board of Directors in Montevideo 2003 and submitted to the Charter Members 90 days before an Extraordinary Plenary Session that will be summoned in Mexico 2004 to approve the modifications.
- Approve the Financial Statement for the period August 2000 to December 2001.
- Approve in general the Strategic 5-year Plan (2002-2007) prepared by the Vice President of the Academy, Eng. Manuel Torres Parra and a Plan of Action for the biennium 2002-2024. Academicians must send in their contributions.
- Analyze the proposal of "World Engineer" of the WFEO President Elect Dr. Lee-Cheong Lee on the basis of the APEC Engineer scheme.
- Summon a Forum with the theme "Accreditation in the Regional Context" coinciding with the 2003 Meeting of the Board of Directors in Montevideo. Dr. Robert Kersten was appointed Coordinator of the Forum and is in charge of preparing the policies, the program and identifying Speakers.
- Re-elect the present members of the Board of Directors for the period 2002-2004.
During the five months after the Tegucigalpa meetings Academician R. Kersten and the President of the Academy worked hard on the task of programming the Montevideo Forum and committing outstanding speakers. The year ended with important interrogations that it took time to answer well advanced in 2003: sponsorship from engineering institutions, place of the Forum meeting and Ceremony of Incorporation, availability of installations as regards media and supporting services. Also financial aspects of the Forum the cost of which means an important disbursement in the available funds of the Academy.
(1) In the photograph appear: top row: Engineers Vladimir Yackovlev (F), Manuel Torres Parra (F), Miguel Angel Yadarola (F), José Medem Sanjuan (Pres. WFEO), Claudio Dall'Acqua (Pres. UPADI), Mario Ivan Casco (F), Felicia Rivera de Araolaza (F), Conrado E. Bauer (past president WFEO), Vladimir Mendizabal (F) [F: Founder Academicians].
Bottom Row. New Academicians: L. Martin-Vega, L. S. Fletcher, H. B. Cavalcanti, R. E. Biasca, E. Bendinger, R. Page, R. D. Kersten, E. E. Marsh.
