ASCE 2025 Call for Submissions is open
The ASCE Convention is the Society’s premiere membership event. It is a single annual opportunity where the entire Society joins together, reflecting ASCE's diversity.
The ASCE Convention’s core message is to encourage civil engineering leaders to Engineer, Innovate, and Lead and INSPIRE a better world. Building on the great work of the INSPIRE 2023 Conference, the 2025 Convention will prepare attendees to focus on how we can best position ourselves for a prosperous future, building more resilient and sustainable infrastructure systems in the United States and across the globe taking into account climate change. Sessions being considered will highlight innovative and new solutions/systems for the current and future workforce, equitable infrastructure planning, and nature-based solutions, to deliver more resilient and sustainable infrastructure, emerging technologies, adaptation to climate change and more. We look forward to hearing from infrastructure owners, academia, practitioners, and federal, state, and local agencies.
Key Dates for 2025 Submissions
- Call for submissions opens | Dec. 1, 2024
- All submissions due | Jan. 8, 2025
- Presenter notification | Mar. 3, 2025
- Final draft papers due | May 1, 2025
- Speaker registration deadline | Aug. 22, 2025
- ASCE 2025 Convention | Oct. 8–11, 2025
New to ASCE 2025: Presenters will have the opportunity to submit a paper. Papers are optional for all proposal types and will be eligible for inclusion in the ASCE 2025 Convention Proceedings.
Convention Purpose
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Convention is the Society’s premier membership event. It is the single annual opportunity where the entire Society joins together reflecting the diversity that ASCE encompasses. The convention program is designed to have integrated, multi-disciplinary, technical, and educational components to meet the needs of the profession.
The program will provide benefits to attendees on an educational and professional level and value to their employers by enhancing staff's technical, managerial, and leadership skills.
Target Audience
The convention target audience is leaders in the civil engineering profession across all disciplines and levels of experience. Targeted attendees include all ASCE members, institute members, students, younger professionals, and seasoned experts.
Convention Topics
The ASCE Convention core message is to encourage civil engineering leaders Inspiring innovative infrastructure. The 2025 Convention will prepare attendees to focus on how we can best position ourselves for a prosperous building and protecting infrastructure in the United States and across the globe. Sessions being considered will highlight innovative and new solutions/systems for the current and future workforce, equitable infrastructure planning, cyber security, sustainability, and climate-resilient practices, emerging technologies, and more.
- Significant Projects
- Resilient Infrastructure Systems
- Resilient Communities
- System Failures
- Risk Management & Disaster Mitigation
- Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Disasters
- History & Heritage
- State of the Industry
- Strategic Issues and Public Policy
- Mitigation, Planning, and Preparedness
- Infrastructure Financing for Redundancy and Hardening
- Climate Adaptation Practices and Financing
- Social Justice and Sustainability, Ethics, Equity & Health
- Decarbonization
- Building Code Advancement & Adoption
- Engineers and Ethics
- Infrastructure Financing
- Climate Readiness
- Standards
- Measuring and Maintaining Infrastructure for Sustainability and Resilience
- Performance Objectives and Designing Infrastructure for Functional Recovery
- Emerging Technologies
- Sustainable Infrastructure
- Embodied Carbon & Greenhouse Gases
- Climate Mitigation
- Infrastructure Digitization: Digital Twins & Virtual Testbeds
- Energy Efficiency & Power Production
- Nature-Based Design
- Innovative Materials
- Sustainable Infrastructure
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Conference Program and Sessions
To appeal to the broad and diverse groups within the engineering profession, the convention program will be comprised of a well-rounded mix of sessions from the main topic areas. Submitters may propose a full or partial session idea and the Technical Program Committee will work with selected submitting submitters to merge similar ideas within a category to create a session.
Submitting a proposal to the convention constitutes an agreement that, if your proposal is accepted, the presenter(s) will register for the convention by Aug. 22, 2025 (either at full or daily rate), attend the convention, and present their work in person.
Many technical sessions will include various presentation styles. The Technical Program Committee will work with session leaders to ensure the presentation components for a particular session involve a suitable mix of topics, and the proposed presentation style is the most appropriate format for the subject matter.
Types of Sessions
Sessions are scheduled concurrently throughout the convention and are based on the convention’s established topic categories. Please note that submissions may be combined with similarly identified topics at the Technical Program Committee's discretion. Submitters will be notified in advance and have an opportunity to discuss the combined session format before it is finalized.
Roundtable Discussion (60, 75, or 90 minutes)
In these sessions, a group of experts on the given topic review and discuss specialized, professional matters before the audience on an equal basis. This type of session does not include a moderator or facilitator and is more of a conversation format with no formal question or answer period but instead allows the audience to participate and ask questions during the entire session. Rooms for roundtable discussions are set theater-style with a riser and chairs for speakers at the front of the room.
Concurrent Program Sessions (60, 75, or 90 minutes)
These lecture style and interactive sessions are scheduled concurrently throughout the convention and build on the convention's established topic categories. The session may include one or three speakers presenting different aspects of the same topic. It is not a panel discussion with a moderator (see below). Authors may propose partial sessions of 15-30 minutes or a full session at 60-90 minutes. The proposals of 15 to 30 minutes will be combined with similarly identified topics at the Technical Program Committee's discretion. The session must include a question and answer period from the audience. The Q&A portion is typically between 10 to 20 minutes in duration, positioned after each speaker or at the end of the session, as is best applicable to the overall session. Authors will be notified in advance and have an opportunity to discuss the combined session format before it is finalized. Rooms for concurrent program sessions are typically set theater style with a lectern at the front of the room.
Panel Discussions (60, 75, or 90 minutes)
A panel discussion is an instructional technique using a group of people chosen to discuss a topic in the presence of an audience. The panel should not exceed 4 individuals with a moderator/facilitator to facilitate the discussion and the question and answer period from the audience. The Q&A session is typically between 10 to 20 minutes in duration. This room is typically set theater-style with a head table for a maximum of four speakers.
Point/Counterpoint with Questions & Answers (60 minutes)
This panel discussion is a technique using a group of individuals chosen to debate a topic in the presence of an audience. The panel should not exceed a total of 6 individuals (up to 3 per side) with a facilitator to facilitate the discussion and the question and answer session. This room is typically set theater-style with two head tables.
Submission Requirements
- All proposals must be submitted via ASCE’s online paper management system.
- Proposal must be free of materials and/or language that discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, physical ability, or sexual orientation.
- All submissions must include the submitting author’s full name, telephone number and email address.
- Proposal must be free of personal/corporation-specific marketing.
- Both the main topic and a sub-topic must be selected to be considered.
Submission due date | Jan. 8, 2025
Selection Criteria
Proposals will be selected by the convention’s Technical Program Committee based on the following criteria:
- Relevance to the defined convention topics and sub-topics.
- Interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary applications.
- Potential to attract and stimulate cross-cutting and collaborative discussions.
- Timeliness of the topic.
- Practical application of information to be presented.
- Practical and clearly defined learning objectives.
Scheduling of Program Sessions
Program sessions are scheduled throughout the convention from Thu. Oct. 9, through Fri. Oct. 10, between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.; and Sat. Oct. 11, between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Program sessions will only be held during the official dates and times of the ASCE Convention. Submission indicates the availability to present a session on any of the dates and times listed. All sessions may be asked to drop down to 60 minutes to accommodate a revised session.
Proposal/Abstract Submission Process
Session proposals allow the Technical Program Committee to develop a comprehensive convention program that will be both valuable and interesting for all attendees. Your proposal must contain all three components described below including your email address and telephone number. Submissions without the completed information in full and containing a comprehensive session topic description will not be considered.
The Technical Program Committee reserves the right to combine abstracts/topics to create a session.
Program Abstract (200-250 words)
The Convention Technical Program Committee is seeking abstracts that align with the convention topic areas. Describe the session topic and its relevance to the convention and participants, what the attendees will take away from the session, and how the presentation will be made within the 200 to 250-word abstract. Submitting authors must provide enough detail to convey all of the aspects of the topic the speakers intend to discuss in a session. The proposal must be a minimum of 200 words.
Session Format
Please describe the proposed format for how the session will be conducted—including the number of speakers, length of presentations, anticipated manner of audience participation, and other similarly related information. If possible, please identify all speakers, panel members, moderators or facilitators by name, affiliation, and include their phone numbers and email addresses.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives are needed to identify and award PDHs during the Convention. Submitting authors must include a minimum of 3 learning objectives (maximum of 5) for each session. The learning objectives must be clear, specific, concise, and measurable and reflect what the attendees will achieve/learn by participating in the session. Submissions without learning objectives will not be considered for inclusion in the Convention program.
Follow these guidelines when writing the objectives:
- A statement that clearly communicates what the participant will be able to demonstrate at the conclusion of the session, including conditions and criteria of performance
- Measurable
- Feedback from participants demonstrating skills or knowledge obtained
The following is an example of a learning objective that complies with the ANSI/IACET Standard:
- "Identify four principal structural properties of aluminum according to the 2015 Aluminum Design Manual" (instead of the vague “Know the principal structural properties of aluminum.”)
Learning objectives that comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard must use one condition, one action verb, and one standard or criterion.
Revisions and Combinations
ASCE staff and the Technical Program Committee members may propose changes to session proposals to manage content and fit the available programming times. Sessions may be accepted conditionally based on such changes.
Notification
Notification of session status will be sent to the submitting author(s) in early March 2025.
Key Dates for 2025 Submissions
- Call for submissions opens | Dec. 2024
- All submissions due | Jan. 8, 2025
- Presenter notification | Mar. 3, 2025
- Final draft papers due | May 1, 2025
- Speaker registration deadline | Aug. 22, 2025
- ASCE 2025 Convention | Oct. 8–11, 2025