The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) members elected Feniosky A. Peña-Mora, Sc.D, P.E., NAS, CCM, F.CIOB, NAC, Dist.M.ASCE, as president of the Society for the 2024-2025 term, after a month-long election that closed June 1. Peña-Mora served on the Board of Direction as an at-large director, 2019-2022, during which he also led the development of ASCE’s new strategic plan through his role as chair of the Board Strategic Advisory Council. With nearly 30 years of experience in academia and practice, Peña-Mora serves as the executive director of the Center for Buildings, Infrastructure and Public Space at Columbia University, where he also has been the Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics since 2012.

The Society president serves as the chief representative and spokesperson for the Society, working with ASCE’s executive director. The president chairs the Board of Direction and the Executive Committee and assists in educating and motivating members and potential members by promoting Society principles, policies, and goals. The president’s term is for one year. 

“We are educators, researchers, practitioners, and entrepreneurs. We think out of the box and bring to the table a combination of pragmatism and vision that allows us to envision a world that does not yet exist and the tools to create it and make it a reality,” said Peña-Mora, P.E. “My vision for the future of the ASCE is about how, together, we can build a better world for all.”

Peña-Mora has been actively involved in ASCE since 1990 where he began as a student member and has acted in leadership roles within the Society since 2009. These roles include chair of the Construction Research Council 2009-2011, chair of the International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure in 2017, chair of the Industry Leaders Council 2020-2022, and Society at-large director 2019-2022.

Peña-Mora received his BS in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1987, and his MS and PhD in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 and 1994. He will be inducted as president-elect at the Annual Business Meeting this fall in Chicago during the ASCE 2023 Convention.