After more than a decade of experience building teams that build airplanes, Lisa Schleuter has added a new job title to her resume: children’s book author. Schleuter has published a new book called Ollie the Civil Engineer aimed at entertaining and inspiring young children. In episode 184 of ASCE Plot Points, Schleuter talks about Ollie, her career in civil engineering, and how she came to find herself as a newly minted author.

AI takes up a lot of oxygen in the room right now. But when it comes to specific impacts, do we have a strong industry-wide understanding? Does anyone know? Mark Coates, vice president of the Infrastructure Policy Advancement team at Bentley Systems, set about finding out. His group helped lead a global study to better understand the topic, looking at AI in three main areas: readiness, risk, and returns. In episode 183 of ASCE Plot Points, Coates discusses the survey and what the results suggest about the future of the industry.

This Thanksgiving week we’re reminded of the deep connection between civil engineering and community service. Which of course means the civil engineers who have made that kind of generosity a way of life. Aleesha Toteja is one such civil engineer. A project manager for Halff in Austin, Texas, Toteja devotes countless hours to help a variety of causes both through her employer’s outreach programs, the ASCE Austin Branch, and her day-to-day public works projects. In episode 182 of ASCE Plot Points, Toteja talks about her her generous spirit and why maybe it’s a characteristic that a lot of civil engineers share.

And next week on #GivingTuesday, when you donate to the ASCE Foundation, your generosity will go twice as far. Every gift to the ASCE Foundation made on Dec. 2 will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000 by ASCE leadership. Learn more at ASCEFoundation.org.