NC State’s Zia Lecture to feature leaders behind the Panama Canal expansion

Three leaders behind the remarkable Panama Canal expansion project will speak about their roles in one of the 21st century’s most challenging engineering ventures during a North Carolina State University lecture event in downtown Raleigh on Monday, September 24.

The lecture will offer a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project, which will add a new set of locks at the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that will double the canal’s capacity, allowing more and larger ships to use the 100-year-old waterway. The expanded canal should be fully operational in 2015.

The presentations by Alberto Alemán Zubieta, former CEO of the Panama Canal Authority; Michael Newbery, locks design manager with MWH Global; and Joseph Cazares, deputy program manager and locks construction manager with CH2M Hill, are part of the Paul Zia Distinguished Lecture Series in Civil Engineering and Construction, an annual event featuring prominent engineers in the field. The event runs from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Raleigh Marriott City Center at 500 Fayetteville St.

This is a free event, though reservations are requested to lora_bremer@ncsu.edu. Media coverage is invited.

Alemán was the longtime administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, the autonomous agency that manages the Panama Canal and the expansion project. His 16 years of canal leadership included overseeing the 1999 transfer of control of the canal from the United States to the Panamanian government. He stepped down earlier this month to return to private practice in project management. His many honors include the International Maritime Prize and membership in the International Maritime Hall of Fame.

Newbery has worked on the Panama Canal expansion program for 13 years. Since 2009, he has been the design manager for the MWH Global-led design joint venture on the third set of locks project. He has more than 30 years of engineering and design experience, including more than 25 years with MWH Global. His work has included designing, managing and being the principal in charge for major lock and dam projects on four continents.

Cazares is deputy program manager for the Panama Canal expansion program and construction manager for the new locks portion of the contract. He is a licensed engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the design and construction of billion-dollar public facility and infrastructure programs. His experience has included transportation, water-wastewater, and energy projects for both public and private organizations, and he specializes in large-scale program management assignments involving complex schedule, contractual, funding, and project phasing elements.

The Paul Zia Distinguished Lecture Series was established in 2002 to honor the accomplishments of Dr. Paul Zia, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at NC State. Zia is a leading figure in the fields of concrete and structural engineering and served as head of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State for nine years. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

The series is presented by the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, the Constructed Facilities Laboratory, and the NC State Engineering Foundation.

More information is available at www.ce.ncsu.edu.