NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2006 – With the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina here and gone, a professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University does not want the disastrous event to slip from the national consciousness.

To that end, Robert G. Watts, Ph.D., will lead a discussion forum titled “Environmental and Other Issues in a Post-Katrina New Orleans,” to take place on Nov. 8, 2006, at the Chicago Hilton.  The forum, featuring analysis and commentary from engineers as well as officials overseeing the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, will be held in conjunction with the 2006 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.

“I sense that the American people wish to move on from Hurricane Katrina, however there exist major environmental, engineering, urban planning and socioeconomic issues in New Orleans,” said Watts, who ranks the devastation brought by Katrina on a scale of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the Allied bombings in World War II.

In the panel discussion beginning at 9:30 a.m., participants will look back on the calamity of August 29, 2005, and assess the structural failings and other conditions that allowed surging storm water to flood 80 percent of New Orleans, wiping out entire neighborhoods and killing hundreds of residents.

The panelists will also report on the progress of the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, some of which Watts believes are shortsighted.  “The local officials are shoring up the retaining walls by placing the support pilings deeper, however these walls are not really designed to withstand a storm surge of the magnitude of Katrina,” offered Watts.

He believes a better approach, albeit costly, is to build bigger and stronger levees.  Other strategies to protect New Orleans against floodwaters, according to Watts, include reclaiming the wetlands on the fringes of the city and closing the city’s Mississippi River outlet.

Watts also believes that New Orleans’ vibrant diversity and culture will return in full.  “New Orleans is a great city, said Watts.  “When New Orleans establishes a coordinated plan for reconstruction, the city and all its character and charm will return.”

The ASME Congress will open on Nov. 5 and feature more than 2,300 presentations on new advances in manufacturing, energy, aerospace, and a range of other subjects in the field of engineering.

Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences.  ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.

-#-