The On-Going Challenge

This year is very special as we all celebrate 150 years of ASCE. Over the years, ASCE has become the world’s leading professional society in civil engineering. The society is large and has widespread international ramifications. Of the 2,890 papers submitted to ASCE’s 29 journals in the year 2000, about half were submitted from the United States and the other half from abroad. The Journal of Hydraulic Engineering is among the largest of ASCE’s journals in terms of number of papers submitted and number of papers published. In fact, in 1999, the journal published more papers and discussions than any other ASCE journal. Over the past 8 years, there were typically between 200–250 new papers annually submitted to the journal and about 100–150 were published each year. The international dimension of JHE is fascinating. About one-third of the journal’s papers are submitted from the United States, about one-third from Australasia including India and about 20% from Europe. It is thus a great privilege for me to serve as the journal’s Editor and to accept the ongoing challenge of keeping the journal as large as possible with the highest possible standards of excellence.