The Earthquake Country Alliance has created The Great Shake Out - a website offering a great number of resources and information related to earthquake preparedness.  The site highlights several ShakeOut events to be held throughout the world over the next year in an effort to better prepare citizens for earthquakes.

There are also links to a QuakeQuiz and Beat the Quake test. The Central U.S. section of the site has a whole page of resources including audio, video, brochures, posters, and web banners. Below is a sample banner that can be used to promote the ShakeOut effort.

 April is National Safe Digging Month, and Call 811 has created some promotional materials to help you get the work out about calling before you dig!  Below is a sample of one of the web bannerw you can install on your own website. You can read more about National Safe Digging Month and pick up your own promotional material s here:

http://www.call811.com/campaign-materials/safe-digging-month.aspx

The Public Works Group Blog is now available through a subscription on Amazon. Sign up and find out how to access our blog right on your Kindle by clicking here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004URSCIG

The organizers of World Water Day have created an amazing collection of materials for anyone to use to promote this event and help educate people about water. They have posters, t-shirts, brochures, an advocacy guide, videos, backgrounds for desktops and mobile devices, logos, website buttons and banners, media briefs with facts and figures, and exhibition graphics. Many of these materials are in multiple languages. There is also a page where you can check for events scheduled to be held in your area.

The use of unconferences continues to grow and has recently moved into the public works industry with the launch of Transportation Camp. Unconferences are typically informal, low-cost, energetic one or two-day events designed to maximize participation and learning. Transportation Camp follows this model and will focus on transportation and technology. Those interested in attending can choose between upcoming camps in either New York City or San Francisco.

America 2050 is a "national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation." The effort is a result of a group of planners, scholars, and policy makers who have been working together to develop what could be thought of as a National Comprehensive Plan. To date, their site offers reports summarizing transportation, infrastructure, regional development, and economic development.

The Federal Highway Administration sponsors a Bike Safety Website offering tools for evaluating and designing transportation facilities. The site explains, "BIKESAFE was designed to enable practitioners to select engineering, education, or enforcement treatments to help mitigate a known crash problem and/or to help achieve a specific performance objective." By drawing from case studies, the tools help engineers and other design professionals determine the success of different alternatives for addressing specific problems. You can find out more by visiting BIKESAFE at http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/bikesafe/index.cfm

ASTM International

ASTM International offers college students free membership in the organization. By joining, students can take advantage of electronic editions of ASTM magazines and newsletters, free attendance at the ASTM Symposia, participation in student competitions, and reduced membership fees upon graduation. ASTM also offers learning modules on their website at this URL (free for anyone to download):

www.astm.org/studentmember/Learning_Modules.html

ConExpo, a large construction equipment show held each March in Las Vegas, is offering an online tool to help attendees navigate the show. Those registered can even set up their own planner through the site. A ConExpo iPhone app also offers access to show maps, events, and exhibitor information.

National Engineers Week, the annual celebration of everything engineering, might not be until next February, but you can start preparing now. The new logo for E-week 2011 has been released, and  you can visit the E-week website for ideas about how to get involved. And continue watching the site as more information and resources are added.