MESSAGE FROM THE USSD PRESIDENT

Greetings:

Welcome to the USSD website. USSD is an organization committed to our vision "To be the nation's leading organization of professionals dedicated to advancing the role of dams for the benefit of society." We represent the United States as a founding member of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), which currently amalgamates similar national dam organizations from 92 countries.

As an organization, USSD provides a forum for the exchange of experience and knowledge for the analysis, design and construction of dams as a critical part of the infrastructure in the United States and the world. We seek to offer conferences, publications and workshops at the state-of-the-practice level of competency in the science and art of dams. Our membership includes individuals and organizations from government agencies, private consultants, contractors and academia.

The backbone of our organization is our technical committees, which are composed of members with expertise and motivation to keep abreast of the technology and innovation in their chosen discipline. Together with others of similar experience, our technical committees disseminate key technical updates to our membership and participate in high-level discussions with world-wide professionals in parallel ICOLD committees.

If you are new to this site, USSD invites you to investigate membership for yourself or your organization. I encourage you to "surf" our site, exploring "About USSD" - our recent news, technical committees and organizational strategies - and "About Dams" - for educational information on the benefits of dams in an integrated infrastructure. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions.

Best regards,