Speakers
David Kanger, PE 
David Kanger was born and resided in the suburbs of Chicago until moving to the New Orleans area in 1991. He graduated from Tulane University in 1995 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Engineering (Civil Engineering) and again a year later in 1996 with a Master's of Science degree in Engineering (Civil Engineering). Since 1996, he has been working in the Design Section of bridge engineering firm, Modjeski and Masters, Inc. This firm has been responsible for the design of a number of signature bridges across the Mississippi River and all over the United States throughout its long history. In Spring 2009, Mr. Kanger became an Associate of the firm.
While practicing engineering, he has been engaged in the design and management of all manner of transportation and infrastructure development projects including railroad and highway bridges, ferry facilities, and other intermodal facilities. His design experience includes work in all phases of the design process from preliminary project development through construction support and project management. He also has acquired significant emergency repair and field inspection experience including truss inspection, pin replacement monitoring, and forensic failure analysis.
Mr. Kanger's works in the New Orleans area have been numerous. Specifically, Mr. Kanger acted as the project engineer for the design and construction of the substructure widening of the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, and is currently performing design support for the superstructure widening construction. He was the lead engineer for the first High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV-2) mass transit lanes in the state of Louisiana for the city of New Orleans' Crescent City Connection.
Mr. Kanger has not been limited specifically to the field of structural design. In his time at Modjeski and Masters, Inc., Mr. Kanger has also been engaged in numerous emergency repairs and field inspections of major structures. Work of note included the comprehensive inspection and rating of Union Pacific Railroad deck truss bridge at Ft. Dodge, IA. This work required the free-climbing technical access inspection of a fifty-foot deep deck truss bridge with the bottom chord located 150' clear above the river. Also, Mr. Kanger engineered the repairs of the damaged New Orleans' Crescent City Connection ferry facilities resulting from Hurricane George.
Besides his outstanding achievements in the field of bridge design, Mr. Kanger also has been active with the Tulane University School of Engineering and its post-Katrina successor, the School of Science and Engineering. Mr. Kanger has served on the engineering school's Board of Advisors, as an officer with the Society of Tulane Engineers, and as a committee member and Chairman of this Tulane Engineering Forum which has showcased engineering and engineering policy experts from around the country.
Mr. Kanger's crisis management skills were tested while President of the Society of Tulane Engineers during Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent adoption of the "Renewal Plan" developed by Tulane University. Mr. Kanger's thoughts and comments regarding the need for traditional engineering programs within New Orleans and southeast Louisiana were carried in the Wall Street Journal and Journal of Higher Education as well as locally on television network news affiliates. Mr. Kanger remains committed to returning and strengthening traditional engineering programs with New Orleans' institutions of higher education and strengthening the fields of science and engineering within Louisiana statewide.