The Rail Commission partnered with Kanawha River Railroad (KNWA) and Norfolk Southern (NS) on a December 2022 submission to the Federal Railroad Administration and was recently notified the project was approved. The project will rehabilitate significant sections of the line which runs between Columbus, Ohio, and Cornelia, West Virginia, a distance of approximately 240 miles.  The line is owned by NS and operated by KNWA, a subsidiary of Watco. The project includes replacing rail and ties as well as necessary surfacing work. It also includes repairing several bridges along the line. The approximately $32.5 million project will result in the elimination of slow orders and the restoration of Class II track speeds across the project area.  These improvements will allow KNWA to maintain safe and reliable service to meet the needs of its existing customers and improve its ability to attract new customers.

Matthew Dietrich, Executive Director of the Rail Commission, said “This project will preserve and improve a rail line in Southeastern Ohio that serves as an important link between industries in West Virginia and Ohio.  Anytime we are able to work in tandem with our railroad partners to make improvements that reduce the opportunity for incidents to occur, it’s a benefit to all.  We are happy to support that effort.”

LAS VEGAS—Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) today announced the winners of the annual Trimble Construction Management Awards, which honors the successes that North American civil, general and specialty contractors have achieved with the support of Trimble technology.

This year’s awards were expanded to five categories, two of which were specific to mechanical and electrical contractors: best estimating success story and most impressive use of virtual design and construction. The remaining three categories were biggest accounting/finance team transformation, best HR achievement and most challenging project. The announcement was made at the annual Trimble Dimensions Conference

“Each year, we take a moment to recognize the extraordinary feats happening across the construction industry given that today’s contractors are expected to not just deliver on time and on budget, but to build exceptional projects that will stand the test of time,” said Lawrence Smith, vice president and general manager of Trimble Construction Management Solutions. “Technology plays a key role in helping contractors succeed by connecting teams, reducing friction, streamlining workflows and improving the way these businesses and their projects are run and we want to recognize those highlights.”

The 2023 Trimble Construction Management Award Winners are:

Best Estimating Success Story: Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc.

Jamerson & Bauwens faced challenges with supply chain disruptions, pricing volatility and remote workforce needs. At the same time, the company also started bidding on larger, more complex projects with tighter deadlines. J&B recognized their estimating process wasn’t keeping pace with market conditions or helping them grow their business so decided to adopt Trimble Accubid Anywhere and immediately saw improvements — even winning a bid for a large, complex hospital project in just five days. Takeoffs are now two to three times faster, the team is able to provide more accurate pricing and has greater confidence in project costs, and handoffs to the project management and field teams have been dramatically improved. Watch Jamerson & Bauwens talk about the award.

Most Impressive Use of Virtual Design and Construction: T.S. Raulston, Inc.

T.S. Raulston has kept on the cutting edge of HVAC and plumbing design, fabrication and installation through the use of integrated software solutions that enable the company to leverage rich data in 3D models to inform procurement and fabrication. The company automates a workflow using a combination of Trimble AutoBid, SysQue, Connect, Connect2Fab, ProjectSight and SiteVision to streamline their workflow from the office to the field. On average, T.S. Raulston has decreased its takeoff to estimate time by about 50 percent. Watch T.S. Raulston talk about the award.

Biggest Accounting/Finance Team Transformation: Coyote Ridge Construction, LLC “Production” was the key word that Coyote Ridge Construction became fixated on tracking because their previous software couldn’t adequately report production quantities, impacting operations across the company. Coyote Ridge upgraded to Viewpoint Spectrum and B2W Track to better track production numbers and payroll hours from the field. Since implementing the solutions, Coyote Ridge has automated job cost setup, and what used to take an entire day now takes less than 10 minutes. Payroll is also simplified, and accounts payable is now processing 100 vendor payments each week electronically. Coyote Ridge has also seen increased success on bids by developing more accurate rates, and the company can better project and control costs. Watch Coyote Ridge Construction talk about the

Best HR Achievement: SDB Contracting Services, Inc.

SDB Contracting Services specializes in building semiconductor clean rooms, along with a wide range of specialty services, across more than 15 states. To win a major contract recently, the company needed to convince their semiconductor client they could quickly hire and onboard hundreds of new crew members in a particular location. They turned to Viewpoint HR Management to help streamline and accelerate the process, ultimately winning the contract and follow-on work for years to come. SDB now has a centralized and automated HR management system that seamlessly connects the office, field and employees. New workers complete and submit forms electronically and custom workflows help HR staff ensure all necessary tasks are completed correctly and on time. Watch SDB Contracting Services talk about the award.

Most Challenging Project: HP Civil, Inc.

The Blumenauer Bridge, a bicycle and pedestrian crossing in Portland, Ore., was created to connect two of the city’s neighborhoods over a busy interstate and railway line. HP Civil was hired as the construction manager/general contractor and used Viewpoint Vista to account for every dollar on the job, from the initial estimate all the way through to completion — from tracking labor and field progress to ensure that production timelines and budget targets were being met to managing the project’s numerous change orders effectively. This complex and challenging alternative delivery project required HP Civil to work with the city, state and railway – not to mention many subcontractors and other partners – climaxing in a critical weekend closure of the interstate and rail line to erect the bridge. Watch HP Civil talk about the award.

Honorable Mentions: We are also pleased to recognize 10 additional companies as part of this year’s awards program: Blackwater Electric; CDA Paving and Concrete Specialties; Duggan Contracting; Faulconer Construction; Industrial Builders; JD Abrams; McCormick Construction; Perman Construction and Development; Rummel Construction; and Tilson Technology.

The Trimble Construction Management Awards are open to all North American contractors. This year’s judges included several construction award winners from year’s past years who are invited to be on the panel annually, as well as Trimble Construction executives.

About Trimble
Dedicated to the world’s tomorrow, Trimble is a technology company delivering solutions that enable our customers to work in new ways to measure, build, grow and move goods for a better quality of life. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics connect the digital and physical worlds to improve productivity, quality, safety, transparency and sustainability. From purpose-built products and enterprise lifecycle solutions to industry cloud services, Trimble is transforming critical industries such as construction, geospatial, agriculture and transportation to power an interconnected world of work. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), visit: www.trimble.com. 

Founded by McCarthy Building Companies in 2020, Construction Inclusion Week is an annual week-long, industry-wide effort to champion change and cultivate a more inclusive construction industry. Now in its third year, the event has grown exponentially with over 5,000 firms registered to participate nationwide.

The event’s Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates the exceptional standards of construction excellence, dedication and accomplishment in the St. Louis region over a sustained period of time. Surrounded by family, Kennedy and Karl Grice of Grice Group Architects were honored with the award on Oct. 18 at Harris Stowe University’s Emerson Performance Center in front of a crowd of minority AEC industry organizations and businesses.

“Kennedy has played an integral role in the creative, technical and professional progress as a minority business development owner over the course of his professional life,” according to an email from McCarthy announcing the award recipients. 

Kennedy wanted to be an architect since age nine and became fascinated with construction watching homes being built in his Richmond Heights neighborhood designed by African American architect Charles Flemming. Despite a high school guidance counselor advising him in 1963 that Washington University’s schools of architecture “only took the cream of the crop and no negroes,” the university reached out to Kennedy in 1969 as the Civil Rights movement gained recognition and invited him to enter the School of Architecture as a graduate student with a degree in another subject. He then went on to study architecture at Washington University for an additional four years before finally became the first African American architect registered in the State of Missouri. 

He founded KAI in 1980 from his home office and grew the business alongside his oldest son Michael Kennedy, Jr., CEO, into one of the largest minority-owned AEC firms in the country with a diverse workforce of over 150 employees at its St. Louis headquarters and offices in Kansas City, KS; Atlanta, GA; and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX.

“Today is so appreciated, I am humbled by it,” said Kennedy. “I didn’t forget what my high school guidance counselor told me. As a 17-year-old, that went all the way to my marrow. Ever since then, I had two ambitions motivating me daily. One was to prove that he was wrong and the most important one was to demonstrate to my people that you can do it too. I couldn’t find a room with this many African American businesses in the construction industry here in the City of St. Louis when I started my career.”

Over the course of his career, Kennedy and the KAI team have designed several notable St. Louis-area landmarks, including the St. Louis City Justice Center, St. Louis Metro Light Rail Stations, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, Harris-Stowe’s William L. Clay Early Childhood Center, and the Downtown Gateway Transportation Center, among many others.

Kennedy has also pursued numerous civic commitments to the St. Louis area, having served on the Board of Directors for the Downtown St. Louis Partnership, Forest Park Hospital, United Way of Greater St. Louis, St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association, American Red Cross and others.

“We are truly thrilled to receive this award that recognizes our fundamental approach of connecting people, data and technology to deliver the innovative solutions our clients depend on,” said Steve Morriss, President, Engineering Services, U.S., AtkinsRéalis. “By combining our digital expertise with decades of engineering excellence we are optimizing design and delivery of our planet’s most complex and challenging projects.”

The Floyd Hill project removes a bottleneck of the interstate and reduces travel times for commercial traffic, residents and tourists driving to nearby ski resorts and other destinations. It has been highlighted by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and CDOT for the economic benefits it provides to Colorado and the Nation. Safety enhancements along the corridor include improving the highway’s design speed and increasing stopping sight distance on horizontal curves. Additional upgrades include a westbound tolled Express Lane, an eastbound auxiliary lane, new bridges, improved interchange and frontage road access, wildlife passageways under the roadway, two air quality monitoring stations and a full reconstruction of a nearby trail. Construction is underway with project completion expected in 2028.

The use of technology and visualization software helped the team develop solutions to handle many site-specific challenges and constraints. Leveraging digital tools made it possible to mitigate impacts to the surrounding natural environment, built environment, residents and other stakeholders while also providing a more efficient and cost-effective design.

“Utilizing digital tools allowed our team to visualize dozens of alternative designs and fully evaluate construction impacts, quantities, costs and constructability leading to a preferred alternative that best met the project goals,” said Donna Huey, Chief Digital Officer, Engineering Services, U.S., AtkinsRéalis. “This award highlighted our ability to reduce hours worked by more than 50,000 and project costs by more than $7 million, showcasing AtkinsRéalis’ ability deliver exceptional value to our clients and taxpayers.”

AtkinsRéalis is revolutionizing the design, delivery and operation of infrastructure projects through its world-leading knowledge in design, engineering, project management, sustainability and digital-transformation. Our consultants, engineers, technologists and project managers have helped clients reshape the world, with new ways of designing and building that make the lived environment work better for everyone for more than eight decades.

Dr. Sherman was selected as the recipient of the 2023 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture by the Steel Bridge Task Force of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Steel and Metals Technical Committee. The program was instituted in 2005 in memory of Robert J. Dexter, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, who was an internationally recognized expert on steel fracture and fatigue problems in bridges.

The Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture program provides an opportunity for individuals early in their careers in structural engineering to present a lecture on their steel bridge research activities to the Steel Bridge Task Force and to participate in its semiannual three-day meeting. Recipients become guests of the Steel Bridge Task Force, which is comprised of leading steel bridge experts.

Dr. Sherman has conducted large-scale laboratory testing and performed field monitoring and instrumentation projects on steel bridge and ancillary highway structures across the United States. His research encompasses the areas of large-scale structural experimentation, structural health monitoring, material characterization, finite element simulation, fatigue and fracture, and additive manufacturing for civil engineering infrastructure.

He joined the faculty in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in 2019. He earned his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University and his M.S. degree and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. Previously, he served on the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Construction, and he worked as a research engineer at the Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research at Purdue University. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Nevada.

Previous recipients of the Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture include:

• William Collins, Ph.D., P.E., University of Kansas at Lawrence (2022)
• Matthew Yarnold, Ph.D., P.E., Texas A&M University (2021)
• Matthew H. Hebdon, Ph.D., P.E., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (2019)
• Hussam Mahmoud, Ph.D., Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado (2014)
• Caroline R. Bennett, Ph.D., P.E., University of Kansas in Lawrence (2013)
• Hassan H. Abbas, Ph.D., Auburn University (2012)
• Justin Ocel, Ph.D., P.E., Federal Highway Administration (2010)
• Emmett A. Sumner III, Ph.D., North Carolina State University in Raleigh (2009)
• Jennifer Righman McConnell, Ph.D., University of Delaware (2007)
• Reagan Herman, Ph.D., University of Houston (2006)
• Robert J. Connor, Ph.D., P.E., Purdue University (2005)

The Steel Bridge Task Force was formed more than 40 years ago to coordinate research that establishes safe, cost-effective steel bridges and to implement these developments into steel bridge design codes, specifically the AASHTO design codes. Its members include the American Iron and Steel Institute, National Steel Bridge Alliance, AASHTO Steel and Metals Technical Committee, steel producers, steel organizations, steel bridge fabricators, bridge owners, university faculty, consultants and representatives from the Federal Highway Administration.

The award recognizes and honors an individual who has made substantial and measurable engineering, scientific, and/or operations contributions to managing or treating industrial wastes to improve water quality. A renowned pioneer of industrial wastewater management, WEF created the award in 2007 to honor the late W. Wesley Eckenfelder Jr.

Eckenfelder was a prolific writer, influencing countless engineers through his many textbooks, hundreds of journal articles, and courses. One such engineer is Flippin, who achieved a master’s degree in environmental and water resource engineering and a bachelor’s in civil and environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University under the tutelage of Eckenfelder.

The impact Eckenfelder has had on Flippin is profound. After serving as a research assistant to Eckenfelder at Vanderbilt in 1983, Flippin has dedicated his career to enhancing the environment through the design, construction, and optimization of industrial water and wastewater treatment facilities. Since joining Brown and Caldwell in 1984, he has evaluated and developed process design and operating guidelines for hundreds of treatment facilities encompassing food and beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical and nutrition, refinery and renewable fuels, mining, and many more industries. His experience and technical acumen have been pivotal in helping industrial clients achieve water treatment cost savings while maintaining effluent and emissions compliance.

Project highlights include the Bush Brothers & Company’s (Bush’s® Best Baked Beans) award-winning Process Water Reclamation Facility. As technical lead, Flippin directed the process design of the 2.1 million gallons per day facility that treats production process water to be used for utility water makeup or irrigation of adjacent pasturelands on which cattle are raised by Bush Brothers & Company-owned agriculture.

Furthermore, Flippin has continued Eckenfelder’s legacy by mentoring aspiring engineers and lending his expertise to improve water quality through engineering and scientific advancements in treating industrial waters. He regularly leads educational workshops and authors thought leadership articles focused on bringing new information and pioneering solutions to market.

Brown and Caldwell CEO Rich D’Amato commented on the esteemed recognition:

“I am thrilled that WEF has awarded Houston’s decades of dedication and contributions to the field of industrial water treatment. Spanning four decades, he has continuously solved various highly technical, complex industrial water challenges to achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients and communities. His selfless approach to innovation and mentoring has tremendously impacted the industry and our people. All at Brown and Caldwell are immensely proud of Houston for this well-earned accolade.”

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Flippin is a licensed professional engineer in 16 states and a board-certified environmental engineer.

The recently completed Merchants Bridge rebuild serves as a showcase of tightly orchestrated engineering and construction planning to replace the double-track bridge, which was built in 1889. Its three main truss spans of 520 feet each needed replacement, and the unreinforced masonry piers did not provide adequate resistance to vessel impact or seismic loading.

“Years of heavy use had caused serious structural degradation that limited crossings,” says Kevin Eisenbeis, project structural engineer at Burns & McDonnell. “The bridge has now gained decades of service life and is projected to boost the local economy by hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to this rebuild project.”

Burns & McDonnell provided preliminary and final truss design, river pier foundation design, seismic analysis and environmental services for the Merchants Bridge replacement as a subconsultant to Transystems for the owner of the bridge, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. The engineering solution included stabilizing the existing foundations with micropiles and encasing the footings and original masonry piers with concrete. The new truss span design incorporated a ballasted deck system providing an improvement to the original open-deck, rail-on-tie configuration. In addition, the track centers on the new bridge deck were widened from 12 to 15 feet, providing more operational flexibility and improved safety.

The construction plan for the three main truss spans involved a combination of existing span float-out and new span float-in on barges, plus vertical strand jack lifts combined with lateral slide operations using an overhead gantry system. The three new Warren-type truss spans were individually assembled on barges located along the riverbank. Once a truss span was fully assembled and ready for placement, the contractor Walsh Construction had 10 days to remove an old span and replace it with a new one. The sequence began with a 24-hour river traffic closure. During this nearly round-the-clock operation, empty barges were moved into place in the span between the gantry cranes to receive the existing truss span, which was lifted, slid over and then lowered to the awaiting barges below.  The sequence was then reversed during a second 24-hour river traffic closure to float-in, lift and slide the new span into position.

The Hay Award adds to a growing list of industry honors for the project, which includes the following:

• American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACECMo) Grand Conceptor
• ENR Midwest Regional Best Project
• Railway Track & Structures Top Project
• Supply & Demand Chain Executive Top Supply Chain Project

The variety of awards reflects the complexity of this project, which required significant coordination to minimize disruptions to rail and river traffic during the three-plus years of construction. Within a few months of the bridge’s completion, an average of 70 trains were crossing the bridge each day, resulting in a 49% increase in rail tonnage to the five Class I railroads that use the bridge. 

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell brings together an unmatched team of 13,500 engineers, construction and craft professionals, architects, and more to design and build our critical infrastructure. With an integrated construction and design mindset, we offer full-service capabilities. Founded in 1898 and working from 70 offices globally, Burns & McDonnell is 100% employee-owned. Learn how we are designed to build.

The award was presented to John O’Quinn at a meeting of the Steel Bridge Task Force on September 20 in Denver, Colorado. Karl Frank, Ph.D., P.E., a consultant and member of the Steel Bridge Task Force Oversight Council, presented the award, which reads: “In recognition of his significant leadership, mentoring and support of research which have contributed substantially to the advancement of steel bridges.”

“As chair of the Steel Bridge Task Force for many years, Alex Wilson had a vision for recognizing and mentoring the next generation of talent for innovative steel bridge research,” said Dan Snyder, vice president, construction program at AISI. “It is appropriate that we present this award to John O’Quinn, who for many years has provided mentoring and guidance to researchers and engineers as well as financial and materials support for their research. His direct support has enabled significant technological advancements for the steel bridge industry. John is highly respected and greatly appreciated by his peers, and it is an honor to recognize his contributions and lasting impact on our industry with the 2023 Alexander D. Wilson Memorial Award.”

About John O’Quinn
John O’Quinn began his steel industry career in an entry-level position at Carolina Steel in 1980. He learned the business from the ground up, working as a material handler, shear operator, welder and fitter before transitioning to maintenance, supervision and management. In 1993, he left Carolina Steel to launch O’Quinn Enterprises, a steel fabrication and erection company. In 2006, O’Quinn returned to Carolina Steel/Hirschfeld Industries as vice president. He left the company as president in 2016 to become president of High Steel Structures, LLC in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the position he currently holds.

Since 2006, John has served the steel fabrication industry through his participation and leadership on various boards, councils and advisory groups. He currently serves on the American Institute of Steel Construction’s (AISC) Board of Directors providing oversight for the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) and as vice-chair of the Government Relations Subcommittee. He is a member of the Steel Bridge Task Force. He previously served as chair of the NSBA Executive Council and as two-time chair of the NSBA Market Development Committee.

About Alex Wilson
As chair of the Steel Bridge Task Force, Alex Wilson presided over a group representing the top steel bridge design experts in the United States. As manager of customer technical services for ArcelorMittal USA, he developed and tested new technologies for the bridge industry, including weathering and High-Performance Steels, both of which provide cost-effective and durable alternatives to competing materials and are widely used in bridge construction today. He conducted research on fracture mechanic evaluations, consulted on steel plate development, published 65 technical papers, and shaped the advancement of new steel bridge material specifications. Looking to the next generation of talent, he oversaw the establishment of AISI’s Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture.

The Alexander D. Wilson Memorial Award was instituted in 2022. The first award was presented to metallurgical consultant Dean C. Krouse.

The Steel Bridge Task Force was formed more than 40 years ago to coordinate research that establishes safe, cost-effective steel bridges and to implement these developments into steel specifications, specifically the AASHTO design codes. Its members include the American Iron and Steel Institute, National Steel Bridge Alliance, AASHTO Steel and Metals Technical Committee, steel producers, steel organizations, steel bridge fabricators, bridge owners, university faculty, consultants and representatives from the Federal Highway Administration.

AISI serves as the voice of the American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI’s membership is comprised of integrated and electric arc furnace steelmakers, and associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI’s websites at http://www.steel.org and www.buildusingsteel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (@AISISteel, @BuildUsingSteel) or Instagram.  

The scholarships are given in an effort to continue to support the Foundation’s mission: The CMAA Foundation advances and supports workforce development to support the future growth of the industry, development of research beneficial to the advancement of technological, educational, or vocational expertise in the industry, and education in the construction management profession.

The Erica Lynn First Generation College Student Scholarship was awarded for the first time to Serena Foote, a graduate student at Colorado State University. The Erica Lynn scholarship provides funds to first-generation students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in construction management, construction engineering, or civil engineering with an emphasis in construction management.

The College of Fellows Scholarship Fund awarded a scholarship to Ann Lyons, a graduate student at Clemson University pursuing a degree in Construction Science and Management with a minor in Trust in Construction Teams. This first annual scholarship was given in honor of Ron Pennella, CCM, FCMAA, who was inducted to the CMAA College of Fellows in 2016.

The 2023 CMAA Foundation Scholarships were awarded to Shirley Wu, an undergraduate from New York University, and to Ehsan Rajaie, a graduate student attending the University of Texas at Arlington. The CMAA Foundation Scholarship program is designed to aid students pursuing postsecondary education that is intended to lead to a construction management career.

The 2023 Francis M. Keville Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Brianna Lopez from San Diego State University. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management. The Francis M. Keville Scholarship was established in 2009 by Christine Keville, FCMAA, through her firm, Keville Enterprises, Inc. It was created in honor of her late father. The scholarship is awarded each year to a female student pursuing a degree in construction management or a related discipline, who has a record of leadership and engagement both on- and off-campus, and who is planning a career in the field.

“It is incredibly rewarding for the CMAA Foundation to be in the position to award five scholarships in 2023,” says Andrea S. Rutledge, CAE, President and CEO of CMAA and the CMAA Foundation. “With these scholarships, the Foundation will continue to increase its impact on the program and construction management profession long into the future.”

“We’re proud to again be recognized in Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America and want to thank our team members who continue to excel year after year,” said Jay Todisco, President of Ware Malcomb. “These immensely talented and motivated individuals drive this growth and we’re fortunate to have them representing our firm.” 

“Together, we continue to push the boundaries of innovation and growth of our footprint spanning four countries, 28 offices, and many global clients,” added Ken Wink, CEO of Ware Malcomb. “Being named to the Inc. 5000 list is an incredible honor and one that we share with our team members and our committed, visionary clients and partners who make this success possible.”

All companies on the Inc. 5000 list are U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit and independent. Companies were ranked according to percentage of revenue growth from 2019 to 2022. To qualify for the 2023 list, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. The Inc. 5000 list, which can be sorted by revenue growth, industry, state or metro area, can be viewed at https://www.inc.com/inc5000/2023.

About Ware Malcomb (waremalcomb.com)

Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is a contemporary and expanding full-service design firm providing professional architecture, planning, interior design, civil engineering, branding and building measurement services to corporate, commercial/residential developer and public/institutional clients throughout the world. With office locations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, the firm specializes in the design of commercial office, corporate, industrial, science & technology, healthcare, retail, auto, public/institutional facilities and renovation projects. Ware Malcomb is recognized as an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company and a Hot Firm by Zweig Group. The firm is also ranked among the top 30 architecture/engineering firms in Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms and the top 30 interior design firms in Interior Design magazine’s Top 100 Giants. For more information, visit http://www.waremalcomb.com/news and view Ware Malcomb’s Brand Video at youtube.com/waremalcomb.

Representatives from the finalists’ organizations will present their projects to a panel of independent judges to determine the winners and meet with global press and industry executives at the 2023 Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards event, which will be held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, October 11-12, 2023. Visit the site to learn how these extraordinary infrastructure projects are leveraging digital advancements to achieve unprecedented outcomes.

The United States projects named as finalists for the 2023 Going Digital Awards are:

Bridges and Tunnels

Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence for Historic Robert Street Bridge Rehabilitation

Collins Engineers, Inc. – St. Paul, Minnesota, United States

This reinforced concrete arch bridge across the Mississippi River needed rehabilitation. MNDOT retained Collins Engineers to perform a detailed bridge inspection. Collins Engineers selected iTwin Capture and iTwin Experience to generate a digital twin of the bridge. The organization expects to save approximately 20% in rehabilitative construction costs.

Enterprise Engineering

CAD Assets to GIS – A CLIP Update

Phocaz, Inc. – Atlanta, Georgia, United States

To help Georgia DOT access asset data for 80,000 miles of road centerline, Phocaz leveraged ProjectWise to store and manage the roadway design files and iTwin to generate a cloud-based digital twin. The team also used artificial intelligence to automate and digitize the generation of characteristics and locations of highway assets, saving significant time and cost while providing more accurate results.

Roads and Highways

I-70 Floyd Hill to Veterans Memorial Tunnels Project

AtkinsRéalis – Idaho Springs, Colorado, United States

While designing roadway improvements along eight miles of the I-70 corridor, AtkinsRéalis faced site constraints, challenging topography, and a complex design. They utilized iTwin to create digital twins to gain visibility, Bentley’s open modeling applications to facilitate collaborative modeling and data management, and LumenRT for visualization, saving USD 1.2 million and 5,500 hours in coordination time.

Water and Wastewater

EchoWater Project

Project Controls Cubed LLC – Sacramento, California, United States

Among Sacramento’s largest public works projects, EchoWater will upgrade infrastructure to treat approximately 135 million gallons of wastewater per day, providing a safe, reliable water supply. Project Controls Cubed needed to design 22 individual projects for a sprawling complex for removing 99% of ammonia and 89% of nitrogen, presenting significant challenges. The team selected SYNCHRO and iTwin to develop construction solutions and a digital twin. Working in a connected digital visual environment helped EchoWater deliver the project USD 400 million under budget.  

EchoWater Project; Image courtesy of Project Controls Cubed LLC

To view the full list of awards finalists, visit https://yii.bentley.com/award-finalists.

Winners will be announced on Oct. 12, 2023.

“Cultivating and sustaining long-standing relationships with key clients like the FDOT is an effective way to bring our global expertise to the local communities in which we operate,” said Ian L. Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, AtkinsRéalis. “These decades-long partnerships have been effective in transforming our client’s vision into reality, driving economies and enabling us to realize our purpose of engineering a better future for our planet and its people.” 

Under the five-year $26M US contract, AtkinsRéalis will provide a full complement of engineering services including project management, planning, design and right-of-way support. Operations, maintenance and construction support will be provided as needed. The Company will also assist FDOT with accelerated design and construction of several Central Florida projects within the state’s $4 billion US Moving Florida Forward program.  

FDOT’s District Five in Central Florida, where the work will be undertaken, covers nine counties and is home to over four million residents who travel an estimated 67.3 million roadway miles daily. The District is served by seven transit agencies, five rail lines, one deep-water port, 25 public use and 133 private use airports and is home to Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development authority.   

“Our end-to-end services span the entire transport ecosystem, from railways to highways and from shipping ports to airports, making us a natural fit for the District’s varying needs,” said Steve Morriss, President, Engineering Services, U.S., AtkinsRéalis. “Florida has been home to our U.S. business since 1960 and it’s an honor to continue to help deliver safe and reliable transport infrastructure in our own back yard.” 

AtkinsRéalis has a strong reputation of providing GEC services to transportation authorities and state DOTs in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina and Texas.  

Common FAQs

What types of projects should be submitted?

Think – elevation. YEA showcases AEC projects that have positively advanced the industry through community and environmental impact, innovative technical processes, or groundbreaking vision and execution. Firms from any field within the AEC industry are invited to submit projects from any of the following five categories: 

1. Housing/Residential
2. Transportation/Infrastructure
3. Water/Stormwater/Wastewater
4. Environmental/Sustainability
5. Small Firm (fewer than 50 employees)

So, if you have a project (or three) that you’re confident has contributed to making the world just a little better place to be, we’re confident that you should start putting your submission (s) together. 

Can the project be located outside the United States?

Yes. We accept international entries.  

How will the winners be selected?

There will be an online voting period and winners will be selected based on the decisions of a jury of industry peers and colleagues. During this period, voters will be encouraged to vote for the project they think demonstrates the best of the best from the AEC industry in 2023. Website visitors can vote once per day, and winners will be selected based on the number of votes received over a two-week voting period (Oct. 27-Nov. 10). Each of the winning projects will be displayed on the Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine website and the Summit Project will be featured on the magazine’s December issue cover. The Summit Award is reserved for the project that receives the highest number of votes during the voting period.  

What is the deadline for submitting a project?

October 18, 2023.

Can multiple projects be submitted?

Firms are eligible to submit any project completed, or scheduled to be completed, within the 2023 calendar year, but only one project per firm can win. 

How are projects submitted? 

It’s simple. There’s a project information form that asks questions (i.e., location, work dates, budget, team, etc.). There’s space to add media links for project photos and videos. That’s it. There is no fee to enter.  

When will winners be notified?

The winning projects will be announced in the December 2023 issue of Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine, but winners will receive a congratulatory email prior to its release. They will also be provided with press materials to help them promote their win. 

Who were the past YEA winners and why?

Since YEA is only in its third year, we have two Summit Award winners to share with you. In 2021, SCS Engineers received the award for a corporate business park in Florida. Voters were excited about the redevelopment and repurposing of this project. The firm turned a former landfill into a 30-acre state-of-the-art corporate park, with business and logistic centers. The project benefited the economy, created local jobs, and provided significant environmental benefits. In 2022, HNTB submitted a project that received more than 2,000 votes making it the clear winner. Its project–The Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement–was the largest and most complex bridge building project in the history of Los Angeles. This 3,500-foot bridge spans the LA River and the 101 Freeway, local surface roads as well as 18 railroad tracks operated by five different railroad agencies including Union Pacific and Metrolink. Its network tied arch structure incorporates wide sidewalks, bike lanes and artistic lighting. There’s even a 12-acre park underneath it all. Overall, it will enhance the region’s mobility for cyclists and pedestrians, alike. 

Why should I be excited about YEA? 

This is a question that should be at the top of mind. YEA brings together the best and the brightest in the AEC industry and gives firms a chance to showcase those projects that really make them shine. It also gives firms a chance to compete and see how they stack up in the eyes of other industry leaders. And, whether or not you win, you still get bragging rights because your projects are all part of a grander mission–to elevate the AEC industry.  

We’re excited to get this year’s competition underway, so if you have any other questions about the submission process that haven’t been answered here, contact: Luke Carothers  at: lcarothers@zweiggroup.com. 

For more information about the contest and to submit your entry visit: https://csengineermag.com/yea/. 

Projects will compete for a Best in Class, Gold, Silver, or Bronze award in nine different categories, with only one project earning the Craftsmanship Award each year. 

“The awards competition continues to showcase groundbreaking ways to design with clay brick,” said BIA President and CEO Ray Leonhard. “These inspiring projects promote sustainable design and highlight the versatility and infinite possibilities clay brick has to offer.”

As the nation’s leading architectural design competition featuring fired-clay brick, all submissions must use clay brick as the project’s primary building material. Entrants must be either an architect or designer employed by an architectural, design-build or landscaping design firm.

Per the competition rules, eligible projects include any work of architecture completed since January 1, 2018, in which new clay brick products comprise the predominant exterior building or paving material (over 50 percent) including face or hollow brick, building brick, thin brick, paving brick, glazed brick, structural glazed facing tile, new clay brick products in special shapes and/or a combination of these.

The winners will be judged by peers in December and announced next January. Winning projects are featured on BIA’s website and social media channels. BIA also highlights winning projects and promotes them to the architect and design community throughout the year offering extensive exposure.

Entries must be submitted online by November 3 in one or more of these categories:

1. Commercial

2. Education – K-12

3. Education – Colleges & Universities (Higher Education) *

4. Residential – Single Family

5. Residential – Multi-Family

6. Thin Brick (New in 2022)

7. Paving & Landscape Projects**

8. Historic Renovation***

9. International (Projects outside of the US, Canada or a U.S. territory must be entered in this category)

* Includes residence halls and academic/administrative buildings

**At least 50% of the project must include clay pavers

***Does not need to meet the 50% or more new brick requirement but project must have 50% or more renovated brick

Additionally, an overall Craftsmanship Award will honor a mason or team of masons with exceptionally artful or unique installation.

Last year’s winning projects were featured in in BIA’s 2022 Brick in Architecture Magazine with a full recap in this video.

For questions, contact Kaylee Jeffries: kjeffries@bia.org.

Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge earned APWA’s 2023 Public Works Project of the Year Award in the Structures category, in the $5 Million, but less than $25 Million division. The City of North Charleston transformed an older area of the City into a place where locals and visitors can enjoy and interact with nature by creating the Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge (previously known as the Battery Park Bridge). The Bridge connects the City’s existing Riverfront Park to the newly developed Battery Park on the north side of Noisette Creek. The City of North Charleston intends to continue the momentum and redevelop 70 acres of the decommissioned Charleston Naval Complex with a mixed-use district. Although the Bridge serves as an initial catalyst for the revitalization efforts, the 800-foot-long Bridge, with two distinguishing 55-foot-tall arches spanning 238 feet, has created a destination on its own. Since the Bridge opened to the public in October of 2022, a continuous flow of people walking, running, and bicycling across the Bridge has contributed to its initial success. With gradual slopes along the entire length, the Bridge is universally accessible. The top of the Bridge offers unprecedented and unobstructed views across the marshes and waterways of the Lowcountry.

“The Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge is the City of North Charleston’s first step in transforming an older and underutilized area of its community. Their successful completion of this project is a testament to their dedication to breathing new life into the formal naval complex, promoting economic vitality, and improving quality of life for their citizens and beyond,” said SC APWA Chapter President Samantha H. Yager, who served as the nominator for the project to the APWA national awards competition. “A project of this size, complexity, and visibility requires a dedicated team who communicates regularly and responds quickly. T&H provided high-quality management and design throughout all phases, working closely with contractors and stakeholders during two years of construction, all accumulating in the project’s success.

T&H provided environmental permitting, surveying, landscape architecture, structural design, bidding, and construction services for the City of North Charleston. T&H conducted public meetings during the concept development phase, coordinated on behalf of their clients with numerous state and local agencies to secure permits, and, after the design was complete, led the City’s pre-qualification process to ensure the construction would be completed by an experienced contractor. T&H’s legacy in the South Carolina Low Country afforded the design team time-tested relationships with the City of North Charleston and prime contractor, Cape Romain Contractors Inc. CRC). Working on various projects within and for the City for over 30 years and with CRC for over 50 years, the team’s collective knowledge and proven experience working together allowed for a seamless construction process.

T&H looks forward to celebrating this achievement alongside the City of North Charleston and CRC at APWA’s PWX 2023 in San Diego in August. T&H also received recognition from the South Carolina Chapter of APWA for the Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge, which has been named a South Carolina Public Works Project of the Year in the Structures Category.

ABOUT APWA
The American Public Works Association (www.apwa.org) is a not-for-profit, international organization of more than 30,000 members involved in the field of public works. APWA serves its members by promoting professional excellence and public awareness through education, advocacy, and the exchange of knowledge. APWA is headquartered in Kansas City, MO, with an office in Washington, DC, 62 chapters, and 97 branches throughout North America.

ABOUT THOMAS & HUTTON
Thomas & Hutton celebrates over 75 years of creating transformative communities. Founded in 1946, Thomas & Hutton is a privately held professional services company providing consulting, planning, and engineering design services related to land and infrastructure.  Thomas & Hutton is located in ten regions throughout Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Teams of students and a faculty advisor design, build, and test a 20-foot, precast, prestressed concrete beam. Local PCI-certified precast concrete producers mentor and fabricate the beams for the teams. Entries are judged on a variety of criteria, including the beam’s load-resisting performance in tests that simulate real-life conditions structural building and infrastructure components must endure to ensure life safety, as well as the quality of their analysis and reports, and a video overview of their project. 

“PCI Big Beam competition helped students learn different perspectives compared to the knowledge gained from the classroom,” said Tanarat Potisuk, faculty advisor for the winning team. “This included performing design calculations, building the beam, and observing actual behavior of the beam through the test. The results were eyeopening for them, showing that when design assumptions were well thought out and calculations were correctly executed, it could predict the actual behavior of the beam closely.” 

“This competition facilitates a link between engineering calculations and real-world precast concrete fabrication,” added Jared Brewe, PCI’s Vice President, Technical Services, who served as a judge. “It’s exciting to see how the teams approach the problem, adapt to meet limits of their producer partner, and learn 

through the process of design, fabrication, and testing. The creativity in the video submissions also demonstrates the ingenuity of these students and their excitement for the opportunity to visit and work with our producers.” 

The 2023 PCI Big Beam Competition was sponsored by ALP Supply and ASPIRE magazine. 

Overall Results 

First Place: Oregon State University 

Faculty Advisor: Tanarat Potisuk 

Student Team: Sean Freitag, Nicholas Peterson, Kobe Wagner PCI Producer: Knife River Prestress 

Second Place: University of Minnesota Duluth 

Faculty Advisor: Brock Hedegaard 

Student Team: Justin Entinger, Eric Gibson, Kate McCabe, Abby Norman PCI Producer: Molin Concrete Products 

Third Place: Iowa State University 

Faculty Advisor: Hartanto Wibowo 

Student Team: Anisha Karki, Gata Milla, Lucas Reidel, Chandra Shekhar Lakavath PCI Producer: Rinker Materials 

Remaining finishers in alphabetical order. 

University of British Columbia 

Faculty Advisor: Lisa Tobber 

Student Team: Alay Bhagat, Sara Darsi, Jassimrat Deol, Vishawjit Singh Gill, Navsift Kaur, Samantha Krieg, Mahya Moghadasi, Kiana Youssefian Sahzabi, Grant Shishido 

PCI Producer: Rapid-Span Precast, a Limited Partnership 

University of Illinois at Chicago 

Faculty Advisor: Didem Ozevin 

Student Team: Said Elferachi, Haider Himairi, Caitlin Koziel, Raguez Taha PCI Producer: County Prestress 

Lehigh University 

Faculty Advisor: Clay Naito 

Student Team: Tj Briscoe, Urinrin Otite, Constantine Patmandis PCI Producer: High Concrete Group LLC 

University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Faculty Advisor: Sergio Brena 

Student Team: Andrew Lochner, Lukas Souza, Omid Monshi Toussi PCI Producer: Unistress Corporation 

University of Massachusetts, Team 2 

Fsculty Advisor: Sergio Brena 

Student Team: Joshua Govina, Thien-Thanh Nguyen, Lucia Pan, Cameron Ritchie PCI Producer: Unistress Corporatiion 

New Jersey Institute of Technology 

Faculty Advisor: Mohamed Mahgoub 

Student Team: Armin Saadegh-Vaziri, Alexander Savekin PCI Producer: Jersey Precast 

Northern Arizona University 

Faculty Advisor: Robin Tuchscherer 

Student Team: Anthony Eschen, Hunter McCormick, Joshua Sewell, Farrah Young PCI Producer: Tpac 

Keith Kaufman Award for Best Report 

Judges considers the overall presentation of the report when deciding on a best report winner. In addition to verifying the report contains all the requested sections and required signatures, judges look for clear presentation of data, professional look and formatting, and an overall well-written report. 

Oregon State University 

Faculty Advisor: Tanarat Potisuk 

Student Team: Sean Freitag, Nicholas Peterson, Kobe Wagner PCI Producer: Knife River Prestress 

Best Video 

Requirements include a video taken of the precast concrete beam being tested. Teams are encouraged to be as creative as they wish when preparing the final video. Videos with a storyline related to the big beam competition are clear standouts and the judging committee may elect an entry to receive a best video award. 

Lehigh University 

Faculty Advisor: Clay Naito, PhD, PE 

Student Team: Tj Briscoe, Urinrin Otite, Constantine Patmanidis PCI Producer: High Concrete Group LLC 

To see the student videos, please visit PCI’s Big Beam Channel on YouTube. 

About PCI 

Founded in 1954, The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) is a technical institute for the precast concrete structures and systems industry. PCI develops maintains, and disseminates the Body of Knowledge for the design, fabrication, and construction of precast concrete structures and systems. PCI develops consensus base standards, industry handbooks, quality assurance programs, certification, research and development projects, design manuals, continuing education and periodical publications. PCI members include precast concrete producers, erectors, suppliers, professional engineers and architects, educators, students, and industry consultants who complement the wide range of knowledge of precast concrete. For additional information, visit pci.org/howprecastbuilds. 

A member of the Esri Partner Network for more than two decades, Avineon is now a Gold Partner and has also been recognized as a Cornerstone Partner with extensive ArcGIS experience. The company has been supporting customers’ parcel management needs throughout its 31-year history. Qualifying to receive the Parcel Management Specialty demonstrates Avineon’s commitment to and expertise in land records, parcel management, and ArcGIS Pro.

“Avineon is proud to be among the first organizations to receive this recognition,” said Joel Campbell, Avineon’s Senior Vice President – Commercial Systems. “We have supported many customers in their individual journeys to ArcGIS Pro and the Parcel Fabric over the past several years. We believe these innovations hold tremendous promise for Esri customers and look forward to helping them realize their benefits quickly and efficiently.”

Avineon offers geospatial products and services to its Esri clients in numerous industries, including local, regional, tribal, and federal government customers that stand to benefit the most from the enhancements available in ArcGIS Pro. In addition to Parcel Fabric conversion and implementation, Avineon’s geospatial solutions include strategy, planning, specification development, GIS infrastructure implementation, product implementation, software development, project management, scanning, photogrammetric services, stereo-compilation, photo interpretation, land base and facilities data capture, data conflation, environmental mapping, database development, training, and data maintenance. In addition, Avineon offers a GIS managed services program for many of our customers, assisting them in the daily maintenance and operation of their Esri implementations.

About Avineon^®

Avineon, Inc. was founded to help you Visualize IT and See IT Through. Since 1992, our customers have relied on us to deliver high quality and value in digital modernization, spatial intelligence, and engineering support solutions. We offer state of the art information management support that improves execution of mission-critical tasks for electric, gas, water, wastewater, telecommunication, transportation, restaurant, real estate, and government customers. With headquarters in McLean, Virginia and offices in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, India, and the Middle East, we stand ready to apply our CMMI Maturity Level 3 (DEV/SVC) and ISO 9001:2015 compliant processes for the benefit of your organization. For more information, please visit www.avineon.com.

 “SWE Awards provide a platform to elevate and highlight career, academic, and service achievements of engineers and technologists that advance the mission of SWE through inspiring others,” said Alexis McKittrick, Ph.D. and FY24 President of SWE.  “These award winners are shining examples for our members and the entire engineering community of how to Live Without Limits, and I look forward to celebrating their achievements at our WE23 conference in Los Angeles.”

This year’s award recipients will be recognized at WE23, the world’s largest conference and career fair for women engineers and technologists on October 26-28, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA. They will also be celebrated in the WE23 Virtual Awards Hall. The conference will gather more than 14,000 professional and collegiate individuals in engineering and technology for professional development, education, and networking.

The top award recipients are below. A listing of all awardees can be found on the Altogether blog here: https://alltogether.swe.org/2023/08/swe-awards-2023/.

Achievement Award – The highest award given by the Society of Women Engineers. It is presented annually to an individual who identifies as a woman, who has made significant and progressive technical contributions.

• Thea Feyereisen, Honeywell

Distinguished Engineering Educator Award – Honors an individual who identifies as a woman, who has made significant contributions in the fields of engineering, engineering technology, or science related to engineering. They must have instructional experiences in an engineering, engineering technology, or science-related to engineering educational institute.

• Anabel Fraga, Ph.D., Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
• Lizabeth Thompson, Ph.D., California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Entrepreneur Award – Awarded to an individual who identifies as a woman, who went out on her own to start and/or maintain her own engineering, engineering technology or science related to engineering-based business, and in doing so, serves as a role model to all women who have ever risked financial security for the possibility of uncertain rewards. The entrepreneur has demonstrated a conviction to dream and a willingness to make them happen. The nominee will be an entrepreneur who is skilled in technical, business planning, administrative, and financial techniques, and excels in business leadership.

• Melanie Lang, FormAlloy Technologies Inc.

Resnik Challenger Medal Award – The Resnik Challenger Medal was established in 1986 to honor SWE’s Dr. Judith A. Resnik, NASA Mission Specialist on the ill-fated Challenger space shuttle flight on January 28, 1986. It is awarded only as merited for visionary contributions to space programs to an individual who identifies as a woman with at least 10 years of experience. This award acknowledges a specific engineering breakthrough or achievement that has expanded the horizons of human activities in space.

• Sandra Irish, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award – Presented to an individual who identifies as a man or a company who has contributed significantly to the acceptance and advancement of women in the fields of engineering or engineering technology, or science related to engineering.

• Shailendra Jagtap, John Deere India Pvt. Ltd. 
• Martin Stier, HP Inc. 
• Nels Swenson, Intel Corporation

Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award– Honors an individual who identifies as a woman who has succeeded in rising within their organization to a significant management position such that they are able to influence the decision-making process and has created a nurturing environment for others in the workplace. Northrop Grumman Corporation has endowed this award.

• Toni L. Doolen, Ph.D., Oregon State University

For more information about the Society of Women Engineers, visit www.swe.org. 

“We are honored to be nominated in the Roads and Highways category as early adapters to digital planning, design, engineering and project delivery innovations in our industry,” said Steve Morriss, President, Engineering Services, U.S., Atkins. “Organizationally we are integrating digital expertise with our decades of engineering excellence to enhance project design, strengthen our approach and planning, and guide our creativity, so that we can deliver innovative solutions for our clients beyond their expectations.”

The Floyd Hill project has been highlighted by CDOT and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as improving the economies of Colorado and the Nation. Relieving an interstate bottleneck reduces travel times for commercial traffic, local residents and tourists driving to nearby ski resorts and other destinations. Safety throughout this corridor will be drastically improved by improving design speeds and increasing stopping sight distance on horizontal curves. The project adds a westbound tolled Express Lane, an eastbound auxiliary lane, new bridges, improved interchange and frontage road access, wildlife passageways under the roadway, two air quality monitoring stations and a full reconstruction of a nearby trail. Construction is underway with project completion expected in 2028.

The use of Bentley technology and visualization software helped the team develop solutions to handle many site-specific challenges and constraints. Leveraging digital tools made it possible to mitigate impacts to the surrounding natural environment, built environment, local residents and other stakeholders while also providing a more efficient and cost-effective design.

“Deploying Bentley’s digital tools enabled seamless communication and coordination with external subconsultants leading to a reduction of hours worked by more than 50,000 and project costs by more than $7 million, helping us deliver exceptional value to our client,” said Donna Huey, Chief Digital Officer, Engineering Services, U.S., Atkins. “We were also able to automate 3D engineered model creation, allowing our team to quickly publish visualizations and receive stakeholder input at a much earlier stage of the design process to ensure all concerns are accounted for and addressed in our design.”

Atkins is transforming the design, delivery and operation of infrastructure projects, thanks to the experts in our own business and across the SNC-Lavalin Group with its world-leading knowledge in design, engineering, project management, sustainability and digital-transformation. Our consultants, engineers, technologists and project managers have helped clients reshape the world, with new ways of designing and building that make the lived environment work better for everyone for more than eight decades.

About Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management     consultancies, employing over 18,300 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe. We build long-term trusted partnerships to create a world where lives are enriched through the implementation of our ideas. You can view Atkins’ recent projects here.

About SNC-Lavalin

Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, technology and data to design, deliver and operate the most complex projects. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. – and delivered to clients in key strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear, Operations & Maintenance and Capital. News and information are available at www.snclavalin.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

To ensure a lasting impact, Ruby+Associates established a Community Service Committee composed of staff members who meet regularly to plan and coordinate community and charity outings and programs. The committee’s primary goal is to focus on benefiting community groups that provide underserved and historically excluded youth with STEM education and exposure. In addition, Ruby+Associates CEO Tricia Ruby commits at least 1% of the firm’s revenue to charitable groups each year. 

Since 2013, Ruby has donated over $550,000 to local, Detroit-area and national charities. With a formal plan and the funding to support it, just some of the highlights of Ruby+Associates’ year-round efforts  to build a better world include: 

• Ruby+Associates sponsored the 2022 STEM Fair for the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program that serves more than 11,000 youth and provides opportunities for future engineers and related careers in STEM fields. 
  
• Ruby+Associates participated in the Life Remodeled Career Vision Day at Detroit’s Central High School with the theme of, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” Staff members shared information about a career path in structural engineering with students.
  
• Ruby+Associates’ employees donated to a local non-profit organization’s Back-to-School drive, providing 30 backpacks full of much-needed supplies for foster children. In addition, the firm’s staff donated gifts, gift cards and donations to 25 children in need for the organization’s Holiday Wish Program.
  
• In partnership with a Detroit-based non-profit organizations devoted to clearing and beautifying blighted neighborhoods, Ruby+Associates teams visited Detroit’s Cooley neighborhood and cleared debris and overgrown brush to create safer pathways for its community members, donated potted mums, and purchased/donated lawn mowers. Ruby+Associates also donated $1,000 to support the group’s overall efforts.
  
• During Denim Day, Ruby+Associates donated for every person who wore denim for a total of $925 to a local non-profit that helps domestic violence and sexual assault victims escape abuse and create safer lives. In addition, Ruby+Associates donated $5,000 towards the organization’s annual gala.
  
• In anticipation of summer months when many area children in need who normally depend on free or subsidized meals at school go hungry, Ruby+Associates kicked off its second cereal drive. The team donated over $200 worth of cereal and collected $6502  which provided 11,498 meals.
  
• During the Thanksgiving holiday, Ruby+Associates’ staff donated $5,500 that equated to 33,300 meals for area families with food insecurity.
  
• In January 2023 on MLK Day (a day off for their staff – intended as a day of service in the spirit of Dr. King) the Ruby+Associates team volunteered at a local food bank and boxed up over 9,000 pounds of food with other volunteers – a record-breaking amount for the non-profit!
  
• In March 2023, the Ruby+Associates office March Madness pool for men’s and women’s NCAA brackets resulted in a matched firm donation to Detroit PAL which supports Detroit Youth sports programs.
  
• In April 2023, Ruby+Associates hosted its second Red Cross Blood Drive at the firm’s office. Staff members – including 5 first-time donors – and other office building tenants rolled up their sleeves and donated 18 units of blood in an event which saved up to 54 lives!

PSMJ will recognize the 2023 A/E/C Building a Better World award winner at A/E/C THRIVE: The Growth, Profit, and Success Summit for A/E/C Firm Leaders on September 20-22, 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This unique conference is an opportunity to hear directly from the leaders of top-performing firms and other industry visionaries on specific growth, profit, and performance improvement practices and how to replicate them. 

For more information, visit PSMJ.com/thrive. 

About PSMJ Resources, Inc.
For nearly 50 years, PSMJ Resources, Inc. has been recognized as the leading publishing, executive education, and advisory group devoted completely to improving the business performance of A/E/C organizations worldwide. PSMJ’s sought-after expertise covers a range of critical business areas such as project management, financial management, human resources, business development, transition planning, and mergers and acquisitions.

The recipients are:

• Morgan Berger, geotechnical specialist, American Geotechnical and Environmental Services
• Betania Karim, geostructural engineer, GEI Consultants
• Izabelle Tomko, design engineer, Menard USA
• Kassandra Kromish, project engineer, Keller
• Ashley Peay, geotechnical foundation and shoring project manager/estimator, WW Clyde

The grants are being presented during the Annual Conference at the Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) 7th annual networking event on Tuesday, October 31, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

To register for the reception or to sponsor the event, visit www.dfi.org/Annual2023.

The WiDF Committee is comprised of women and men who are advocates for retaining women in the deep foundations industry. The goal of the committee is to foster greater success and interest of professional women in the industry by promoting networking events, endorsing outreach and building mentoring relationships.

About the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI): DFI (www.dfi.org) is an international association of contractors, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, academics and owners in the deep foundations industry. Our multidisciplinary membership creates a consensus voice and a common vision for continual improvement in the planning, design and construction of deep foundations and excavations. We bring together members for networking, education, communication and collaboration. With our members, we promote the advancement of the deep foundations industry through technical committees, educational programs and conferences, publications, research, government relations and outreach. DFI has more than 4,000 members worldwide.

About the DFI Educational Trust: The Deep Foundations Institute Educational Trust (www.dfitrust.org) is an independent, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2006 by the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) as its charitable arm. The mission of the Trust is to support and encourage individuals in the fields of study related to the deep foundations industry by providing scholarships and opportunities to meet and work with deep foundations industry leaders.

As Derq became one of the new 25 organizations across the public and private sectors to be recognized by the USDOT in taking action to reverse the crisis that is killing more than 40,000 people on American roads each year, there are now more than 100 Allies in Action who are committed to taking specific, tangible steps to actively reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on America’s roads and streets, expand the adoption of a Safe System Approach and a Zero Fatalities vision across the nation, and transform how we as a nation think about road safety. 

The USDOT launched the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) in 2022 in response to the crisis of roadway deaths in America, which had been steadily rising since 2010 before they surged in 2020. While the last four quarters have shown small decreases in traffic fatalities, according to preliminary data, Derq will now be able to work directly with the USDOT and other Allies in Action to share progress, review case studies of notable practices, and even encourage new commitments to continue identifying opportunities to improve safety on a national scale.  

Derq’s “Real-Time Perception and Connectivity AI Platform” addresses the burning needs in driver, pedestrian and cyclist safety, where accurate and reliable detection of traffic violations, pedestrian compliance issues, and road-user conflict (near-miss) data is of the utmost importance for transportation agencies and city officials to enable up-to-date analysis of safety issues.  

Through Derq’s “Automated Safety Performance Monitoring” solution, the company is committed to working with cities, communities, and even road owners and operators to seamlessly integrate its technology with new or existing road infrastructure to support improved road monitoring with enhanced safety measures. The technology provides real-time predictive alerts for road users, connects directly with traffic controller systems, and provides an understanding of danger zones in traffic systems where repeated events occur.  

Additionally, Derq will provide local and state agencies with a safety scoring framework, developed using data from existing traffic cameras and signal controllers, to better understand where safety issues are happening in real-time. The company will also continue to educate agencies about safety technology and how to obtain additional funding to implement these technologies at scale though industry conference presentations and webinars, like the one it facilitated with ITS America in June 2023. 

“Derq’s number one priority every single day is to eliminate all road fatalities and we are incredibly honored to align our mission with the U.S. DOT and the National Road Safety Strategy in the continued nationwide efforts of moving toward Vision Zero,” said Dr. Georges Aoude, CEO and Co-Founder of Derq. “We are committed to growing our partnerships with agencies across the nation to leverage our technological solutions in creating safer and smarter roads for all.” 

For more information on Derq’s commitment to action and to view the other Allies in Action, please visit www.transportation.gov/nrss/allies-in-action. 

About Derq 

Derq is an award-winning MIT-spinoff powering the future of roads for safer and more efficient movement of road users and autonomous vehicles. Through its proprietary and patented technology, Derq provides cities and fleets with an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that powers advanced analytics and connected & autonomous vehicle (CAV) applications to help them improve road safety and better manage traffic. Derq has been recognized as an industry leader by the WEF and has received a number of awards including the 2022 Global ITS Innovation Award, AI company of the year at SXSW 2019, and Top Road Safety Innovator for Vision Zero in 2020 by Together for Safer Roads. For more information, please visit www.derq.com or contact info@derq.com. Derq is a trademark of Derq Inc.

About the National Roadway Safety Strategy  

The Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) outlines the Department’s comprehensive approach to reversing the rise in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on the nation’s highways, roads, and streets. The NRSS follows through on the Department’s commitment to safety through priority actions that target the most significant and urgent problems in roadway safety. The NRSS’s Call to Action invites every organization and individual to participate in taking part and sharing how they will actively reduce deaths and injuries on America’s Roadways, expand adoption of the NRSS’s 5-pronged Safe System approach and a zero fatalities vision, and transform how we as a national think about road safety. More information on the NRSS and voluntary commitments from early adopters can be found here.

New York, NY – August 9, 2023 – Goldman Copeland, the New York City-based consulting engineering firm, announced today that Tristan Schwartzman, a Principal and Director of Energy Services at the firm, has been named “Energy Engineer of the Year for the Northeast US” by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The award will be presented on October 24^th in Orlando, FL, in conjunction with the AEE World Energy Conference & Expo.

Tristan Schwartzman is a leading designer and champion of energy-efficiency innovations in Greater New York City. Under his direction, the Energy Services Department at Goldman Copeland has completed energy audits and retro-commissioning projects for over 50 million square feet of commercial properties, over 10 million square feet of hospitals, and over 10 million square feet of universities. The firm is also one of the region’s leaders in certifying ENERGY STAR® buildings.

Through energy audits and retro-commissioning projects, Tristan has optimized energy systems for many of the city’s largest commercial property owners. He has led their buildings through design and implementation of annual, multi-million-dollar, capital improvement projects based on the audits’ findings, generating both energy and financial savings for property owners.

At a time of vital importance for energy efficiency in New York City, the region, and the nation, Tristan has been central to both the creation and the replication of the first online Geothermal Ground Source Screening Tool in the nation. The first of those initiatives was created in 2018 for the City of New York; the second was launched in 2021 by Westchester County. Both tools enable users to simply assess the feasibility of geothermal heating and cooling for every lot in the jurisdiction. The New York City tool covers nearly 900,000 lots in all five boroughs. The Westchester tool – “Westchester GeoPossibilities” – demonstrates that the New York City model can be replicated for suburban counties anywhere.

Goldman Copeland is the only firm to have been involved in creating both the New York City model and the Westchester model. Together the tools represent a landmark development for energy efficiency in the Greater New York City area and the nation. Their far-reaching potential offers the opportunity to expand use of geothermal ground source energy in meeting clean energy needs worldwide.

The civil engineering and infrastructure specialist secured its place on the framework under Lot 2, Water-clean and Waste Infrastructure, of the West Midlands Metro Framework agreement for the Provision of Diversionary Utilities Works for Metro Extensions and any Major Highways Schemes.

Barhale will be one of four suppliers awarded to Lot 2 of the framework for advanced utility diversions across the WMCA. The others are J McCann, M&A Doocey Civil Engineering Ltd and IES Utilities Group.

James Ingamells, regional director for Barhale, believes that the award reflects the strength of the business’s track-record and deep connections across the West Midlands.

“We are very pleased to secure our place on the WMCA framework,” he said. “We are very proud of our roots in the region and our forty-plus years heritage operating from our headquarters in Walsall.

“In that time, we have had the opportunity to work with many of the region’s statutory undertakers, key stakeholder groups, alliance project teams, suppliers, and sub-contractors.

“We enjoy an ongoing relationship with the major water companies, Severn Trent and South Staffs, and have been involved with previous phases of the Midlands Metro Alliance, the team responsible for delivering the region transformative new transit system.

“Having recently completed a mineshaft cap at Sandwell and the infilling of Wolverhampton’s Craddock Street Subway, we are also looking forward to working closely with more of the West Midlands’ local authorities.

“Most importantly, the award will give us the opportunity to extend our engagement with the community both in terms of employment through Barhale and our construction supplies to fabrication business BCS and also in terms of our community outreach and engagement work.”

The agreement runs for four years with an option to extend to a maximum of a further four years. 

“While we are still at the start of our disability inclusion journey, this is a great achievement early in our efforts and one that is a testament to our Global Accessibility Working Group (GAWG) and our Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group. This recognition proves that with a clear purpose and a dedicated group of committed people, we can make an impact in a short period of time,” said Joel Howell, GHD Inclusion and Diversity Leader for North America and EMEA.

More than 70% of Fortune 100 companies and nearly half of the Fortune 500 participated in this year’s survey, the world’s most comprehensive benchmarking tool for the Fortune 1000 and Am Law 100 to measure disability workplace inclusion against competitors. Now in its ninth year, the DEI exists to help businesses make a positive impact on the unemployment/underemployment of people with disabilities. Click here to see a list of the top-scoring organizations.

“Our Global Accessibility Working Group has started the conversation with colleagues of varying disabilities across our business. It’s an inspirational and collaborative group that contributes to and guides us in making our workplaces and technologies more accessible,” said Drew Palmini, GHD Clients and Business Development Lead, GHD Business School and GWAG working group member.

GHD is a partner of the Disability:IN network which helped to inform our policies, business decisions and programing to create more employee accessibility. As a result, GHD has successfully updated our Reasonable Accommodation policy for employees who have a physical or mental disability, achieved increased awareness and communication about disability inclusion for global employees and created celebration events around International Day for People with Disabilities.

“Businesses have the power to drive the global advancement of disability inclusion, and we’re thrilled to see more companies than ever leverage the Disability Equality Index to measure their progress. We recognize these top-scoring companies as a ‘Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion’ for their passion and efforts to lead the way in creating greater equity for people with disabilities in the workplace, marketplace, and supply chain,” said Jill Houghton, President and CEO of Disability:IN.

Click here to read about GHD’s global inclusion and diversity initiatives.

About GHD

GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 11,000+ specialists are connected across 200 offices located on five continents. www.ghd.com. Find a local office here.

GHD in the Americas

GHD has long-standing client relationships, a significant project and economic footprint in the Americas and represents 40 percent of GHD’s global workforce with nearly 4,000 professionals in over 130 offices in the US, Canada, and Chile. In 2023, our Canadian business was named as one of Canada’s Top 100 employers. GHD ranks #9 in international design firms operating in the US and #8 in Canada according to Engineering News-Record’s 2022 annual survey of key market segments. These rankings reflect the size and significance of our growing North American businesses. To find a local office, click here.

Humble has represented AISI on the CRRC since the 501(c)(3) organization was founded in 1998. He served on the CRRC Board of Directors from 2000-2006 and as ex-officio Board of Directors member from 2006-2023. He also provided expertise as chair of the Ratings, Codes, and Standards Committee (2006-2023) and chair of the CRRC Standards Committee (2008-2021). His efforts led to the development of ANSI/CRRC S100, Standard Test Methods for Determining Radiative Properties of Materials and its subsequent versions, as well as its adoption in various codes including the International Energy Conservation Code; the International Green Construction Code/ASHRAE Standard 189.1; ASHRAE 90.1, Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings; ANSI/RESNET/ICC 301, Standard for the Calculation and Labeling of the Energy Performance of Dwelling and Sleeping Units Using an Energy Rating Index, and adoption by various jurisdictions.

“We congratulate Jonathan on receiving the CRRC Lifetime Award,” said Dan Snyder, vice president, construction program for AISI. “We appreciate his leadership and expertise over the years in assisting the CRRC to develop fair, accurate and credible methods for evaluating and labeling the radiative properties, such as solar reflectance and thermal emittance, of roofing and exterior wall products.”

AISI serves as the voice of the American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI’s membership is comprised of integrated and electric arc furnace steelmakers, and associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI’s websites at www.steel.org and www.buildusingsteel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (@AISISteel, @BuildUsingSteel) or Instagram. 

By Liisa Andreassen

YAY – or should we say YEA – the time is here; don’t miss your chance to enter this year’s dynamic Yearbook of Engineering Achievement (YEA) competition which opens up on September 13. The competition, in its third year, is hosted by Civil+Structural Engineer Media and will highlight the most outstanding architecture, engineering, and construction projects of 2023. The deadline to enter a project(s) is October 18th.  

What is YEA?

YEA showcases AEC projects that have clearly moved the industry forward through community and environmental impact, innovative technical processes, or groundbreaking vision and execution.  Firms from all fields of the AEC industry are invited to submit any project completed, or scheduled to be completed, within the 2023 calendar year that are from any of these five categories: 

1. Housing/Residential
2. Transportation/Infrastructure
3. Water/Stormwater/Wastewater
4. Environmental/Sustainability
5. Small Firm (fewer than 50 employees)

Project submission(s) must also: 

• have a positive impact on the communities in which they are built;
• use a key technology or strategy to achieve larger goals; and 
• achieve other outstanding designations pertinent to the AEC industry.

There’s no fee to submit a project and firms are encouraged to enter more than one, though only one project per category is permitted. And, the project needs to be completed or scheduled to be completed before the end of 2023.   

Once a firm has decided what project (s) it would like to enter, the rest is easy. There’s a short information form which asks a few questions about the project and also requests photos/videos.

The winning projects from the 2023 YEA competition will be featured in the December issue of Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine and the project that earns the most overall votes will be awarded the 2023 Summit Project. Each of the winning projects will have their own page on the website and the Summit Project will be featured on the cover of  Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine’s December issue.

How does it work? 

As a leading source of business news, thought leadership, and project information for the AEC industry, Civil+Structural Engineer Media is proud to serve the world’s designers. That’s why it leaves the fate of the winners in the hands of a jury of AEC peers and colleagues. After all, these are the boots on the ground people – the experts, professionals, and leaders who work to elevate the AEC industry every day. 

Last year’s Summit Award winner was from the transportation and infrastructure category – The Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement  – submitted by HNTB. The project was the largest and most complex bridge building project in the history of Los Angeles and set a new threshold for seismic safety and expanding the utility of urban bridges. Its submission received over 2,000 votes which was testament to the project’s groundbreaking vision and execution.  

The submission that garnered the most votes from the water/stormwater/wastewater category was the Vertex Companies project in the City of Houston. This one involved a major public transit line for America’s fourth most populous city and the project was completed with minimal impact to the city’s population. 

The social, environmental, and economic impacts of these projects are largely localized and benefit the communities in which they are built. So, no matter the impact – whether improved flood control or transit times – these projects have on the built and natural environment, they have been done in a way that improves the lives of the people who live in that community. 

And, when you share your projects with others through a competition like 2023 YEA, you become part of something greater than just your firm or community. You’re promoting industry-wide thought leadership and fostering an innovative path into the future by demonstrating just what’s possible when you combine capabilities and ingenuity. The bottom line? You’re helping to elevate the AEC industry. 

So, are your wheels turning? Do you have some potential contenders in mind? We’d love to see them and invite all of our readers to join us in celebrating the projects that have elevated the AEC industry and set the bar for future endeavors. Entries will be hosted on the C+S website through the contest voting period (October 27-November 10) and website visitors will be encouraged to vote once per day for the project they feel most represents the best of the best in the AEC industry. 

For more information about the contest and to submit your entry, visit:   https://csengineermag.com/yea/. And, if you have any questions about the submission process, please contact Luke Carothers  at: lcarothers@zweiggroup.com. 

This project ranks among the largest Thornton Tomasetti has designed for a tied back soldier pile and lagging system and is the most complex with regards to numbers and complexity of tieback installation.

“We are very proud of the part we played in being able to bring new life to such an iconic structure,” says Michael Oakland, Ph.D., P.E., vice president,  Thornton Tomasetti.

The historic Key Arena has undergone a major transformation, and is now known as the Climate Pledge Arena and the new home of the Seattle Kraken NHL team. The $930 million renovation and expansion project required near-total demolition of the old structure and construction of a new one, all while keeping its landmarked façade intact and 44 million lb (20 million kg) roof supported above.

The steel and concrete structure was constructed in 1961, and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board classified Key Arena as a local landmark in 2017. This distinction requires that the roof, curtain wall and exterior concrete elements be preserved as part of the renovation with virtually zero impacts to their aesthetics. The central challenge of the renovation project became how to support the existing roof while work continued below it.

Its 65 ft (20 m) deep perimeter foundation wall system presented many challenges. Because of the need for an open arena and numerous slab openings, the interior floor slab diaphragm could not be used to brace the new foundation walls. Instead, the engineer selected permanent tiebacks as the wall support after considering several options for the perimeter wall system including a slurry wall, secant piles, soil nails and a permanent soldier pile and lagging system. And the design team had to rely on virtual imaging to identify and resolve potential conflicts in the complex tangle of tiebacks required to support the walls.

In all, the system included more than 650 soldier piles, each of which had to be installed in a predrilled 30 in (760 mm) diameter borehole and grouted in place. To support the walls there were 2,400 tiebacks with a total drilled and installed length of 130,000 lft (40,000 m). Finally, an earth retention wall allowed for excavation of 680,000 cu yd (520,000 m³) of soil.

Special recognition awards are also being presented to four other projects:

• East St. Louis Deep Cutoff Wall, Illinois (Bauer Foundation)
• Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Washington, D.C. (Berkel & Company Contractors)
• ALCOSAN North End Expansion, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Richard Goettle)
• 1&9T-New Road, Jersey City, New Jersey (Menard USA)

Established in 1997, the OPA recognizes the superior work of DFI members. A committee selects the projects based on size, scope and challenges of the project; degree of innovation and ingenuity exercised; and uniqueness of the solution to the difficulties of the job.

About the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI): DFI (www.dfi.org) is an international association of contractors, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, academics and owners in the deep foundations industry. Our multidisciplinary membership creates a consensus voice and a common vision for continual improvement in the planning, design and construction of deep foundations and excavations. We bring together members for networking, education, communication and collaboration. With our members, we promote the advancement of the deep foundations industry through technical committees, educational programs and conferences, publications, research, government relations and outreach. DFI has more than 4,000 members worldwide.

This year’s judging panel was tasked with pairing down the strongest field of competitors since EDVY was launched in 2017.  With over 30 videos submitted for consideration, the judging panel was asked to evaluate each video based on: 1)the video’s capacity to contextualize the project, 2) subject and purpose, 3) demonstrating an innovative use of drones, 4) demonstrating the flight capacity of drones, and 5) demonstrating the visual capacity of drones/UAVs.  Using these criteria, the judging panel examined each of the videos entered in the competition to determine what stood out as the best of the best.  After the initial round of judging, the final scores were close enough to merit an additional round of voting.

What emerged from this intense period of judging and evaluation were ten videos that would closely vie for the top spot in this year’s competition.  To determine what video deserves the top spot as the winner of the 2023 EDVY Competition, the audience of Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine participated in a 14-day voting period.  As has become a yearly occasion with the EDVY Competition, voting took off immediately after the videos were posted, and, over the first two days of the competition, more than 2,000 votes were cast for the finalists.  After the close of that second day, four finalists had set a good pace above the rest of the field.  One of these finalists was a submission from HSR Constructors who focused on the construction of the Brightline Phase 2 from Orlando to West Palm Beach.  Following the construction of a high speed passenger rail expansion, HSR’s submission uses drone flight to contextualize movement throughout the project, and provides key information in location specific overlays.

Another submission that emerged as a contender after day two was from the Nebraska Department of Transportation covering their UAS program launch and the Lincoln Beltway South Project.  NDOT’s submission to the 2023 EDVY competition is emblematic of the level of production that has become the standard for the competition in recent years.  Using both narration and impressive drone-produced visualizations, NDOT’s submission is an effective tool for understanding both the project being covered and how drone technology has impacted its design and development.  A similar effect was deployed to similar success with Moore Engineering’s submission covering flood infrastructure planning in the town of Lisbon, North Dakota.  Utilizing a voiceover from Lisbon’s Mayor Tim Meyer, this submission details the city’s response to intense flooding in 2009, 2010, and 2011, which was completed by working with Moore Engineering.  

As the competition moved beyond the second day of voting, the four videos vying for the top spot began to slowly fade to three.  For the next week of voting, three videos would trade and exchange places, but, as the voting period drew to a close, it soon became clear that a submission from Moore Engineering would claim the top spot.  However, as the only competitor with two videos to make the final round, the question still remained as to which of Moore’s submissions would win.  In the end, Moore Engineering’s “Maple & Upper Maple River Dams” emerged as the clear winner of the 2023 Engineering Drone Video of the Year competition, garnering over 1,000 more votes than the second place submission.  The 2023 EDVY winner gives viewers a unique perspective on two projects that have massive footprints in terms of size and impact.  The winning video uses the perspective afforded by a drone juxtaposed with textual information to give viewers a unique and important perspective of two, large-scale engineering projects.

The person responsible for both of Moore Engineering’s entries to this year’s finalists is Cody Rogness, Videographer and Media Specialist for Moore Holding Company.  Working closely with Moore Engineering as well as their other related companies, Rogness draws on his varied background–which includes TV news, TV shows, commercials, and documentaries–to produce content like the Maple and Upper Maple River Dams video that provides an important function both internally and externally.  According to Rogness, for projects like these, drones are an essential tool for communicating their scale, and that, with such a scale, drones are a great tool for saving time compared to traditional video and photography.  While Rogness is primarily involved with using drones as a tool for communicating externally, he also notes that these same qualities can be applied to design and construction with maps and other drone-generated models.  Kurt Lysne, Market Leader for Moore Engineering, says that they have historically utilized drones for preliminary design data collection, LIDAR, aerial photogrammetry, and surveying pre-existing site conditions, as well as documenting and monitoring construction.

Lysne further adds that, when coupled with an Emmy Award-winning videographer like Cody Rogness, drones become a powerful tool for marketing, giving them a powerful tool to communicate their goals and successes.  And certainly, the winning video of the 2023 competition is a demonstration of Rogness’ ability to tell a story.  To gather the footage that comprised the winning video, Rogness used the natural landscape to tell part of the story, shooting the footage during Spring flooding.  Harnessing the image of Spring floods coming over the spillways of the Maple and Upper Maple River Dams, Rogness adds a crucial element of context to their regional importance.  The winning video is unique in that it combines textual information, perspective, and the natural landscape to tell the story of two immense structures.  

Similar to winners from recent years, Cody Rogness’ winning submission on behalf of Moore Engineering can be used as a timestamp of the relationship drones and UAVs have with the AEC industry.  As Lysne puts it, the winning video, “[completes Moore’s] suite of services that drones are used for.”  By combining their important uses on the technical side of projects with the ability to tell a story that captures importance and scale, drones are an invaluable tool for communicating the importance of the work done by the AEC industry, and this year’s winner is emblematic of this ever-developing function.

Judging Panel:

Margot Moulton

Maxim Baklykov

Bryan Baker

Luke Carothers

Andrea Perotti

ED
EDVY 2023 Top Ten:

1. Moore Engineering–”Maple and Upper Maple River Dams”
2. Moore Engineering–”Lisbon, ND: Spring Flooding”
3. HSR Constructors–”Brightline Phase 2: Orlando to West Palm Beach High Speed Passenger Rail Expansion”
4. Nebraska Department of Transportation–”UAS Program Launch/Lincoln South Beltway Project”
5. Jose Espinal Vazquez and Associates–”VA Heroes Hospital”
6. CRAFT | Engineering Studio–”Nantucket Residence”
7. Caulfield and Wheeler–”CWI 2023 Engineering Drone Video Contest: Avenir”
8. KCI Technologies–”Houston Public Works Northeast Transmission Line”
9. GeoStabilization International
10. CES Consulting, LLC–”Quality, Delivered”

The USGBC ENC Region’s Leadership Awards Program recognizes exceptional green buildings in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. On Thursday, June 22, a virtual awards ceremony celebrated the outstanding achievements in sustainable design and construction. Schmidt Associates emerged as the winner by showcasing their innovative use of modern technologies and strategies to overcome project challenges while pushing the boundaries of green design.

The award-winning project, the Indianapolis Public Library West Perry Branch, exemplifies Schmidt Associates’ commitment to sustainability. Completed in 2021, this LEED-Gold certified building is a remarkable collaboration between Schmidt Associates and HBM Architects, based in Cleveland, Ohio. With a budget of $9.2 million and spanning 24,000 square feet, the West Perry Branch serves a growing middle-class population, as well as Burmese and Spanish-speaking patrons.

The library’s architectural design boasts environmentally friendly features, including electronic access control, smart and energy-efficient appliances, wood ceilings that enhance visual pathways, and an underfloor air distribution system for increased occupant comfort. A white TPO roof with Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) panels and an exterior sun shading screen lighten the load on the mechanical system. Abundant windows throughout the building provide natural daylight and scenic views of the surrounding riparian woodland. The interior features natural and recycled materials, such as textured green carpeting reminiscent of grass and restroom tiles with an organic pattern harmonizes with nature. Visitors can also enjoy the presence of natural wood furniture resembling tree stumps in the main lobby and children’s area.

Expressing her gratitude, Sarah Hempstead, AIA, LEED AP, CEO and Principal of Schmidt Associates, stated, “Together with HBM Architects, we are honored and thrilled to receive this recognition. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated project teams for their countless hours in fulfilling the Owners’ vision, and we thank our valued Owners for entrusting us with this remarkable project. Through collaboration, innovation, and shared goals, we have succeeded in creating an extraordinary community asset for Indianapolis’ southside.”

This prestigious award highlights Schmidt Associates’ ongoing dedication to sustainable design and their unwavering commitment to crafting exceptional spaces that positively impact communities.

Called “the bridge of the future”, the Park Union Bridge is in southwest downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The 250-foot-long $20M pedestrian bridge connects the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum with America the Beautiful Park. Architect of Record Diller Scofidio + Renfro Partner-in-Charge and Lead Designer Benjamin Gilmartin noted, “The bridge is an exercise in fitness – both in terms of material and geometry. The hybrid steel structure system functions as an arch and a truss, elegantly preserving views from Downtown to the majestic mountain ranges of Pike’s Peak.”

The Salas O’Brien project team, led by Senior Principal Russ Leffler, PE, P.ENG, MLSE and Vice President Ryan Nelson, PE, was tasked with designing the CFS framing that supported the canted wall panels wrapping the inside of the twisting oculus. The CFS framing gradually curved and varied in height on each end, above and below the oculus. The primary challenge presented by the CFS design was the three-dimensional and rotational movement of the steel structure as it induced thermal, wind, seismic, and live loads. Each element required an allowable tolerance of movement so that the panels could achieve their smooth, flawless appearance. It took careful coordination with the structural engineer of record Arup North America, LTD, panel manufacturer MG McGrath Inc., and CFS contractor Spacecon Specialty Contractors to secure the final design.

More information, including all the 2023 CFSEI Design Excellence award winners, can be found at CSFEI’s website at www.cfsei.org.

“This year’s winners applied the beauty of copper to a wide variety of building types,” said Larry Peters, project manager at CDA. “Copper fulfills an amazing variety of practical and aesthetic functions. The work of these architects and building professionals shows why copper’s adaptability sets the highest standard for sustainable roofs, cornices, cladding, wall systems, and decorative ornamentation.”

For custom fabrication, winners include the following:

• An innovation hub in Richmond, Virginia, the Engineering Research Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University by architects Goody Clancy and Baskervill with metal construction by Tektonics Design Group
• A compelling and inventive solution for accessibility at University College in Toronto, Ontario, designed by architects KOHN SHNIER and ERA Architects, Inc., in association, featuring copper cladding by Cladco Limited
• A peaceful, private monument in Falls Church, Virginia, with metal construction by Wiemann Metalcraft and project management by Coldspring
• Creative rethinking of a common building application at IT Gym in Arlington Heights, Illinois, with metal fabrication by Sheet Metal Werks, Inc.

For new construction, winners include the following:

• A striking bronze clad residence, 3131 CBR in Washington, D.C., designed by David Jameson Architect, Inc., with construction by Metal Specialties, Inc.
• The LEED Platinum-rated Burwell Center for Career Achievement in Denver, Colorado, designed by Lake | Flato Architects with executive architects Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects (SAR+), featuring construction by Roof Check, Inc.
• The LEED Silver-rated Dairy Market in Charlottesville, Virginia, designed by Cunningham | Quill Architects, featuring Zahner custom pre-patinated copper fabricated into wall panels by IMETCO
• An extraordinary mountain retreat, DNA Alpine House in San Miguel County, Colorado, designed by CCY Architects with metal work by Stone Ridge Roofing and Siding
• Grinnell College Humanities and Social Studies Center in Grinnell, Iowa, designed by Page Southerland Page, Inc., with metal work by Exterior Sheet Metal, Inc.
• University of Denver Community Commons in Denver, Colorado, designed by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners with executive architects Anderson Mason Dale Architects, featuring metal construction by Douglass Colony Group
• Center for the Arts in Crested Butte, Colorado, designed by Steinberg Hart with metal work by Black Dragon Development

For restoration, winners include the following:

• The revival of Gould Memorial Library, a classic Stanford White building at Bronx Community College in the Bronx, New York, led by architects Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP with restoration and fabrication work by Nicholson & Galloway, Inc., and Heather + Little Ltd.
• Completion of a dome atop the iconic Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York, New York, led by Ennead Architects with construction by Nicholson & Galloway, Inc.
• Re-roofing Dawson College Kindergarten in Montréal, Québec, led by TLA Architectes and contractor Toitures Trois Étoiles
• Restoring a Beaux Arts gem, the Martin County Courthouse in Fairmont, Minnesota, led by architects ISG with construction by Renaissance Historic Exteriors
• Reviving Saint–Hyacinthe Public Market in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, led by Affleck de la Riva, architectes, with metal construction by Couverture Montréal Nord
• Upgrading the Studio Building in Portland, Oregon, led by Hennebery Eddy Architects, Inc., with metal work by Harder Mechanical Contractors
• Rehabilitating the dome of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, led by BELL Architects, PC, with metal work by Prospect Waterproofing Company and CopperCraft
• Performing a seismic upgrade and re-roofing Heritage Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia, led by McGinn Engineering & Preservation with metal construction by Grist Slate & Tile Roofing, Inc.

The NACIA awards, launched in 2008, celebrate design excellence, recognize quality craftsmanship, and highlight diverse uses of copper in architectural applications. Winning projects illustrate the wide appeal of copper, from careful restoration of historical and cultural landmarks; to innovative, experimental new structures; to custom-fabricated elements that showcase extraordinary craftsmanship from contractors and installers across North America.

Judges consider each submission for the presence and use of copper within the building, the quality of its installation and function, and the beauty and significance of the project overall. Full details and photos of the 2023 winners are now featured in the portfolio of architectural projects on CDA’s website.

The purpose of the fund is to support and encourage individuals at Gonzaga University engaged in study related to the deep foundations industry by providing scholarships, grants and opportunities for students to meet and work with deep foundation industry leaders. 

M. Byrl Williams, P.E., chief engineer, of Foundation Constructors, Inc., is an emeritus trustee of the DFI Educational Trust and one of the original trustees who established the Trust in 2006. Williams’ fundraising efforts on behalf of the Trust are extensive and include chairing the annual DFI Trust California Golf Outing, and attracting large corporate and individual donors to establish named scholarships for the Trust. Williams is also a former president of DFI (1997-1998) and a 2008 recipient of DFI’s Distinguished Service Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Gonzaga University and a master’s degree in construction engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

“DFI is extremely thankful for Byrl’s and Frances’ support of the DFI Educational Trust,” says Theresa Engler, executive director of DFI. “The future of our industry depends on encouraging promising young engineers to consider careers in the deep foundations construction field. Through the generous support of DFI members such as the Williamses, the DFI Educational Trust has awarded more than $1,900,000 in scholarships to more than 500 students in fields of study related to the deep foundations industry.”

Donations to the M. Byrl and Frances M. Williams Fund can be made online at www.dfitrust.org.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (JUNE 22, 2023) — Superior Construction, an American family-owned infrastructure contractor, is proud to announce its Wekiva Parkway Section 6 project has received the Outstanding Major Project Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Florida (ACEC Florida). WGI, Inc. was the lead designer for the project, supported by Finley Engineering (now COWI) for the segmental portion of the project. The Outstanding Project Awards, which recognize ACEC-Florida members’ outstanding roadway and bridge design and construction achievements, were presented at the organization’s 2023 transportation conference in Orlando. 

Built across a federally designated Wild and Scenic River, Wekiva Parkway Section 6 is an iconic $243 million design-build project near Sorrento, Florida. Though the project itself stretches across Lake and Seminole Counties, its most prominent feature, the Wekiva River Crossing, comprises three cast-in-place segmental bridges (370,172 square feet of bridge deck) that carry the Wekiva Parkway (SR 429) and a service road/shared use path over the picturesque and pristine Wekiva River, seamlessly blending in with the natural landscape.

“The Wekiva River Crossing showcased groundbreaking advancements in bridge engineering, as its three signature bridges were built using top-down balanced cantilever construction to minimize environmental impacts by eliminating work in the water,” said Superior COO Pete Kelley, who served on the Wekiva Parkway Section 6 executive committee. “From the engineering of precision-cast segments to the use of state-of-the-art construction robotics, this project pushed the boundaries of what is achievable in the segmental bridge industry. We’re truly proud to have been a part of this project.”

Beyond increasing the Wekiva Parkway’s capacity by extending its new four-lane toll road 6.85 miles, the team prioritized environmental conservation and ecological protection, implementing measures to minimize its impact on the delicate ecosystem. The project improved safety, maintained wildlife habitat connectivity, reduced vehicle-wildlife conflicts, and provided locals with improved recreational opportunities, including biking and jogging trails. 

Nominations for ACEC Florida’s Outstanding Project Awards were submitted from each of FDOT’s seven districts, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise and the Central Office. They were evaluated by an awards committee comprised of ACEC Florida and FDOT representatives. This year, the committee chose just seven winners for this prestigious award. 

Formerly known as the AASHTO TRAC Contest, the AASHTO Bridge Challenge is a national competition designed to promote an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on, real-world applications. It also provides a unique opportunity for students to gain confidence in their speaking skills in front of a large audience, which included departments of transportation, engineering consulting firms, AASHTO government officials, parents, teachers, and students.  Also sponsoring the event were Michael Baker International, TopoDOT, HDR, HNTB, Headlight, and Houseman & Associates.

For the first time in three years since the pandemic, students from around the United States were able to compete in person in the bridge design contest, with the finalists winning the opportunity to join the AASHTO community at the Spring Meeting in Seattle.

Students from 19 states across the U.S., from seventh to 12^th grades, designed and built innovative bridges using Bentley applications, including MicroStation and ContextCapture to design the models. Eighteen teams were selected for the finals by a panel of judges, who rated each team’s design and portfolio. During the finals on May 16, the teams gave presentations and then had their bridges tested for strength-to-weight ratio until each bridge failed, in some cases spectacularly, under pressure. The team receiving the most points from the judges was selected as the national winner in their grade categories.

The winning team for the 11^th and 12^th grades, 906 Bridge Co. from Negaunee High School in Negaunee, Michigan, has participated in the program for several years under the guidance of teacher/advisor Kevin Bell. In addition to designing a deck arch truss bridge with Bentley’s MicroStation, they also flew a drone and used ContextCapture to create a reality model of their bridge.

Dustin Parkman, Bentley’s Vice President of Transportation, said, “The role of civil engineers is critical to transportation infrastructure. The hands-on experience of the AASHTO STEM Solutions program introduces students to civil engineering concepts and processes, inspiring them to imagine a future career in engineering. I’m proud that AASHTO, Bentley, our co-sponsors, and the DOTs can provide this opportunity for the students to learn such valuable skills and spark an interest in a future career in civil engineering.”

Julia Smith, AASHTO STEM Solutions program manager, said, “AASHTO designed the program for use in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes to introduce students to transportation and civil engineering. America’s transportation industry has a huge demand for well-qualified civil engineers. AASHTO’s goal is to get middle and high school students exposed to and excited about a career in civil engineering. We see the STEM Solutions program as an investment in today’s youth, to ensure that America has the highly skilled workforce it’s going to need for years to come.”

Congratulations to all the students, teachers, sponsors, and departments of transportation who made this year’s competition a success.

To learn more and become involved with the program, visit transportation.org/stem-outreach.

PNW’s team advanced to nationals by taking first place at the Indiana-Kentucky Region 4 competition, where they also achieved second place for field surveying, and third place for topographic mapping.

Team members Natalia Briggs, third-year Civil Engineering major; Quinton Pender, fourth-year Civil Engineering major; and Krish Zalavadia, third-year Civil Engineering major, attended the national competition, with Dylan Barthel, third-year Civil Engineering major, assisting the team’s win at the regional competition.

Smallest team, extraordinary effort

PNW fielded the smallest team competing at nationals with only three members. All other universities had five to six students vying for the title. This demonstrates the exceptional ability and skill of the PNW students, who strategically carried out competition tasks while maintaining compliance to rules and regulations.

“This mattered because you get penalized points if a member does more than three tasks out of the four,” said Zalavadia. “There were tasks which only one or two of us did in order to not get penalized.”

Pender, the team captain, added, “It just goes to show that you don’t need a huge group or an expensive getup in order to come out on top. All you need is dedication and proper teamwork and to just have fun with it.”

The team’s historic win reflects the quality academics and training provided by PNW’s Civil Engineering program, which is a part of the university’s nationally recognized School of Engineering in the College of Engineering and Sciences.

“Performing well in these events can open doors to new opportunities, such as scholarships, sponsorships or even future career prospects,” said Briggs.

Faculty advisor Wubeshet Woldemariam, assistant professor of Civil Engineering, added, “The team members worked so hard, and they made us proud by winning the competition. I am so happy about the team and its accomplishments.”

“The team members have worked very hard, and they made us proud by their success,” said Dietmar Rempfer, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Sciences and director of the School of Engineering. “I am thrilled about our team and its accomplishments. This victory showcases the exceptional talent and dedication of our civil engineering students at Purdue University Northwest. It is a testament to their skills, teamwork and the quality of education they receive. We congratulate them on this historic win and look forward to more successes in the future.”

For more information about PNW’s School of Engineering, visit pnw.edu/engineering.

The Purdue Northwest School of Engineering

The PNW School of Engineering is recognized for its expertise in mechanical, civil, computer, and electrical engineering. For 2022-2023, U.S. News has ranked the school No. 42 among the Best Engineering Programs in the United States, of engineering schools whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Purdue University Northwest

Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a premier metropolitan university dedicated to empowering transformational change in our students and in our community. Located in Northwest Indiana, near Chicago, PNW values academic excellence, supports growth, and celebrates diversity. For more information about PNW, visit www.pnw.edu.

Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, received three Engineering Excellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) for its Bridging Kentucky program, US 60 Spottsville Bridge replacement, and Flood Predictor technology. The awards were presented during ACEC’s annual gala in Washington, D.C. on June 13.

The ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards honors the year’s most outstanding engineering accomplishments, recognizing engineering firms for projects demonstrating exceptional innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. Projects across the nation are rated on uniqueness and innovative applications; future value to the engineering profession; perception by the public; social, economic, and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of client/owner’s needs.

Bridging Kentucky program

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet established the Bridging Kentucky program as a response to the state’s aging bridge infrastructure and limited funding. The program has assessed hundreds of deficient bridges and has utilized cost-effective and timely solutions to meet critical community structure needs. The project development process was streamlined, which decreased the timeline from four years down to 18 months. Creative engineering solutions also decreased project costs by 42 percent.

“Bridging Kentucky has been vital to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s efforts to meet the infrastructure needs statewide”, said Michael Perry, vice president of transportation at Stantec. “Repairing and replacing almost 400 bridges with cost-effective solutions allowed the program to successfully connect more communities across the commonwealth. Bridging Kentucky also created the foundation for the current statewide bridge delivery project.”

US 60 Spottsville Bridge Replacement

Built in 1931, the Spottsville Bridge over the Green River provides connectivity between Owensboro and Henderson. Stantec served as prime consultant and bridge designer on the US 60 Spottsville Bridge replacement in Henderson County, Kentucky. The bridge is heavily traveled by commercial semi-trucks, farm equipment, and barges along the waterway below. The bridge struggled to keep up with modern-day needs, as pier locations were challenging for barge traffic, and a lack of shoulders on the roadway contributed to a high crash rate. Stantec designed a modified Warren truss bridge, extending the bridge deck length to accommodate new piers located out of the water, thereby improving river navigation. Recognizing and meeting the needs of the community, the new bridge was designed to accommodate modern farm machinery and large trucks in the rural farming community. 

Flood Predictor

Last year, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Department (TN ECD), in partnership with Stantec, integrated a new decision-support technology to strengthen its resiliency efforts against flooding statewide. Flood Predictor, a proprietary product developed by Stantec, is a machine learning flood-risk technology informed by more than 30,000 hours of engineered flood modeling. This data provides Tennessee communities with high-quality flood predictions to support disaster planning and hazard mitigation.

Flood Predictor is a Stantec.io digital product that delivers rapid probabilistic flood predictions. As a result, Flood Predictor gives state and local officials the ability to efficiently analyze regional flood risks in near real-time without the need for complex hydrology and hydraulic modeling, which often can take months to deliver.

“Flood Predictor utilizes the latest machine-learning technology combined with traditional modeling and engineering studies to provide real-time, reliable information to decision makers,” said Jeff Albee, vice president and director of digital solutions at Stantec. “This data allows leaders to understand an area’s current flooding risks based on statistical simulations and gives valuable time for action.”

Learn more about Stantec’s Bridges & Structures services here.

Learn more about Stantec.io here.

The project was honored at the 57th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala (EEA)—a national juried competition awards ceremony sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

Hosted by noted comedian Ross Shafer, Tuesday night’s EEA Gala honored 179 outstanding engineering achievements from the U.S. and worldwide.

Designed by HNTB of Los Angeles, the Sixth Street Viaduct is a 3,500-foot tied arch bridge locally called the “Ribbon of Light.” The structure re-establishes a critical thoroughfare between L.A.’s historic Boyle Heights on the east side with the Downtown Arts District on the west. 

Paying homage to the original double-arched 1932-era predecessor closed for demolition in 2016, the new viaduct features ten pairs of sculptural 30-and 60-foot concrete arches. Each arch is supported by an innovative seismic isolation system designed to withstand a 1,000-year seismic event. It also is the largest bridge project in the history of Los Angeles.

The project will also include a new 12-acre public park running below the bridge, accessible by multiple stairways and a monumental helical bike ramp currently under construction.

The project joins a prestigious list of recent Grand Conceptor Award winners, including the Moynihan Train Hall (New York, NY, 2022), Copperhill Watershed Restoration (Ducktown, Tennessee, 2020); and the SR 520 Floating Bridge Replacement (Seattle, 2017). 

Other 2023 Engineering Excellence Award Winners are:

2023 GRAND AWARDS 

• Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge Project, Washington, DC, AECOM
• I-74 Corridor over the Mississippi River, Bettendorf and Davenport, IA and Moline and Rock Island, IL,  Benesch & Modjeski and Masters
• Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal, North Charleston, SC, HDR
• Clear Creek Canyon Park, Gateway Segment; Golden, CO; Muller Engineering
• PAE Living Building, Portland, OR, PAE
• Delta’s New Terminal C at LaGuardia Airport, Queens, NY, STV/Satterfield & Pontikes (Joint Venture)
• Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA, Thornton Tomasetti

2023 HONOR AWARDS

• NASA Langley Measurement Systems Laboratory, Hampton, VA, AECOM
• Jane Byrne Interchange, Chicago, IL, AECOM & TranSystems (Joint Venture)
• City Walk BHAM, Birmingham, AL, Barge Design Solutions
• Towerside District Stormwater Management System, Minneapolis, MN, Barr Engineering
• I-295 over Veranda Street Bridge Replacement, Portland, ME, HNTB
• Reconstruction and Rehabilitation at the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Brooklyn to Staten Island, NY, HNTB, WSP USA (Joint Venture)
• City of Billings Nutrient Improvements, Billings, MT, HDR
• I-579 Urban Open Space Cap, Pittsburgh, PA, HDR
• SEA International Arrivals Facility, Seattle, WA, KPFF
• Chatham Park Water Recovery Center, Pittsboro, NC, McKim & Creed
• 100 Vandam Street, New York, NY, Severud Associates
• Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, Councelor, NM, Souder, Miller & Associates
• Bridging Kentucky, Frankfort, KY, Stantec, Qk4 and AECOM
• Seapoint Industrial Terminal Complex, Savannah, GA,Terracon
• Merchants Bridge Main Span Trusses & East Approach, St. Louis, MO,TranSystems
• 66 Hudson Boulevard – The Spiral, New York, NY, WSP USA

KAI Enterprises CEO Michael B. Kennedy has been named an Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Heartland Award finalist. Now in its 37^th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for transformative entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.

Kennedy was one of only 30 finalists out of a pool of more than 300 submissions. He was selected by an independent panel of judges made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs, investors and other regional business leaders. Entrepreneurs were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. The Heartland program celebrates entrepreneurs from Missouri, the Dakotas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska. Finalists were recognized during a June 8 special celebration.

“I am honored to have been recognized as a finalist by this distinguished panel of judges,” said Kennedy. “When my father founded KAI in 1980 as one of the first African American architects licensed in Missouri, I witnessed his entrepreneurial spirit and determination first-hand. As the second-generation leader of this firm, that entrepreneurial spirit lives on in me as I strive to honor the foundation of family values that pioneered KAI: leadership, creativity, honesty, accountability, excellence, integrity and teamwork.”

Headquartered in St. Louis, KAI is a Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) certified firm providing architecture, MEP engineering and construction services throughout the Midwest, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth.

KAI’s in-house workforce diversity goes well beyond ownership: 49% of KAI’s current staff represents women and minorities. KAI also has a strong outreach program to identify minority-owned and woman-owned businesses that they can collaborate with on projects, and KAI participates in organizations and events that focus on minority inclusion in the construction industry.

Quality, diversity and providing opportunities for everyone is part of the culture at KAI and formalized in the company’s policies and best practices. With a company-wide goal adopted in its tagline “Transforming Communities,” KAI strives under Kennedy’s leadership to improve the quality of life and environment in schools, communities and businesses.

To date, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 11,000 entrepreneurs throughout the US since its inception in 1986, and it has grown to recognize business leaders across 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

Duehr graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and has experience designing and managing a broad range of municipal projects. He is engaged in the analysis, planning, design, and construction management of water, sewer, and stormwater utilities, along with street improvements throughout North Texas.

“I am extremely grateful to be recognized for this award,” said Duehr. “I am motivated every day by the mission of NSPE, which is paraphrased as supporting the development and lifelong learning of individuals. This mission enables us to continually grow, enhance the profession, and positively impact our communities.”

The TSPE established the award in 1970 and receives nominations from chapters across the state. TSPE seeks to acknowledge the recipient’s technical ability, professional achievements, and civic and humanitarian activities.

Duehr has been with LAN for four years and was recently named the Young Engineer of the Year by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers – Preston Trail Chapter. Read more about the TSPE Outstanding Young Engineer of the Year Award at the Texas Society of Professional Engineers TSPE Awards (tspe.org.)

The 2023 America’s Transportation Awards named the effort Best Use of Technology and Innovation, Medium Project, for the Western region. The competition is sponsored by AASHTO, an association representing highway and transportation departments nationwide, as well as AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

“We’re grateful to see the Pinto Creek Bridge replacement honored among projects throughout the West, but we’re even prouder of what this improvement has accomplished for those who rely on this critical route for passenger and commercial traffic,” said Greg Byres, ADOT State Engineer and Deputy Director for Transportation. “ADOT engineers and the contractor used innovative design and construction approaches to create a safer and more reliable US 60 for decades to come.”

Completed in 2022, the $25.3 million project built the new bridge next to the one it replaced, with traffic continuing to use the old bridge until the new bridge opened. 

Among other innovative approaches used:

• ADOT used a bid-alternative method for design, which allowed the contractor to determine economical and supportive foundation systems for each of the bridge’s three piers while taking into account the mountainous terrain.
• To create retaining wall structures up to 30 feet high, ADOT engineers developed design standards and specifications for a micro-pile foundation system using high-strength, small-diameter steel rods.
• A temporary access road was built to the floor of the steep canyon to provide access for heavy equipment, including a 400-ton crane that placed girders atop the piers, the tallest of which is 138 feet. 
• ADOT partnered with Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix to temporarily remove and then return hedgehog cactuses unique to the project site.

You can view photos of the completed bridge at flic.kr/s/aHBqjzWgRb. Carrying two lanes of traffic, the bridge is 695.5 feet long, has 10-foot-wide shoulders and can carry heavier loads than its predecessor, which was 72 years old.

The award was presented last week at the annual meeting of WASHTO, which represents departments of transportation in the West. 

The Heroism Award recognizes an act of heroism performed by a water utility professional who puts themself in personal danger while doing so. Stephen Shirley, a Central Arkansas Water (CAW) foreman, and Chris Duncan, a water distribution specialist II, helped two injured gunshot victims who were involved in a three-vehicle car accident at an intersection in front of their crew truck. 

Once the two CAW employees determined the scene was safe and they needed to provide life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived, they approached one vehicle and applied a tourniquet to a victim who was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the leg. They also helped a woman in another vehicle who was bleeding and in shock.

AWWA’s Innovation Award recognizes a member who has inspired or implemented an innovative idea, best practice, or solution to benefit the water sector. This year it was awarded to the Regional Municipality of York (York Region) for developing a machine learning project for managing inflow and infiltration.

York Region designed a machine learning model as part of its Inflow and Infiltration Reduction Strategy. Inflow and infiltration occur when water, groundwater and stormwater enter the wastewater system through pipe misconnections and deteriorated infrastructure. This takes up sewer system capacity and may backup into the environment.

The model uses machine learning to process raw data into actionable information to help make proactive and better-informed decisions to manage infrastructure. Real-time and historical data are integrated to create a priority map that informs future operations and maintenance work. It can predict the way the system would respond to hypothetical precipitation events.

To date, the model has achieved over 90% confidence in the analysis based on pilots completed from 2018 through 2022. The York Region has also realized a 78% reduction in analysis time when compared to the two weeks it took to do the analysis manually. This amounts to approximately $40,000 in labor costs per analysis of all nine of the municipalities that make up the York Region.

The tool helps ensure money is spent with the greatest impact, and the savings of staff time and resources allows the York Region to focus more on additional planning and finding efficiencies elsewhere in its system.

Both awards will be presented during AWWA’s Annual Conference & Exposition.

Selections were made based on New Urbanism principles, which promote environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing options and job types. The awards were presented at the annual CNU Congress in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The CNU Charter Awards recognize exemplary work by CNU members and their allies who design and build places people love,” stated the CNU Awards jury. “The winners not only embody and advance the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism, they make a difference in people’s lives. A focus of the jury this year was on projects that make places accessible and equitable, and the winning projects embody accessibility and equity in a variety of compelling ways.”

Albany Skyway (Albany, New York) – CNU Charter Award

The Albany Skyway reclaims an underused highway ramp to reconnect downtown with the Hudson River waterfront via a new ADA-compliant linear park. The project is an example of asset transformation, repurposing underutilized or outmoded infrastructure to better serve the community. Stantec worked with Capitalize Albany and the New York State Department of Transportation to bring the project to life, addressing the community’s desire for greater access to open space, existing parks, and the waterfront. The result is a unique feature that provides a more walkable downtown and a place for recreation, social gatherings, and events.

“The completion of the Albany Skyway is a game-changer for the City and the perfect example of a transformative infrastructure project that promotes equity and connectivity,” stated New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “Infrastructure can be more than just building roads and bridges—like the Skyway, it can be about improving quality of life and righting the wrongs of the past.”

Albany Skyway was selected in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Pullman Artspace Lofts (Chicago, Illinois) – CNU Charter Award

The Pullman Artspace Lofts project joins two renovated historic 1880 buildings together with a newly constructed building to provide 100% stable affordable housing for working artists in a vibrant urban community. Stantec was engaged to provide planning, architecture, and interior design along with National Landmark coordination for the first residential construction in the area in 60 years. The design team created durable and desirable units that allowed for customization alongside community gathering and gallery space while preserving and restoring important elements of protected historic landmarks. The project was deeply informed by community engagement workshops and serves as an anchor in the community.

“This project demonstrates excellence in adaptive reuse, contextual infill, neighborhood revitalization, and affordability,” commented the CNU Charter Awards jury. The quality of this renovation and new addition help anchor and stabilize the surrounding Pullman neighborhood, the jury emphasized.

Pullman Artspace Lofts was selected in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Downtown Hammond Master Plan (Hammond, Indiana) – CNU Merit Award

The Downtown Hammond Master Plan has enabled the Northwest Indiana city to kick start its downtown revival. Once among the largest cities in the state and the inspiration for the film A Christmas Story, Hammond’s downtown was mostly empty with few residents and almost no viable retail. Stantec’s Urban Places, along with Speck & Associates, developed a master plan to retrofit Hammond’s downtown core into a walkable neighborhood. The plan included public realm interventions, real estate rehabilitation and redevelopment, and preparation for improved multimodal and transit corridors. The revitalization has reinvigorated a sense of community pride and the City is already well into implementation.

“I saw firsthand a shift in people’s perception of what our downtown could be,” stated Anne Anderson, Director of Economic Development for the City. “And now that the plan is being set in motion, we are seeing brand new, vibrant development after years of stagnation. A breath of fresh air is blowing in the downtown for the first time in decades.”

The Downtown Hammond Master Plan was selected in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Find out more about Stantec’s Urban Places.

Zweig Group, a premier research, publishing, and consulting firm specializing in the AEC industry, annually compiles the Best Firms To Work For list to celebrate companies that prioritize employee satisfaction, professional development, and an exceptional workplace culture. Verdantas’ inclusion in this ranking highlights its dedication to promoting a supportive and engaging workplace environment.

“We are incredibly honored to be recognized as a Best Firm To Work For. This achievement is a testament to our dedicated team, whose commitment and passion as a people-focused culture continues to drive our success.” said Gerry Salontai, CEO at Verdantas. 

Verdantas places great emphasis on providing a work environment that encourages creativity, fosters collaboration, and promotes a healthy work-life balance. Through ongoing training programs, mentorship opportunities, and competitive benefits packages, the company ensures its employees have the resources and support they need to excel in their roles and reach their full potential.

“We believe that a strong company culture is the foundation for sustainable success,” said Jesse Kropelnicki, Chief Operating Officer at Verdantas. “This recognition as a 2023 Zweig Group Best Firm To Work For validates our people-focused approach and inspires us to continue fostering an environment where our employees thrive.”

With this prestigious recognition, Verdantas reaffirms its commitment to maintaining a workplace that inspires innovation, drives excellence, and attracts top talent in the AEC industry.

About Verdantas

Verdantas currently employs over 850 people in 39 offices across the US and is home to many of the industry’s top scientists, engineers, and technical experts. Verdantas operates a people-focused culture, concentrating on the well-being of its employees, clients, and the communities where they live and work. The company is actively hiring across all disciplines and seeking additional companies with a strategic and cultural fit.  

The $85M design-build project for the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA), included converting six miles of a two-lane road into a four-lane divided highway, greatly reducing traffic congestion, and providing enhanced safety for motorists. Three existing bridge structures were replaced, as well as 4,500 SF of stream relocation of multiple tributaries to the Middle Patuxent River, including the relocation of the river itself.

Greg Andricos, President and COO of Wagman Heavy Civil states, “Through collaboration with MDOT SHA and our project partners, the project team delivered a high-quality project, on time and under budget, while greatly increasing Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) firm participation. I commend the team on their hard work, innovation, and dedication.”

The mission of CMAA is to promote the construction management profession and its use of qualified construction managers on projects and programs. For more information on CMAA, visit their website.

Wagman is a multi-faceted construction firm with major operations in heavy civil, general construction, and geotechnical construction services. Founded in 1902, Wagman is a fourth generation, family-owned company with offices in Pennsylvania and Virginia and is headquartered in York, PA. As a heavy civil contractor, Wagman is a nationally recognized leader within the industry. Wagman’s core competencies include: design-build, infrastructure, marine construction, modified concrete, grooving and grinding, and geotechnical construction services. For more information about Wagman, please visit www.wagman.com.

Chris has over 20 years of experience in water, wastewater, stormwater design, and construction services. Since joining raSmith’s municipal services division in 2019, he has provided project management and design services for upgrades to major municipal wastewater treatment plants and numerous water distribution and wastewater/stormwater collection system modifications and upgrades. Chris is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin and an Envision Sustainability Professional.

About raSmith

raSmith is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultant established in the city of Brookfield, Wisconsin, in 1978. Our services are focused on our public and private sector client needs in planning, design, and construction including site planning and design, structural engineering, municipal engineering, transpor-tation and traffic, surveying, development management, ecology, landscape architecture, LiDAR (3D laser scanning), UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), construction services, and geographic information systems (GIS). We work on projects nationwide from our seven locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California. The firm employs a staff of 220. For more information about raSmith, visit www.rasmith.com.

1. Office Building at Ovation (Newport, KY): This five-story, 100,000-square-foot new office building is part of a larger mixed-use campus that will feature housing, retail, restaurants, and entertainment.

2. Starbucks (Staten Island, NY): The Richmond Road Starbucks is a single-story, 1,875-square-foot, load-bearing cold-formed steel structure on a cast-in-place concrete foundation.

3. The Rosie (Chicago, IL): This seven-story apartment building offers luxury residential units, two high- profile retail spaces, and parking in an amenity-packed site.

4. Advocate Aurora Health Care – Lake Villa Clinic (Lake Villa, IL): This single-story, 20,000-square-foot, load-bearing building utilized prebuilt and prefinished pods to expedite construction.

Furthermore, raSmith is pleased to share that Pat Ford, P.E., S.E., senior structural project manager, has been honored with the prestigious Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) John P. Matsen Distinguished Service Award. This award acknowledges Pat’s outstanding contributions to the cold-formed steel industry.

Pat has more than 40 years of experience in structural engineering that includes the application of many of the latest technologies and design concepts to both load-bearing structures and a wide variety of curtainwall and prefabricated systems. In addition to his role as senior structural project manager at raSmith, Pat serves as the technical director of the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) and actively participates in various professional organizations, including CFSEI, American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), ASTM International, and the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry (AWCI).

MVE + Partners’ Mandarin Oriental Residences and Post District Residences projects were selected for the Gold Nugget top honors by a panel of top industry experts who reviewed nearly 650 entries. The Grand Award winners showcase the most exciting trends in design, planning and building across over 50 categories, including multifamily, affordable, mixed-use, and recreational facilities.

Mandarin Oriental Residences in Beverly Hills, CA

Designed by MVE + Partners for developers SHVO, Bilgili Group & Deutsche Finance, with general contracting by Swinerton, the Mandarin Oriental Residences project was named Grand Award winner in the category of Best Multi-Family Housing Community – 30-60 DU/Acre.

The six-story, 307,000 square-foot development is the Five-Star hotel brand’s first exclusively residential property in the U.S. The Mandarin Oriental Residences provide all the conveniences of an upscale hotel but with the privacy and feel of a single-family home. The 54 residences boast private terraces and floor-to-ceiling windows. Resort-like amenities include a porte-cochere with valet parking, library, meeting room, and lounge with fireplace. The private rooftop offers an outdoor pool with cabanas, a spa with steam room, sauna, and treatment rooms, and a state-of-the-art fitness center. Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Boulud will open his first West Coast restaurant at the property, as well as service the rooftop lounge.

Post District Residences in Salt Lake City, Utah

Designed by MVE + Partners for developers Lowe Property Group, BCG Holdings, Q Factor, and Bridge Housing, with general contracting by Big D Construction, Post District Residences was named Grand Award winner in the category of Best On-the-Boards Multi-Family Community.

The new mixed-use, pedestrian friendly development in Salt Lake City’s downtown Post District is a community comprised of five buildings with 580 residential units, 22,405 square feet of retail and 86,000 square feet of private and public outdoor space. The project will be a social hub for residents with a plethora of restaurants, cafes, shops, open green space and plazas within walking distance.

“As MVE and Partners approaches its 50^th anniversary, this recognition inspires us to continue our dedication to innovative architectural design,” said Matthew McLarand, president and director of design, MVE + Partners. “We share these awards with our partners SHVO, Bilgili Group, Deutsche Finance, Lowe Property Group, BCG Holdings, Q Factor, and Bridge Housing and thank them for trusting us to make their visions become reality.”

This year’s Gold Nugget Grand Awards mark MVE + Partners’ 85^th Grand Award over the past 47 years.

The CRN 2023 Women of the Channel honorees bring their creativity, strategic thinking, and leadership to bear in a variety of roles and responsibilities, but all are turning their unique talents toward driving success for their partners and customers. With this recognition, CRN honors these women for their unwavering dedication and commitment to furthering channel excellence.

Gaynes is featured on the CRN^® Women of the Channel list for a fifth time. As Bentley’s Director of Strategic Partnerships for Global System Integrators, Gaynes leads a team responsible for business development, contract negotiations, and joint go-to-market efforts to generate new subscription revenue. She enables global system integrators to build centers of excellence around Bentley’s technology for consulting, data services, and integrated solutions tailored to suit the critical digital transformation needs of infrastructure owners and operators. Additionally, Gaynes oversees the integration of Cohesive, a Bentley-owned digital integrator business, that brings industry data and asset experts together to maximize sustainable operational excellence through digital advisory services, digital twins, and organizational change management.

“We are ecstatic to announce this year’s honorees and shine a light on these women for their significant achievements, knowing that what they’ve accomplished has paved the way for continued success within the IT channel,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “The channel is stronger because of them, and we look forward to seeing what they do next.”

“Sheena has played an instrumental role in driving the success of Bentley’s iTwin Platform business over the past few years,” said Carsten Gerke, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships with Bentley Systems. “She now leads our efforts to enable system integrators that are creating and curating digital twins for their clients’ infrastructure assets. As a highly regarded team member, we are delighted that Sheena’s contributions are recognized by CRN’s 2023 Women of the Channel list.”

ROLLA, Mo. – Two professors from Missouri University of Science and Technology were recently announced as part of the inaugural class of fellows for the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI).

Dr. Joel Burken, Curators’ Distinguished Professor and chair of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at S&T, will serve as a fellow, as will Dr. Genda Chen, the Robert W. Abbett Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering. A total of five fellows were named.

Through this program, TGI institutions will be supported in recruiting and retaining high-achieving researchers in geospatial science fields, developing scientific leaders, and strengthening collaboration among the TGI members to accelerate the St. Louis region’s development as a world-renowned global geospatial center.

Fellows will receive support from TGI in several manners, such as discretionary funding, assistance from a TGI postdoctoral scholar, access to data analytics and computing resources, and guidance with grant proposal development.

The three other inaugural TGI fellows include: Drs. Malia Gehan, principal investigator and assistant member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center; Carmel Martin-Fairey, assistant professor of biology at Harris-Stowe State University; and Abby Stylianou, assistant professor of computer science at Saint Louis University.

The TGI consortium includes Missouri S&T, Saint Louis University, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Harris-Stowe State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Washington University in St. Louis. Collectively, these institutions encompass more than 5,000 faculty and 100,000 students.  

The TGI is housed at Saint Louis University. The institute’s mission is to advance geospatial science through collaborations to create innovative solutions to societal grand challenges. It supports a collaborative research and training environment, and its main focus areas include core geospatial science, food systems, geospatial health and national security.

“We are truly honored and immensely excited to be identified by our employees as one of the best places to work in southeast Wisconsin for the 11th year in a row,” said Richard A. Smith Jr. (Ricky), raSmith president. “This third place ranking, out of 64 firms, our highest ever, celebrates our culture and appreciation for our people who make raSmith exceptional through their teamwork, dedication, and passion for taking care of our clients.” Wendy Wolfgram, raSmith director of human resources, said, “Our workplace culture is a reflection of the collaboration and bonds that exist among our employees. raSmith is a great place to work due to our family- friendly environment with a hybrid work structure that allows for great work-life balance and flexibility. In addition, our outstanding benefits, generous compensation, and opportunities for growth and advancement make raSmith an ideal place to develop a successful career.”

Goncalves presented the “2023 Market Development Industry Leadership Award” to Karl Barth, Ph.D., associate professor in the Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at West Virginia University. Dr. Barth works in the areas of steel bridge analysis, design and rating. He is a founding member of the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance’s (SSSBA) Bridge Technology Center, where he advises bridge owners and designers on how to use steel for their short span steel bridge projects. These bridges have spans up to 140 feet and comprise most of America’s bridge inventory. Dr. Barth has spent decades working successfully to simplify the design of these bridges to make them more competitive in the marketplace.

He also presented the “2023 Market Development Lifetime Achievement Award” to Robert J. Wills, P.E., AISI’s vice president of construction. Wills, who is retiring this month, has worked for AISI for 33 years where he has been responsible for overseeing work in codes and standards and the commercial buildings, residential construction and transportation/infrastructure markets. He is widely recognized for his expertise in fire safety engineering, structural fire testing and performance, wind engineering, and geotechnical and foundation engineering. He was very involved in the development of the International Building Code and the NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code.

“We are pleased to recognize the leadership and commitment of Dr. Karl Barth and Robert Wills, and their enduring accomplishments in making steel the material of choice,” said Goncalves. “Karl’s achievements in simplifying the design of short span steel bridges to make them more competitive with concrete, and his leadership in the development of press-brake steel tub girder technology, have helped establish steel as a market leader for decades to come. And Robert’s decades of leadership and commitment to growing traditional and new markets for steel, his advocacy for innovation in steel construction and his dedication to building strong partnerships have been crucial to advancing the industry’s goals. We thank them both for their service.”

The annual recognition award winners represent the best and brightest in transportation innovation, effectiveness, and leadership, embodying the mission and vision of WTS.

“It is an honor to recognize the individuals and organizations who continually demonstrate their excellence and influence in transportation. This year’s awardees embody the values integral to WTS: a commitment to building a diverse future workforce; instituting equity, diversity, and inclusion in their own organizations; closing the gap for professional women in transportation, and acting as allies, both personally and professionally,” said Jannet Walker-Ford, chair, WTS International Board of Directors.

This year, WTS International also instituted a new award, the Eleanor Holmes Norton Award, designed to honor elected officials who are vital supporters and creators of effective transportation policy.

Congratulations to the following organizations and leaders:

Employer of the Year 
California High Speed Rail Authority

Innovative Transportation Solutions Award 
Fare-Free Youth Transit: King County Metro

Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award
Veronica O. Davis, City of Houston

Honorable Ray LaHood Award
Stephen Gardner, CEO, Amtrak

Member of the Year 
Barb Wells, CDM Smith and WTS Kansas City Chapter

Eleanor Holmes Norton Award
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D- DC)

Woman of the Year
Marsha Bomar Anderson, Commissioner Emeritus, Atlanta DOT

Mary Peters Inspirational Leader Award
Therese McMillan

Also honored at the 2023 Awards Gala were ten recipients of WTS Foundation scholarships. The WTS Foundation supports high school, undergraduate, and graduate level students pursuing studies in transportation-related fields. This year, the Foundation provided $50,000 dollars in funding at the event. Annually, the Foundation awards close to $700,000 in scholarships. 

“It takes a special person to model the values we want to see in our transportation workforce. This year’s award honorees are no exception – all our awardees and scholarship recipients are inspirational in their commitment to advance women, advance the industry, and advance a new generation of leaders” said Sara Stickler, President & CEO, WTS International. “It’s a pleasure to celebrate their dedication and talents.”

In this year’s Transportation category, Fast Company named the Turntide Electrification suite of powertrain components among the top 13 innovative projects that are changing how we move. The transportation industry accounts for more than one-quarter or 8.26 gigatons of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. While passenger-car electrification has made considerable progress, Turntide’s solution focuses on electrifying commercial and industrial sectors, including commercial trucks, buses, passenger rail, and construction equipment.

“Being recognized in Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards for three consecutive years is a tremendous honor,” said Ryan Morris, CEO of Turntide. “Electrifying commercial vehicles requires a high level of engineering difficulty, including overcoming challenges such as weight, power demands, and battery range. By partnering with innovative OEMs in commercial and industrial verticals, Turntide contributes to a cleaner, more sustainable future.”

Turntide’s Electrification suite provides the end-to-end powertrain, including motors, inverters, batteries, pumps, fans, and more. Some of Turntide’s innovative projects include collaborating with JCB to develop the world’s first fully electric mini-excavator and other compact construction machines, helping reduce air and noise pollution.

“It’s thrilling to see the creativity and innovation that are so abundant among this year’s honorees,” says Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan. “While it’s easy to feel discouraged by the state of the world, the entrepreneurs, companies, and nonprofits featured in this package show the limitless potential to address society’s most urgent problems. Our journalists have highlighted some of the most exciting and impactful work being done today—from housing to equity to sustainability—and we look forward to seeing not only how these projects evolve but how they inspire others to develop solutions of their own.”

Turntide’s technology solutions were previously recognized by Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies (2021), Next Big Things in Tech (2022), and World Changing Ideas (2021, 2022, and 2023).

“The Green Buffers system uses high-strength steel profiles to dissipate the energy from a train collision in a controlled way. Their new generation coupling technology opens up for sophisticated custom design solutions that will save lives and reduce costs,” says Eva Petursson, chair of the Swedish Steel Prize jury and head of SSAB’s research and innovation.

New generation train coupling technology

Existing crash management systems for trains are primitive. Safety standards are based on technology from the 1960s or 1970s and even minor accidents result in derailments. This is where Roger Danielsson and his colleagues at Green Buffers saw room for improvement. Inspired by the automotive industry, they have developed an energy dissipation system based on high-strength steel that makes train travel safer for passengers and more economical for operators.

The system consists of twelve deformable units mounted in the coupling interfaces throughout the entire train set. In a collision the Strenx® 700 MC steel profiles in the units fold like an accordion, absorbing the impact of the shock in less than a second. By averting the initial peak force and by minimizing all other peak forces, energy from a collision is distributed in a controlled manner.

“Unlike with cars, practically all train collisions are frontal. This gives our system enormous significance,” argues Roger Danielsson. For further improvements in the future the energy-absorbing units can be provided with sensors to provide even more information on energy absorption.

With their innovative system and their ambitious goal – zero uncontrolled derailments related to train accidents ­– Green Buffers have the potential to revolutionize train safety.

The runners-up

Runners-up DigJim from Norway, Gestamp from Spain, and Levistor from Great Britain and ZOOZ from Israel (shared nomination) were also celebrated at the award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden on May 11.

Rewarding steel innovations

The Swedish Steel Prize celebrates engineering, cooperation and steel innovations that lead to a better and more sustainable world. The winner receives a diploma, a statuette by the sculptor Jörg Jeschke and intense media exposure. In conjunction with the Swedish Steel Prize 2023, SSAB will make a SEK 100,000 donation to UNICEF in support of their efforts to provide quality education and learning opportunities to children and adolescents worldwide.

Asphalt Contractor’s Top 30 Editor’s Choice award represents the asphalt industry’s best products gaining interest from end-users and asphalt professionals alike. The awarded products, exhibiting innovation and utility, were chosen based on submitted nominations and audience engagement during a 12-month period on ForConstructionPros.com, and narrowed down by the editorial team and advisory board.

Scale Watcher provides photo and video verification of a truck’s weighing process, providing proof of vehicle pickup without signatures. An optional Gate/Valve anti-theft module alerts authorized personnel of potential theft of materials.  

With Scale Watcher Cloud, on-prem data is shifted to a web-based portal providing visual displays of important site events that are updated in real time, enabling Plant Managers to identify and fix bottlenecks. The License Plate Recognition cameras can be used to track arrival time and departure time for every truck, while the Performance Dashboard can drill down to determine cycle issues with Carriers, specific Truck Drivers, or plant resources or processes. 

“It’s an honor to be chosen as one of Asphalt Contractor’s Top 30 Editor’s Choice Award Winners,” said Scott Dugan, Global Product Manager, VP at Command Alkon. “Our partnership with Dividia Technologies has resulted in something truly valuable for the asphalt industry. Historically, real data points on the full plant cycle time have been non-existent, or extremely difficult to acquire. Scale Watcher can deliver that visibility to plants of all sizes.” 

“We are truly excited to spotlight the winners of our 2023 Top 30 Editor’s Choice awards,” says Asphalt Contractor Editor Brandon Noel. “The rapid pace of technological innovation and the speed at which new products come to market in the road building and asphalt industry is incredibly competitive. This year’s winning products include the types of improvements and impacts that can truly help contractors be more efficient and, ultimately, separate them from competitors.”

SAME presented the prestigious award on May 4 to Semonite, president of Federal Programs at WSP USA, a leading engineering, environment and professional services consultancy, during the organization’s annual Joint Engineer Training Conference in San Antonio. The award cites his leadership role in ensuring Americans had reliable access to healthcare facilities during the COVID pandemic in 2020.

In addition, Semonite was announced as one of 26 members newly invested into SAME’s Fellows Academy, which formally acknowledges distinguished individuals for their dedication to SAME and the architecture/engineering/construction profession.

“I am very honored to receive this Golden Eagle award, but it’s not just about me. It’s also about all of the men and women that I’ve had the pleasure to work with in my career,” Semonite said.  “I was in the Army for 41 years and the mission was always about ‘How are we going to take care of America?’ So, whether you’re building barracks or an airfield, supporting soldiers overseas, or directing emergency response operations following a major disaster mission accomplishment is what we do best. The military ethic enabled us to pull people together to find solutions and get things done.”

As USACE Commanding General, Semonite advised the Secretary of the Army on general, combat and geospatial engineering; construction, real property, public infrastructure; and natural resources science and management. He also oversaw 36,000 civilian employees, 800 military personnel, and managed a $68 billion project portfolio.

Semonite was leading USACE in February 2020 when the U.S. was on the brink of the COVID pandemic. USACE stepped up to build temporary “alternative care” facilities (field hospitals) in locations around the country, where needed.

Working along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the goal was to support local capacity for inpatient and outpatient healthcare services, at a time when many regions were overwhelmed with demand from COVID. After talking with hundreds of governors and mayors, USACE completed 1,100 assessments nationwide and, of those, they designed and built about 70 needed facilities in record time. The first was New York City’s Javits Center. Other converted facilities included sports arenas, hotels, dormitories and vacant hospitals. The result was the creation of over 30,000 additional bed spaces nationwide.

“We, as engineers, filled a void when our nation needed someone to step up,” Semonite said. “While it was never in my mandate, as the head of the USACE, to think about how to solve COVID, there was a problem and somebody had to figure out how to address it. So, we worked together with healthcare professionals, the engineering staff, as well as the industry side, to put these massive facilities together in record time.”

As Chief of Engineers in 2017, Semonite managed USACE’s emergency response operations for three major storms:  Hurricane Harvey in Texas; Hurricane Irma, which struck the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida; and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where he directed rebuilding efforts for three grids, as part of over $1 billion in infrastructure repairs that included installing more than 66,000 power poles. In 2012, as Division Commander of the USACE South Atlantic Division, he coordinated the response to Hurricane Sandy in the Southeast after the devastating storm struck the U.S. East Coast and caused nearly $70 billion in damage.

“I’ve been unbelievably blessed to have a lot of people in my life who have made me successful,” Semonite said. “This is my opportunity to thank the thousands of mentors, peers, soldiers and civilians who have supported me throughout my career and pay that back, by thanking them for that success. I also want to thank my wife Connie, my kids, and my 10 grandchildren for their support.”

A licensed professional engineer in New York, Virginia and Vermont, he has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He also holds a master’s in civil engineering from the University of Vermont, as well as a master’s in military arts from Fort Leavenworth.

His military awards include the three Distinguished Service Medals, the Defense Superior Service Award, five Legion of Merit awards, the Bronze star, the Ranger tab and the Parachutist badge. 

IRVING, Texas – May 8, 2023 – The Municipal Advisory Board (MAB) today announced the creation of a scholarship program in the name of Eric Shaffer, chief engineer at City of Duluth, Minnesota.  A nationally recognized expert on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe for potable water and wastewater systems, Shaffer was a long-time volunteer and contributing member of the MAB.  He passed away in January 2023 from injuries sustained in a snowmobile accident. 

When attendance is approved by the utility, the Eric Shaffer Memorial Award pays the tuition for the MAB-conducted Fusion Seminar where students learn from experts and receive hands-on training in the proper fusion and electrofusion methods for HDPE water piping systems. 

The next class is scheduled for July 30 – August 4, 2023 at the Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Upon successful completion of the course, students will receive a Certificate of Competency Completion from the college.  Applications for the class are being accepted by email to  MID@plasticpipe.org. 

Established in 2008, MAB serves as an independent, non-commercial adviser to the Municipal & Industrial Division of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI), the major North American trade association representing the plastic pipe industry.          

“Eric Shaffer was a stalwart of our industry,” said Camille George Rubeiz, P.E., F. ASCE, co-chair, Municipal Advisory Board and senior director of engineering, Municipal and Industrial Division of PPI.  “For more than a decade, Eric was an integral part of MAB, tirelessly giving his time and expertise to improve the water systems of not only Duluth but our entire country.  MAB members sought a way to honor his contributions  and unanimously agreed that a scholarship program would enable more students to attend the Fusion Seminar program he helped to create.”

In addition to his work with the MAB, Shaffer was a key member of the City of Duluth.  Upon his passing, Mayor Emily Larson said, “Eric was a longtime employee with the City and a well-respected engineer whose reach went beyond the employees he worked with on a day-to-day basis.  Whether it was other departments or outside organizations, Eric’s professionalism and engineering expertise was respected and sought after by everyone he worked with.  He leaves a legacy that is hiding in plain site that impacts each and every citizen in the City.  As you drive around the city you will see water towers, sanitary sewer lift stations, improvements to the Lakewood water treatment plant, and the removal of lead drinking water pipes just to name a few of the projects he was involved in.”

Luis Aguiar, MAB co-chair and co-founder, Senior Associate with Hazen & Sawyer’s Miami-Fort Lauderdale area office and previously the Assistant Director Water Operations at Miami-Dade Water & Sewer, “We were always humbled by the amount of effort and the intellectual contributions Eric provided to our research and training groups.  He inspired us to go further, work harder and provide more essential information to the utilities.  Eric also always wanted to educate others.  So, it is very fitting that we honor him by enabling operators to heighten their HDPE knowledge and skills with this scholarship fund.”

Additional information can be found at https://plasticpipe.org/MunicipalAdvisoryBoard

The award recognizes large federal government prime contractors that excel in the utilization of small business subcontractors and suppliers. It is based on work completed in the three government fiscal years prior to WSP Global’s acquisition of the Environment & Infrastructure business of John Wood Group plc in September 2022, which became WSP Environment & Infrastructure Inc. The previous awards were won by E&I, which rebranded to WSP last year.

The award was presented on May 1 to WSP USA at a Washington, D.C. ceremony, in conjunction with the start of National Small Business Week. It was the firm’s fourth national award in SBA’s Construction category. The other national award was in the Services category.

“This award is further proof we have an outstanding small business program supported from the top of our organization with resources and commitments to effectively identify and develop relationships with many excellent small business partners across the U.S.,” said Holly Hutson, WSP small business liaison officer, a position she has held since 2008. “This culture enables us to achieve outstanding results on a consistent basis and further the growth of our small business partners by connecting them with well-suited projects.”

WSP USA has maintained a long-standing policy to support federal procurement opportunities for maximum achievable participation by small businesses. In the past five years, that commitment has generated more than $163 million in federal funding for the firm’s small business partners. 

The achievement of a fifth consecutive win is amplified by the firm’s ability to only be eligible to win it once every four years. No more than five companies receive the Eisenhower award in any one year.

To be considered for the award, a company must achieve an exceptional or outstanding rating on their small business compliance review. It must also exhibit documented outreach and internal initiatives directed specifically at small businesses.

WSP participated in 26 small business events in 2022 and implemented internal initiatives, such as Hunt for the HUBZones and Vet the Vets, which are focused on virtually introducing historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) firms, veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) to employees across the country. 

One of the SDVOBs participating in the WSP program was recognized by the SBA. TWS Environmental, owned by Jose Suarez and nominated by WSP E&I, was named Small Business Sub-Contractor of the Year for the SBA Delaware and SBA Mid-Atlantic Region. The company first joined WSP E&I’s small business program in 2016. One year later, TWS was recipient of E&I’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award.

“TWS Environmental has become a valued team member on numerous federal and commercial projects over the past six years and have experienced impressive growth as a company over the past two years,” Hutson said.

National Small Business Week has been held annually in the U.S. since 1963 to encourage small business owners and enable them to learn from the success stories of other small businesses. The week is aimed at recognizing the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business and create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. As part of National Small Business Week, SBA highlights the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners and others from all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, now in its 67th year, is the largest occupational health and safety awards program in the UK, with nearly 2,000 entries from around the world every year. The program recognises organisations that demonstrate continuous improvement in the prevention of accidents and ill health at work, and assesses their health and safety management systems, including leadership and workforce involvement.

Land & Water is dedicated to nurturing the growth of its workforce through focusing on health and wellbeing. The firm has appointed a Health and Wellbeing Director, has 18 Mental Health First Aiders and has facilitated the creation of a central wellbeing intranet which provides access to a variety of wellbeing resources. On top of this, the company continues to follow the highest standards of health and safety at all of its sites.

James Maclean, CEO of Land & Water, said, “We’re delighted to receive the RoSPA Gold Award for the 4th consecutive year, as it endorses our commitment to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing of our staff and our supply chain. Every Land & Water employee is to thank for this achievement and we would like to commend our workforce for always acting with care”.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s Achievements Director, commented on the significance of good safety performance and the importance of recognising and rewarding it. She said, “We are thrilled that Land & Water has won a RoSPA Award and would like to congratulate them on showing an unwavering commitment to keeping their employees, clients and customers safe from accidental harm and injury.” The RoSPA Awards scheme is the longest-running of its kind in the UK and is sponsored by Croner-i. It receives entries from organisations across the globe, making it one of the most sought-after achievement awards for the health and safety industry. Land & Water’s continued dedication toward health, safety and wellbeing attests to the company’s excellence in every aspect of business especially within the civil engineering industry.

Mark Coates, International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy with Bentley Systems, has qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT). The CIHT is a United Kingdom charity, learned society and membership body with international chapters. The Institution represents and qualifies professionals who plan, design, build, manage, maintain, and operate highways, transport infrastructure, and services. CIHT is a leading voice of the highways, transportation, infrastructure, and services profession. It is a source of advice for national and local government and other strategic stakeholders seeking technical expertise and knowledge to guide future policy and investment.

Joe Rice-Jones, Strategic Account Director with Bentley Systems, has qualified as a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). ICE is a 95,000-strong global membership organization with over 200 years of history. It is a center of engineering excellence, qualifying engineers and helping them maintain lifelong competence, assuring society that the infrastructure they create is safe, dependable and well designed. Its network of experts offers trusted, impartial advice to politicians and decision makers on how to build and adapt infrastructure so that it is more sustainable.

“The ICE and CIHT promote best practices and policies and provide guidance to assist governments and businesses in delivering infrastructure systems that support a sustainable future,” said David Shaman, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary with Bentley Systems. “With only 5% of members being awarded Fellowship status, we congratulate Mark and Joe on achieving such a high accolade, and, through their stewardship, Bentley will continue to share learning and insights to drive the infrastructure sector’s digital readiness and maturity.”

Fellowship is the highest membership grade, reserved for individuals who have led the promotion, planning, design, construction, maintenance, or management of significant projects. Coates and Rice-Jones qualifying as Fellows highlights their contributions to the industry and U.K. society.

Fellows contribute to the development of the infrastructure industry by imparting their knowledge, experience, and mentoring. They participate in the activities of these institutions, resulting in opportunities to join the boards of working groups and think tanks that generate value via leadership and insight driving direction, innovative thinking, and, most importantly, adoption of new working practices.

As Fellows, Coates and Rice-Jones will publish articles and conduct industry-focused seminars for institution members, as well as help influence government policy.

A selection of the recent work that Bentley has supported over the last 18 months includes:

Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit 2022

How are mega projects delivered around the world?

Growing up quickly

A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery (Part 1)

A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery (Part 2)

The campaign unites young people, with a focus on those who are marginalized across the United States, to join a global movement as key stakeholders in reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. As part of the campaign, they will be called upon to engage with their local decision makers to advocate for a more safe and sustainable transportation system for all road users (pedestrians, transit users, cyclists, and drivers).

Jacob Smith, Executive Director of NOYS, said, “Vehicle-dominated environments and lack of people-centered infrastructure have resulted in our youth suffering from multiple health crises. Global Youth Traffic Safety Month harnesses the power of young people to transform our transportation system. I know that young people are incredible living experts of our evolving transportation system.”

NOYS has partnered with the campaign sponsor Bentley Systems to develop a national advocacy action guide for young people across the United States to be equipped to address mobility safety in their communities. In recognition of GYTSM Month, 10 youth leaders will be named National Mobility Safety Champions by NOYS for their outstanding contributions to advocating for safe and sustainable mobility systems.

Zeljko Djuretic, head of Education with Bentley Systems, said, “We are so honored to be partnering with NOYS and supporting this campaign to raise awareness about road safety. Through our work, we know that one way to do this is through solutions that support predictive transportation technology, helping engineers design safe and sustainable mobility systems. Our young people’s voices are powerful, and it’s incredible that NOYS is empowering our youth to raise their voices and involve them in the decision-making process to address mobility safety in their communities.”

To learn more about National Organizations for Youth Safety Global Youth Traffic Safety activities, please visit noys.org or their social media channels for the latest news.

“Dr. Boyd exemplifies the highest standards in engineering achievement,” says ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile. “Her extraordinary advocacy for increased diversity and inclusion in technical fields is reshaping the future of engineering.”

The Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy and Roland V. Fitzroy Medal, established in 2011, recognizes pioneering contributions to the frontiers of engineering that have led to a breakthrough in existing technology, or to new applications or new areas of engineering endeavor. Boyd is a renowned mechanical engineer and a widely respected advocate of STEM education. During her more than three decades at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, she was a leader in the development and operation of critical national security systems. She served on and later chaired the University’s Diversity Leadership Council. After leaving JHUAPL, she was named the first woman president of Alabama State University, where she graduated summa cum laude. Boyd was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve as a trustee of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 2009. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Alabama State University with a major in mathematics and a double minor in physics and music. She received a fellowship and was the first African American female to earn a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University. She holds both M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Howard University.

The award presentation was the centerpiece of the ASME Foundation’s “Reinventing the Future” event which drew more than 240 attendees to the historic Willard InterContinental hotel on April 27. Mo Rocca, an Emmy-winning correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” and host of “Innovation Nation” on CBS, served as master of ceremonies, introducing Costabile, ASME Foundation Executive Director Stephanie Viola, and a lineup of special guest speakers including:

• Reverend Michele Hagans, who earned a master’s degree in engineering from Howard University, delivered an invocation to start off the evening
• Maryland’s Lt. Governor Aruna Miller, who previously worked as a transportation engineer for local governments in California, Virginia, and Hawaii, spoke about how she “fell in love with engineering”
• Calvin Mackie, Ph.D., founder and president of STEM NOLA, which since 2013 has engaged more than 75,000 students – mostly under-served students of color – in hands-on STEM project-based learning
• 2020 ASME ISHOW USA winner Tinia Pina, who co-founded ReNuble, an agricultural technology company whose patent-pending nutrient delivery system creates cost-effective fertilizers that enable soilless farms to produce certified-organic food.

Attendees also included current and prospective donors to The ASME Foundation’s Campaign for Next Generation Engineers, ASME’s five-year, $50 million capital campaign to support its philanthropic work. The Foundation funds ASME’s array of high-impact programs in education, workforce development, and innovation support aimed at increasing equity in the engineering profession and advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Event sponsors included campaign champions ComEd and Autodesk, sponsors Ansys, Aronsoncare, MedStar Health, National Renewable Energy Lab, PSM, and Keith and Brownie Roe, and donors to the Dr. Gwendolyn E. Boyd Endowed Scholarship Fund for Equity in Engineering.

“We believe equity in engineering is a moral imperative. We also know that diversity drives innovation. Equity and sustainability are connected in profound ways,” says Viola. “Through support for the ASME Foundation, we’re working to open doors to both. Together, we are advancing a diverse and equitable engineering community, inspired, and equipped to innovate a sustainable future for everyone.”

“With this release, Green Badger provides the first and only solution allowing general contractors to easily track 100 percent of the metrics covered by BuildingGreen’s Contractor’s Commitment in one central platform,” said Tommy Linstroth, Green Badger Founder and CEO. “The focus of many construction sustainability programs often starts with reducing energy use, setting waste reduction goals, and perhaps carbon accounting – all Environmental-related goals. By including these Social-goals, we’re at the forefront of evolving standards and are committed to staying there for our customers.”

M/WBE tracking is often required on public projects, but like most compliance tasks, it can be cumbersome, time-consuming, filled with spreadsheets, and difficult to monitor progress. Green Badger’s software takes less than 20 seconds for a subcontractor to fill out their company details, upload a compliance certificate and be ready for approval.

The same module used to create their profile also automatically calculates local compliance, within a user-defined radius (i.e., subcontractors with offices within 50 miles). The software then generates a map showing subcontractor office locations in relation to the project site.

Green Badger’s new functionality also makes it simple to set up project philanthropy goals, which can be shared publicly, and track monetary contributions or hours spent volunteering and in community outreach. Similarly, developing job site wellness programs focusing on air quality, fitness, mental health, nutrition, severe weather exposure, and other unique measures is both straightforward and easy to verify.

Customizable and easy-to-understand dashboards show current ESG tracking versus overall project goals so teams can stay on track, and roll up data into corporate dashboards tracking metrics across all projects – not just those with public requirements.

Linstroth said, “I’m proud of our team’s commitment to staying on top of industry needs and offering this next evolution of Green Badger’s construction ESG software. We will continue to innovate and build out a robust platform that rises to meet expanding ESG requirements and save our clients tremendous amounts of valuable time and effort.”

The release comes on the heels of receiving a Gold Stevie® Award in the small Company of the Year – Materials & Construction category from The American Business Awards®.  According to comments from judges, “Overall, Green Badger is revolutionizing the entire built industry, fostering widespread adoption of more sustainable processes and plans with a global impact.”

According to ENR’s survey results, despite the threat of a mild recession later this year and the Top 500 firms competing for labor resources and opportunities, reported revenue from last year reflects a still-growing market. Milhouse itself saw a 50% increase in revenue as well as a 29% increase in headcount over the past year. 

“Seeing our tangible growth year over year on this influential list is so rewarding for me and all of us at Milhouse,” said Milhouse Chairman and CEO Wilbur C. Milhouse III. “Thank you to all our team members for your unwavering commitment to delivering superior solutions to our clients and communities around the globe.” 

Since Milhouse initially achieved a spot on the Top 500 list, the firm has moved up 145 spaces, reflecting the success and profitability of the organization. Milhouse has been an ENR Midwest Top Design Firm since 2018 and an ENR Top 500 Design Firm since 2021. 

Interested in a career at a fast-growing, people-focused engineering design firm? Visit Milhouse’s careers page to see open opportunities: milhouseinc.com/careers/opportunities. 

Created and organized by PPI’s Camille George Rubeiz, P.E., F. ASCE, co-chair, Municipal Advisory Board and senior director of engineering, Municipal and Industrial Division of PPI, who gathered a team of experts.  “This group can objectively advise municipalities on issues related to HDPE piping systems,” he said.  “It is also the goal of MAB to improve the standards, design and installation of HDPE systems.  The members lend their expertise to performing joint research on HDPE systems to resolve or clarify issues, and also to better understand and address the needs of the municipalities primarily throughout North America and Europe.”

Recently, MAB issued technical document MAB-9, MAB-9, Design of HDPE Water Mains for the Lateral Spread Seismic Hazard, updated MAB-01, the MAB Generic Electrofusion Procedure for Field Joining of 12 Inch and Smaller Polyethylene (PE) Pipe, and conducted several of its seminars that train utility operators on the proper fusion and electrofusion methods for HDPE water piping systems. 

“This is the only class in the country that is 100 percent focused on HDPE water systems,” said Rubeiz.  “And the MAB website – www.plasticpipe.org/MABpubs – is the prime website within PPI that contains the full library of MAB documents, articles, papers and software.”

“The formation of the MAB within PPI was a game-changer as far as identifying the resources needed by municipalities considering use of HDPE piping systems,” stated David M. Fink, president of PPI.  “MAB supports the utilities and PPI in the development of installation guidelines, calculators, and education for advancing the proper use of HDPE piping systems.  These tools have further advanced the opportunities for the correct design, installation, and operation of HDPE piping systems.

“Under the leadership of Luis Aguiar, MAB co-chair and co-founder, Senior Associate with Hazen & Sawyer’s Miami-Fort Lauderdale area office and previously the Assistant Director Water Operations at Miami-Dade Water & Sewer, the MAB has grown to include municipalities members and contributors from across the U.S., Canada and Europe.  In addition, the group has representation from municipalities, college professors, contractors and engineering firms that bring together years of experience and expertise in potable water and wastewater piping infrastructure systems.”

“The 15^th year is known as the Crystal Anniversary,” Rubeiz said, “symbolizing clarity and durability.  MAB is now widely known for bringing clarity in helping engineers design long life, leak-free systems, plus we are a very durable group as evidenced by our longevity of 15 years that will continue for many more years.”

Additional information plus free technical documents can be found at www.plasticpipe.org/MunicipalAdvisoryBoard.

The ACEC Wisconsin Chapter awarded raSmith a Best of State Engineering Excellence award for the UW– Madison project. raSmith was then invited to submit the project for recognition by the national ACEC organization. Camp Randall Stadium was recognized again, this time with a National Recognition Award for Engineering Excellence.

Camp Randall Stadium’s South End Zone Transformation Takes Game-Day Experience to New Heights The University of Wisconsin-Madison transformed the South End Zone of Camp Randall Stadium (home of the Wisconsin Badgers) into a premium area with seating for 2,300; access to indoor and outdoor hospitality clubs; climate-controlled amenities; expanded premium food and beverage offerings; dedicated restrooms; and a terrace that connects with and provides views into the adjoining UW Field House, which is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The newly designed space provides a unique area that maximizes the game-day experience for corporations and Badgers fans, while preserving the character of the stadium and the historic Field House. raSmith (structural engineers), Berners Schober (architects), HOK (architects), and JP Cullen (general contractor) worked together to successfully complete this $70 million project within the Owner’s desired nine- month timeframe during the Badgers football off-season. The new space was ready for use at the Badgers first home football game on September 3, 2022.

raSmith’s Structural Engineers Deliver Key Details for Camp Randall Stadium’s South End Zone Project The overall structural design of the South End Zone addressed the requirements of connecting new steel to an existing precast framing element; implementing and integrating multiple expansion joints to allow for independent movement of the building from a wide range of ambient temperature changes; and providing a double protection system at all exterior walking surfaces in order to withstand the heavy amount of precipitation (especially snow) that is typical in Wisconsin.

Structural Engineering Project Awarded for Design Excellence

raSmith’s structural engineers designed and detailed how to transfer an approximately 400,000-pound load from system self-weight and the capacity of patrons sitting in the South End Zone without impacting the structural integrity of the existing columns. This was possibly one of the most critical details (beam to precast column connection) of the project.

Another structural detail of the project was establishing a connection to the historic UW Field House where athletes participate in wrestling, volleyball, and other sports. A new platform was added to the Field House to provide this connection and direct views into the Field House from this newly updated space in the South End Zone. To accommodate this platform, expansion joints were added at both ends of the addition to allow for building movement when temperature changes occur.

External walkable surfaces with internal occupied spaces were required to have two levels of water protection. raSmith’s structural engineers implemented variations of systems including surface membrane (a thin flexible surface that acts as a water barrier) over a topping slab on a sheet waterproofing product on top of the structural slab or a surface membrane applied directly to the structural slab with a metal decking system below the structural slab to collect any water and route it to a drain.

South End Zone Renovation Brings Modern Touches to Historic Camp Randall Stadium

The South End Zone project at Camp Randall Stadium brings value to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the city of Madison by improving the game-day experience for many as well as attracting additional fans and visitors to this unique and inviting space. Fans can “Jump Around” in the new loge seating between the third and fourth quarters as part of the best college stadium tradition in football or stay for “The Fifth Quarter” when the marching band performs several popular songs. The South End Zone project is the first major renovation to the 107-year-old stadium since 2005 and the first design-build project that the State of Wisconsin Division of Facilities Development has completed.

About raSmith

raSmith is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultant established in the city of Brookfield, Wisconsin, in 1978. Our services are focused on our public and private sector client needs in planning, design, and construction including site planning and design, structural engineering, municipal engineering, transportation and traffic, surveying, development management, ecology, landscape architecture, LiDAR (3D laser scanning), UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), construction services, and geographic information systems (GIS). We work on projects nationwide from our seven locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California. The firm employs a staff of 220. For more information about raSmith, visit www.rasmith.com.

“Bowman is well-established in the public utilities sector, and we are committed to increasing the contribution of this market to our overall revenue,” said Gary Bowman, Chairman and CEO of Bowman. “During the course of our long-standing relationship with Peoples Gas we have consistently delivered high-quality, cost-effective, and on-time solutions which is a primary reason they continue to engage us as new challenges emerge. This new multi-year, multi-million-dollar assignment evidences their trust in our ability to help them deliver on their commitment to provide safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable access to natural gas in more communities across Chicago. We appreciate our relationship with Peoples Gas and look forward to it continuing well into the future.”

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Greenwood Village, CO

Aaron Johnston started his career as a engineer at Galloway in 2015, and he has consistently demonstrated a level of professionalism that isn’t often seen.  Galloway has recognized his potential, and he has already risen to the project manager level and is also an associate in Galloway’s Associate Program, which is a pathway for partnership.  Johnston leads by example, inspiring others to meet and exceed high standards while demonstrating the importance of taking care of clients with responsiveness and high quality designs/plans.

Accomplishments/Projects: QuikTrip Colorado Expansion, Project Manager–Colorado; Nine Mile Corner, Project Lead–Erie, CO; Nature’s Educators–Florence, CO

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Marquette University

Professional/Public Service: Innovating Commerce and Serving Communities (ICSC), NextGen Committee Secretary; Galloway-Foodbank of the Rockies Partnership

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Johnstown, CO

Through his proactive and solution-oriented approach to project design and client relationships, his thoughtful guiding and mentoring of his team, and his leadership in giving back to the community, Kyle Pollock has firmly established himself as a leader at Galloway.  Despite being new to the business, Pollock began to take over all aspects of engineering design less than two years into his career. Pollock currently manages over 15 projects for five-plus clients while also directly supervising, leading, and mentoring a team.  He has been recognized for his leadership by being named and associate in the Galloway Associate Program, which is a pathway to partnership.

Accomplishments/Projects: Thompson River Ranch (9 Projects), Project Manager-Johnstown, CO; Nueva Vida Mobile Home Park Revitalization, Project Manager-Colorado; Galloway Lot Certification Department, Engineering Team Lead 

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Stanford University

Professional/Public Service: Greenhouse Scholars, Alumni; Galloway Gives; Galloway Community Fund

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Greenwood Village, CO

Lisa Metzger is a passionate and focused leader who always seeks opportunities to support company growth and professional development.  As an Architectural Project Manager, Metzger demonstrates time and again her leadership abilities through strategic thinking, problem solving, and ability to motivate others.  Her commitment to being an instrument of change is clearly demonstrated through her high level of engagement at work and within the community, and this commitment has helped Metzger become an integral part of Galloway and a senior associate in Galloway’s Associate Program, a pathway to partnership.

Accomplishments/Projects: The Perch Projects (3), Project Manager–Denver, CO; Exodus Modular Multi-Family, Project Manager–Denver, CO; Happy Valley Industrial, Assistant Project Manager and Industrial Market Type Manager–Phoenix, AZ

Education: Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Masters of Architecture, University of Colorado-Denver

Professional/Public Service: NAIOP Colorado, Vice Chair of DEI Committee, Member of Developing Leaders Committee; CREW Denver; AIA Colorado

Arup

Houston, TX

Lu Chen joined Arup in 2013 and has clearly defined herself as a driven and technically skilled Senior Structural Engineer. Over the last decade, Chen has contributed her civil engineering expertise to a range of structurally innovative or challenging projects including an offshore gravity-based structure as well as numerous transport and public infrastructure developments. This experience has equipped her with a unique structural design skillset that makes her an integral member of project teams. Outside of project work, Chen is committed to upskilling and knowledge sharing, and she serves as the lead for the Learning Committee within her office and offers STEM mentorship to local high school students.

Accomplishments/Projects:Energy Project Offshore Concrete Gravity-based Structure (CGS), Senior Structural En¬gineer; Finch LRT, Civil Discipline Manager

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Tianjin University (China); MS in Civil En¬gineering, Rice University 

Professional/Public Service: Girls Exploring Math and Science (GEMS), volunteer; SEI Houston, member; Global Bridge and Civil Structures Forum, Volunteer Meeting Organizer

Henderson Engineers

Lenexa, KS

Bio:  Since kick starting his career in 2013, Danny McGrail has ascended to the top ranks of the field, and stands out among his accomplished peers as the youngest practice director companywide.  McGrail rapidly climbed his way up the ladder from project manager to practice leader and eventually practice director, an impressive feat owing to his technical acumen as a mechanical engineer, his drive for excellence for himself and his colleagues, and his dedication to the success of Henderson and their clients.  In turn, McGrail has cultivated a high level of trust among architects and developers, which has led to him leading a number of significant projects.

Accomplishments/Projects: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Lab relocation, Project Manager–Atlanta, GA; 850 PBC at the Phoenix Bioscience Core, Project Manager–Phoenix, AZ; North Kansas City High School Renovation, Project Manager and Lead Mechanical Engineer–North Kansas City, MO

Education: BS in Architectural Engineering, Kansas State University

Professional/Public Service: International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), Heart of America Chapter; American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), member; American Institute of Architects (AIA), Kansas City Pillars Program

DEC

Houston, TX

Yvonne Rivera has built a career in the AEC industry based on three pillars: management, leadership, and teaching.  Rivera is a project management professional who has guided projects from start to finish while also maintaining an active role in professional development organizations.  Rivera is also changing the AEC industry through her work in mentoring and teaching young engineers beginning their careers.

Accomplishments/Projects: Water & Wastewater Study, Assistant Project Manager–Harris County; North Harris County Regional Water Authority 54-inch Water Transmission Line, Design Engineer–Harris County; Fry Road Municipal Utility District Water Plant No. 2, Design Assist–Houston, TX

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Texas Tech University; MCE, University of Houston

Professional/Public Service: Society of American Military Engineers, Houston/Galveston Post–Young Member of the Year (2015), President (2019);  West Houston Association, Water Resources Committee Member; American Council of Engineering Companies, Emerging Leaders Program (2021-2022)

The 2023 Rising Stars in the AEC Industry have benefited the design profession, their employers, project owners, and society. Our winners this year hold a diverse skill set and technical capabilities and have done outstanding work in their communities. They are already leaders and mentors in their firms, bringing new ideas, practices, and impacts beyond their technical capabilities. They come from all over North America–from Florida to California, from Houston to South Dakota. This year we have everyone from Presidents and Principals of firms to Software engineers. This shows that no matter where you are in a company, you can be a Rising Star in this industry.

I also want to take the time to acknowledge all of the people who nominated all of our winners and those who did not win this year. Recognition of a young professional’s accomplishments, skill, leadership, etc. can go a long way in that young professional’s career. The knowledge that there is someone out there who recognizes what they are doing and takes the time to nominate them for an award like this is very important. I would encourage everyone to try to think of that young professional in your firm that deserves this type of credit. Letting the next generation of leaders know that their work is getting noticed is not only good for their career but can be very helpful for the long term success of your firm.

Through our awards program, we also recognize revenue growth with our Hot Firm List. We recognize outstanding marketing through our Marketing Excellence Awards. We recognize those who are showing courageous leadership with our highest professional honor, The Jerry Allen Courage In Leadership Award. We honor those new firms who are already making an impact with our Top New Venture Award. And we honor those firms impacting their employee’s live by creating great workplaces with our Best Firms To Work For award. We will be announcing and celebrating these winners over the next few months culminating with our awards celebrations at the 2023 Elevate AEC Conference in Frisco, TX, September 13-15.

Zweig Group’s Awards are at the center of one of the five tenets of our vision, Elevate the Industry; that tenant is “Celebrate.” There is so much good that this industry brings to the built environment and to the lives of the people who work in it. We want to celebrate the firms, people, and accomplishments of the AEC Industry. These awards give the winning firms and people the recognition that they deserve in an industry that is often overlooked by society. The winners of our awards truly do help to elevate the industry as a whole. Celebrate your success, celebrate your accomplishments, celebrate your employees, and help Zweig Group Elevate the Industry.

Kyle Ahern is the Awards Manager at Zweig Group. He can be reached at kahern@zweiggroup.com.

Rising Stars in Multidisciplinary Engineering

Stephen Dominguez, PE, SE

Principal-in-Charge, Structural Engineering

WT Group

Hoffman Estates, IL

Stephen Dominguez has built his career in the AEC industry on the foundations of project design, management, and professional development.  Dominguez has led or participated in over 300 diverse projects, several of which have won prestigious industry awards. This level of experience has distinguished Dominguez as a key contributor to WT Group’s reputation and effectiveness in meeting the needs and expectations of clients across the United States.

Accomplishments/Projects: Bode Hotel, Senior Project Engineer and Project Manager–Palm Springs, CA; Alsip Park District Education Center, Project Manager–Alsip, IL; Pacifica Riverview, Principal-in-Charge and Engineer of Record–Aurora, IL

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professional/Public Service: American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), member; American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member; American Concrete Institute (ACI), member; American Wood Council (AWC), member

John Butt, MBA, PE

Associate Director of Transportation

Ulteig

Englewood, CO

John Butt is an exemplary leader, overseeing Ulteig’s transportation group–which is a part of their civil engineering department.  He has expanded Ulteig’s transportation portfolio into the Texas Department of Transportation market and achieved a number of orders from the North Dakota Department of Transportation.  Butt’s professionalism and leadership set him apart from his peers.

Accomplishments/Projects: CDOT I-70 F-13 S Bridge Replacement, Project Manager–Colorado; NDDOT Structure Replacement (ND127), Project Manager–North Dakota; US Fish and Wildlife Service National Bridge Inspection Program, Inspection Team Leader and Load Rating Engineer–National

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Manhattan College; MS in Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of New York; MBA, University of Colorado–Denver

Professional/Public Service: ACEC, Colorado and North Dakota Chapters; Engineers without Borders, NY Professional Chapter

Melanie D. Head, PE

Municipal Utilities Department Head

Croy

Marietta, GA

In her role as Municipal Utilities Director for Croy, Melanie Head has worked to grow her department into one of the firm’s fastest growing practice areas.  She is dedicated to a individuals both professionally and personally, regularly leading her team to produce quality deliverables for Croy’s clients, as well as expanding their network professionally.  Head is also dedicated to growing the AEC profession and led a group of STEM-focused high school students in a water facility tour and hands-on educational facility.  

Accomplishments/Projects: Hamilton County, Tennessee McDonald Farm Utility Planning; Dalton Utilities V.D. Parrott Jr. Water Treatment Plant Expansion–Texas; Newton County Water and Sewage Authority Land Application System Expansion

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Auburn University

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); American Water Works Association (AWWA); Georgia Association of Water Professionals (GAWP); Auburn University 100+ Women Strong

Cole Cappel, AICP, ENV-SP

Planning and Landscape Architecture (PLA) Division Service Leader, Associate

Westwood Professional Services

Englewood, CO

Over the past nine years, Cole Cappel has risen through Westwood to become the firm’s Planning and Landscape Architecture service leader. Within the first two years as the team’s leader, Cappel’s team nearly tripled in size expanding the service’s geographic footprint across the United States and added a structure of regional leadership. Most recently, Cappel has been asked to transition to a role focused on standalone energy storage to leverage his extensive expertise in land entitlement and team leadership. Cappel is also dedicated to sustainability, developing company-wide initiatives, and contributing to academic research.

Accomplishments/Projects: Clements Ranch Community, Design Lead–Texas; Montgomery Condemnation–Minnesota; Sunstone Development–Nevada

Education: BS in Urban Studies (minor Architecture), University of Texas at Austin

Professional/Public Service: Urban Land Institute, member; American Planning Association, member; Future Cities, volunteer

Dmitrijs Obolevics, IEng MICE

Senior Engineer

Arup

New York, NY

A senior engineer trained in both civil and structural engineering, Dmitrijs Obolevics brings a broad range of expertise and technical capability to his work at Arup. His roles span from technical lead to project manager for hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and stormwater management projects. From airport terminals and major water and transportation infrastructure projects to climate resilience assessments, he is helping to deliver efficient and resilient water systems across the built environment. Beyond serving as a technical lead, Obolevics also adds value to his team through mentorship, training, and support for junior engineers.

Accomplishments/Projects: Engineers without Borders Guatemala, Designer–Chiche, Guatemala; New York City Transit Authority Flood Analysis and Visualization, Project Manager and Technical Lead–New York, New York

Education: BEng in Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Bradford (UK) Professional/Public Service: Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), member; Water Environment Federation (WEF), Stormwater Committee; New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA), member

Professional/Public Service: Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), member; Water Environment Federation (WEF), Stormwater Committee

Melanie Cleavelin, PE

Public Works/Transportation Team Lead

Halff

Richardson, TX

Servant leader, excellent communicator, proactive, responsive, transparent–these are just a few of the words that describe Melanie Cleavelin.  In her 16 years at Halff, Cleavelin has climbed the ranks from EIT to Public Works/Transportation team leader.  Melanie Cleavelin exemplifies exceptional technical capability, leadership, effective mentorship, and public service that benefit the AEC profession and the community.

Accomplishments/Projects: RM 260, Project Manager; IH 635 Noise Walls, Project Manager; FM 2499, Deputy Project Manager

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University; MS in Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington

Professional/Public Service: Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS), Transportation YOU Committee Chair, Banquet Committee Member, Halff Community Initiative (HCI), Steering Committee Chair

Mark Llewellyn Jr, PE

Operations Manager

Halff

Tallahassee, FL

Mark Llewellyn Jr. is a proven leader known for his trustworthiness and genuine concern for the people of Halff, his clients, and the projects he supports. With a rich experience spanning two decades in the AEC industry, Llewellyn has earned a reputation for being a hands-on project manager who deeply immerses himself in his work. He consistently prioritizes others’ needs above his own, and as a result, his colleagues at Halff regard him as a rising leader within the firm.

Accomplishments/Projects: FAMU Way, Project Manager–Tallahassee, FL; Airport Gateway, Project Manager–Tallahassee, FL; Santa Rosa Boulevard, Project Manager–Okaloosa County, FL

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Florida State University; MS in Civil Engineering, Florida State University

Professional/Public Service: Halff Veteran Engagement Team, Steering Committee; Halff Workshare Leader; Florida Engineering Society, Chapter President-Elect; American Public Works Association, member; American Society of Civil Engineers, member

Kelsey Groesbeck, PE

Mechanical Engineer and Sustainability Leader

TowerPinkster

Grand Rapids, MI

Kelsey Groesbeck is known for her knowledge of, and passion for, sustainable design. Her expertise can be seen throughout TowerPinkster’s projects as she continues to push for more innovative and responsible design solutions. In addition to leading the firm’s sustainability committee, she launched and now leads its Building Science Group. This group is charged with ensuring sustainable solutions are part of the conversation in every project. Groesbeck’s unique ability to captivate her audience and share information in a way that is consumable by all has made her a regional leader in the sustainable design movement. 

Accomplishments/Projects: Research and Development Headquarters, LEED and WELL Design Teams–Portage, MI; Western Michigan University Alumni Hall Renovation, Design Team Member–Kalamazoo, MI; Kalamazoo College Natatorium, LEED Administrator–Kalamazoo, MI

Education: BS in Mechanical Engineering, Western Michigan University; Masters of Mechanical Engineering, Western Michigan University

Professional/Public Service: US Green Building Council (USBGC), West Michigan; West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum; TowerPinkster Sustainability Committee and Diversity Action Council

Aaron Johnston, PE

Civil Engineering Project Manager

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Greenwood Village, CO

Aaron Johnston started his career as a engineer at Galloway in 2015, and he has consistently demonstrated a level of professionalism that isn’t often seen.  Galloway has recognized his potential, and he has already risen to the project manager level and is also an associate in Galloway’s Associate Program, which is a pathway for partnership.  Johnston leads by example, inspiring others to meet and exceed high standards while demonstrating the importance of taking care of clients with responsiveness and high quality designs/plans.

Accomplishments/Projects: QuikTrip Colorado Expansion, Project Manager–Colorado; Nine Mile Corner, Project Lead–Erie, CO; Nature’s Educators–Florence, CO

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Marquette University

Professional/Public Service: Innovating Commerce and Serving Communities (ICSC), NextGen Committee Secretary; Galloway-Foodbank of the Rockies Partnership

Lisa Metzger, AIA, NCARB

Architectural Project Manager

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Greenwood Village, CO

Lisa Metzger is a passionate and focused leader who always seeks opportunities to support company growth and professional development.  As an Architectural Project Manager, Metzger demonstrates time and again her leadership abilities through strategic thinking, problem solving, and ability to motivate others.  Her commitment to being an instrument of change is clearly demonstrated through her high level of engagement at work and within the community, and this commitment has helped Metzger become an integral part of Galloway and a senior associate in Galloway’s Associate Program, a pathway to partnership.

Accomplishments/Projects: The Perch Projects (3), Project Manager–Denver, CO; Exodus Modular Multi-Family, Project Manager–Denver, CO; Happy Valley Industrial, Assistant Project Manager and Industrial Market Type Manager–Phoenix, AZ

Education: Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Masters of Architecture, University of Colorado-Denver

Professional/Public Service: NAIOP Colorado, Vice Chair of DEI Committee, Member of Developing Leaders Committee; CREW Denver; AIA Colorado

Kyle Pollock, PE

Civil Engineering Project Manager

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Johnstown, CO

Through his proactive and solution-oriented approach to project design and client relationships, his thoughtful guiding and mentoring of his team, and his leadership in giving back to the community, Kyle Pollock has firmly established himself as a leader at Galloway.  Despite being new to the business, Pollock began to take over all aspects of engineering design less than two years into his career. Pollock currently manages over 15 projects for five-plus clients while also directly supervising, leading, and mentoring a team.  He has been recognized for his leadership by being named and associate in the Galloway Associate Program, which is a pathway to partnership.

Accomplishments/Projects: Thompson River Ranch (9 Projects), Project Manager-Johnstown, CO; Nueva Vida Mobile Home Park Revitalization, Project Manager-Colorado; Galloway Lot Certification Department, Engineering Team Lead 

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Stanford University

Professional/Public Service: Greenhouse Scholars, Alumni; Galloway Gives; Galloway Community Fund

Lu Chen, PE

Senior Structural Engineer

Arup

Houston, TX

Lu Chen joined Arup in 2013 and has clearly defined herself as a driven and technically skilled Senior Structural Engineer. Over the last decade, Chen has contributed her civil engineering expertise to a range of structurally innovative or challenging projects including an offshore gravity-based structure as well as numerous transport and public infrastructure developments. This experience has equipped her with a unique structural design skillset that makes her an integral member of project teams. Outside of project work, Chen is committed to upskilling and knowledge sharing, and she serves as the lead for the Learning Committee within her office and offers STEM mentorship to local high school students.

Accomplishments/Projects:Energy Project Offshore Concrete Gravity-based Structure (CGS), Senior Structural En¬gineer; Finch LRT, Civil Discipline Manager

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Tianjin University (China); MS in Civil En¬gineering, Rice University 

Professional/Public Service: Girls Exploring Math and Science (GEMS), volunteer; SEI Houston, member; Global Bridge and Civil Structures Forum, Volunteer Meeting Organizer

Rising Stars in MEP

Danny McGrail, PE, LEED AP BD+C

Science and Technology Practice Director

Henderson Engineers

Lenexa, KS

Bio:  Since kick starting his career in 2013, Danny McGrail has ascended to the top ranks of the field, and stands out among his accomplished peers as the youngest practice director companywide.  McGrail rapidly climbed his way up the ladder from project manager to practice leader and eventually practice director, an impressive feat owing to his technical acumen as a mechanical engineer, his drive for excellence for himself and his colleagues, and his dedication to the success of Henderson and their clients.  In turn, McGrail has cultivated a high level of trust among architects and developers, which has led to him leading a number of significant projects.

Accomplishments/Projects: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Lab relocation, Project Manager–Atlanta, GA; 850 PBC at the Phoenix Bioscience Core, Project Manager–Phoenix, AZ; North Kansas City High School Renovation, Project Manager and Lead Mechanical Engineer–North Kansas City, MO

Education: BS in Architectural Engineering, Kansas State University

Professional/Public Service: International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), Heart of America Chapter; American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), member; American Institute of Architects (AIA), Kansas City Pillars Program

Rising Stars in Civil Engineering

Yvonne Rivera, PE, PMP

Project Manager

DEC

Houston, TX

Yvonne Rivera has built a career in the AEC industry based on three pillars: management, leadership, and teaching.  Rivera is a project management professional who has guided projects from start to finish while also maintaining an active role in professional development organizations.  Rivera is also changing the AEC industry through her work in mentoring and teaching young engineers beginning their careers.

Accomplishments/Projects: Water & Wastewater Study, Assistant Project Manager–Harris County; North Harris County Regional Water Authority 54-inch Water Transmission Line, Design Engineer–Harris County; Fry Road Municipal Utility District Water Plant No. 2, Design Assist–Houston, TX

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Texas Tech University; MCE, University of Houston

Professional/Public Service: Society of American Military Engineers, Houston/Galveston Post–Young Member of the Year (2015), President (2019);  West Houston Association, Water Resources Committee Member; American Council of Engineering Companies, Emerging Leaders Program (2021-2022)

Emily Villines, CPSM, CPC, ACC

Vice President, Strategic Communications

Calibre Engineering

Highlands Ranch, CO

Emily Villines has never been afraid to make waves, and has been a catalyst for change in her company, industry associations, and the public sector.  Her rare talent for blurring the lines between administration and engineering has resulted in groundbreaking change.  Villines has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to recognize and meet the needs of her public sector clients.

Accomplishments/Projects: City of Aurora Digital Stormwater Master Plan, Assistant Project Manager–Aurora, CO

Education: BA in English and French, University of Northern Colorado; MA in Engineer and Marketing, Regis University

Professional/Public Service: Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), Education Committee; Colorado Association of State Floodplain Managers (CASFM), Outreach and Training Committee

Josh Kimbrell, PE, QSD/P, LEED Green Associate

Vice President

Freyer & Laureta, Inc.

San Francisco, CA

Spearheading the civil design for numerous San Francisco Bay Area projects, Josh Kimbrell has focused his career on building and developing innovative, sustainable, low-impact development design strategies and green infrastructure.  Kimbrell’s expertise in civil engineering design, project management, construction management, and capital improvement plan management for public infrastructure and private development projects has allowed his firm to impact their communities directly and create positive change.

Accomplishments/Projects: Treasure Island Redevelopment, Project Manager and Engineer–San Francisco, CA; 681 Florida Casa Adelante Displaced & Low Income Family Housing–San Francisco; The Tidelands at UCSF Mission Bay BMR Housing–San Francisco, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Santa Clara University

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member (2003-2009)

Kim Johnson, PE

President

7 Oaks Engineering, inc.

Silverton, OR

Kim Johnson has repeatedly demonstrated her excellent communication skills among her clients and upholds the highest quality of respect and integrity.  Johnson has spent 15 years in the AEC industry, working her way up from intern through to her current position as president.  Johnson’s passion for leadership and mentoring young people is demonstrated through projects such as creating an online course for new civil engineers entering the industry.

Accomplishments/Projects:  Habitat for Humanity, Senior Project Manager/Engineer of Record–Silverton, CO; Northgate Commercial Center, Engineer of Record/Senior Project Manager–Fontana, CA; Columbia Square Downtown, Project Engineer–Los Angeles, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Cal State Long Beach

Public/Professional Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member; Orego Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME); City of Silverton Chamber of Commerce

Royce Eklund, PE

Regional Civil Engineering Manager

Commercial Development Resources

Charlotte, NC

Royce Eklund has demonstrated exceptional ability in Civil Engineering, Land Development, Project Design, and Project Management– garnering a wealth of experience in overseeing complex projects from conception through completion.  Eklund has shown a keen eye for detail and a talent for creative problem solving.  Eklund is also driving the AEC industry forward through mentorship and has volunteered his time and expertise to mentor young AEC professionals.

Accomplishments/Projects: Legoland California Movie World, Project Manager and Design Lead–Carlsbad, CA; AutoNation Mercedes-Benz House of Imports–Buena Park, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member

Rising Stars in Full Service Engineering

David Doxtad, PE

President

ISG

Sioux Falls, SD

David Doxtad is an empowering leader, who is passionate about finding new opportunities for communities, employee owners, and the firm.  As president of ISG, Doxtad is committed to building upon the firm’s growth and multi-market, full service structure, and his ability to cultivate talent by empowering employee owners with the resources to succeed is backed by his experience as an engineer, manager, leader, and mentor.  Doxtad leads by example, and exemplifies ISG’s culture of constantly remembering what drives us–communities.

Accomplishments/Projects: ISG Expansion in South Dakota

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Iowa State University

Professional/Public Service: Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, Board Chair; Civil Engineering Classroom and Architecture Scholarship at South Dakota State, ISG Representative; American Society of Civil Engineers

Stephanie Putzke, RCID, NCIDQ

Principal/Director of Interior Design

Cyntergy

Tulsa, OK

As a Principal and Director of Cyntergy’s Interior Design team, Stephanie Putzke has clearly demonstrated her passion for improving the built environment while prioritizing the people impacted by her architectural projects. Her passion for creating spaces that truly reflect her clients’ personalities is evident in her work. Not only is she an advocate for her team, but she also possesses a natural talent for making people feel valued, which fosters a sense of trust in both her colleagues and clients. Ms. Putzke takes the time to understand her clients’ unique lifestyles and cultures, enabling her to seamlessly integrate their personalities into their surroundings. By doing so, she creates a space that is both personal and functional, and truly reflective of the client’s character.

Accomplishments/Projects: Southern Hills Country Club | Hitting Facility, Main Entry Guard Shack, Pool Locker Room Renovation, Men’s Locker Room | Lead Interior Designer-Tulsa, OK Greenheck Campus | Campus Masterplan, 6 Class A + Warehouse Buildings | Lead Interior Designer- Tulsa, OK, Young Life 540 Headquarters | Office Building Renovation | Lead Architectural & Interior Designer- Colorado Springs, CO

Education: Masters of Architecture, University of Kansas

Professional/Public Service: American Institute of Architects (AIA), Associate Member; Junior League of Tulsa; Zweig Group ElevateHER 2023 Cohort

Rising Stars in Structural Engineering

Mark Rocha, PE, SE

Structural Engineer

HDR

Dallas, TX

Few structural engineers have the same level of experience that Mark Rocha has in the design and construction of highly complex building projects combined with a passion for automation and programming.  During his 11-year tenure, Rocha’s project experience has included a wide variety of project types, including data centers, courthouses, offices, hospitals, laboratories, and science and technology facilities.  Throughout his career, Rocha has also embraced leadership opportunities, guiding teams from concept design through construction administration.

Accomplishments/Projects: Center for Women’s Tower, Lead Project Structural Engineer–Texas; NASA Johnson Space Center, Project Structural Engineer–Houston, TX; Covenant Medical Center Renovation and Expansion, Lead Project Structural Engineer–Texas

Education: BS in Architectural Engineering, University of Texas at Austin; MS in Civil Engineering, Southern Methodist University

Professional/Public Service: BILT North American, Presenter

Maryanne Wachter, PE

Software Engineer

Outer Labs

San Francisco, CA

 Maryanne Wachter is a dynamic structural and software engineer with ten years of experience and a career spanning both coasts and Europe. Wachter has a unique perspective within the AEC industry, having worked in both bridge and building design and ultimately transitioning to a full time role in software development within the real estate industry. She is involved in several DEI efforts within the AEC industry, including leading the survey development for the 2020 SE3 survey and acting as a data analyst for the project since 2018.

Accomplishments/Projects: Oculus Transportation Hub, World Trade Center, Project Engineer–New York, NY; Structural Assessment of Existing Structures, Country Way Viaduct, Project Engineer; Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Project Engineer–Los Angeles, CA

Education: BSE in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; MS in Structural Engineering and Geomechanics, Stanford University

Professional/Public Service: Zweig Group ElevateHer 2020 Cohort, mentor starting in 2021; ACE Mentor Program, NYC; Stanford Global Teamwork (PBL Lab) 

Rising Stars in Architecture

Jayna Duke, IIDA, LEED AP ID + C

Principal, Interiors Practice Lead

O’Connell Robertson

Austin, TX

Jayna Duke’s accomplishments and values catapulted her to a position as a shareholder and O’Connell Roberton’s most recent and youngest Principal, as well as being only the second female principal in the firm’s 73-year history.  With more than 14 years of experience, Duke’s work reflects the individual missions that drive each project while supporting their occupants to reach every goal.  Her accomplishments–ranging from leading the interior design on large and complex projects through growing and managing a team of young designers to supporting the AEC community–clearly demonstrate her passion and enthusiasm for creating spaces and environments that positively impact all.

Accomplishments/Projects: Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Lead Interior Designer–Austin, TX; Lake Belton High School, Interiors Lead–Lake Belton, TX; San Antonio College Fletcher Administration Building, Interiors Lead–San Antonio, TX

Education: BS in Interior Design, Texas State University

Professional/Public Service: International Interior Design Association (IIDA), member; Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), Central Texas Chapter; Zweig Group ElevateHer 2021 Cohort

Anna Adams, NCIDQ

Associate/Interior Designer

CROFT & Associates

Kennesaw, GA

Anna Adams joined the CROFT team in October 2020 as a pioneer of sorts, leading the development of CROFT’s new interiors unit.  Adams has helped grow the interiors team, and has become a crucial member of the team as she interfaces with every design studio, helping to bring all the pieces together through interior design.  As new members have joined the interiors team, Adams has been their shepherd, ensuring that they are seamlessly integrated into the team.

Accomplishments/Projects: North Cobb Christian Upper School, Interiors Lead–Cobb County, GA; Augusta Airport Renovation, Interiors Lead–Augusta, GA; Amicalola Falls State Park Welcome Center–Dawsonville, GA

Education: BS in Interior Design, Mississippi State University

Professional/Public Service: Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta; CURE Childhood Cancer

Elijah Pearce, RA, LEED AP

Principal

RRM Design Group

Santa Barbara, CA

Elijah brings an extraordinary blend of talents to the table, balancing practicality, artistry, and empathy. Promoted to principal of RRM Design Group this year, Elijah specializes in large-scale housing projects that contribute to solving California’s affordable housing crisis. He recently published a children’s book, “The Architectural Alphabet: A Young Architect’s First Primer,” blending his profession, his artistic talent, and his passion for learning and sharing. He spearheads RRM’s “Draws for a Cause,” a team of colleagues who donate their time and expertise to create stunning pro-bono renderings for non-profit organizations. Elijah melds his talents with an effective and diplomatic flair that impresses clients and imprints an important mark on communities.

Accomplishments/Projects: Arrowhead Grove Master Planned Community, Project Manager and Architect–San Bernardino, CA; Gardens on Hope Project, Project Manager–Santa Barbara, CA; Rancho Sierra Senior Apartments–Camarillo, CA

Education: BS in Architecture (minor in Catholic Social Tradition), University of Notre Dame

Professional/Public Service: St. Barbara Parish Community Life Committee, University of Notre Dame Admissions Volunteer Coordinator

Calibre Engineering

Highlands Ranch, CO

Emily Villines has never been afraid to make waves, and has been a catalyst for change in her company, industry associations, and the public sector.  Her rare talent for blurring the lines between administration and engineering has resulted in groundbreaking change.  Villines has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to recognize and meet the needs of her public sector clients.

Accomplishments/Projects: City of Aurora Digital Stormwater Master Plan, Assistant Project Manager–Aurora, CO

Education: BA in English and French, University of Northern Colorado; MA in Engineer and Marketing, Regis University

Professional/Public Service: Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), Education Committee; Colorado Association of State Floodplain Managers (CASFM), Outreach and Training Committee

WT Group

Hoffman Estates, IL

Stephen Dominguez has built his career in the AEC industry on the foundations of project design, management, and professional development.  Dominguez has led or participated in over 300 diverse projects, several of which have won prestigious industry awards. This level of experience has distinguished Dominguez as a key contributor to WT Group’s reputation and effectiveness in meeting the needs and expectations of clients across the United States.

Accomplishments/Projects: Bode Hotel, Senior Project Engineer and Project Manager–Palm Springs, CA; Alsip Park District Education Center, Project Manager–Alsip, IL; Pacifica Riverview, Principal-in-Charge and Engineer of Record–Aurora, IL

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professional/Public Service: American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), member; American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member; American Concrete Institute (ACI), member; American Wood Council (AWC), member

Freyer & Laureta, Inc.

San Francisco, CA

Spearheading the civil design for numerous San Francisco Bay Area projects, Josh Kimbrell has focused his career on building and developing innovative, sustainable, low-impact development design strategies and green infrastructure.  Kimbrell’s expertise in civil engineering design, project management, construction management, and capital improvement plan management for public infrastructure and private development projects has allowed his firm to impact their communities directly and create positive change.

Accomplishments/Projects: Treasure Island Redevelopment, Project Manager and Engineer–San Francisco, CA; 681 Florida Casa Adelante Displaced & Low Income Family Housing–San Francisco; The Tidelands at UCSF Mission Bay BMR Housing–San Francisco, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Santa Clara University

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member (2003-2009)

Ulteig

Englewood, CO

John Butt is an exemplary leader, overseeing Ulteig’s transportation group–which is a part of their civil engineering department.  He has expanded Ulteig’s transportation portfolio into the Texas Department of Transportation market and achieved a number of orders from the North Dakota Department of Transportation.  Butt’s professionalism and leadership set him apart from his peers.

Accomplishments/Projects: CDOT I-70 F-13 S Bridge Replacement, Project Manager–Colorado; NDDOT Structure Replacement (ND127), Project Manager–North Dakota; US Fish and Wildlife Service National Bridge Inspection Program, Inspection Team Leader and Load Rating Engineer–National

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Manhattan College; MS in Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of New York; MBA, University of Colorado–Denver

Professional/Public Service: ACEC, Colorado and North Dakota Chapters; Engineers without Borders, NY Professional Chapter

7 Oaks Engineering, inc.

Silverton, OR

Kim Johnson has repeatedly demonstrated her excellent communication skills among her clients and upholds the highest quality of respect and integrity.  Johnson has spent 15 years in the AEC industry, working her way up from intern through to her current position as president.  Johnson’s passion for leadership and mentoring young people is demonstrated through projects such as creating an online course for new civil engineers entering the industry.

Accomplishments/Projects:  Habitat for Humanity, Senior Project Manager/Engineer of Record–Silverton, CO; Northgate Commercial Center, Engineer of Record/Senior Project Manager–Fontana, CA; Columbia Square Downtown, Project Engineer–Los Angeles, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Cal State Long Beach

Public/Professional Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member; Orego Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME); City of Silverton Chamber of Commerce

Croy

Marietta, GA

In her role as Municipal Utilities Director for Croy, Melanie Head has worked to grow her department into one of the firm’s fastest growing practice areas.  She is dedicated to a individuals both professionally and personally, regularly leading her team to produce quality deliverables for Croy’s clients, as well as expanding their network professionally.  Head is also dedicated to growing the AEC profession and led a group of STEM-focused high school students in a water facility tour and hands-on educational facility.  

Accomplishments/Projects: Hamilton County, Tennessee McDonald Farm Utility Planning; Dalton Utilities V.D. Parrott Jr. Water Treatment Plant Expansion–Texas; Newton County Water and Sewage Authority Land Application System Expansion

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Auburn University

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); American Water Works Association (AWWA); Georgia Association of Water Professionals (GAWP); Auburn University 100+ Women Strong

Commercial Development Resources

Charlotte, NC

Royce Eklund has demonstrated exceptional ability in Civil Engineering, Land Development, Project Design, and Project Management– garnering a wealth of experience in overseeing complex projects from conception through completion.  Eklund has shown a keen eye for detail and a talent for creative problem solving.  Eklund is also driving the AEC industry forward through mentorship and has volunteered his time and expertise to mentor young AEC professionals.

Accomplishments/Projects: Legoland California Movie World, Project Manager and Design Lead–Carlsbad, CA; AutoNation Mercedes-Benz House of Imports–Buena Park, CA

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Professional/Public Service: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member

Westwood Professional Services

Englewood, CO

Over the past nine years, Cole Cappel has risen through Westwood to become the firm’s Planning and Landscape Architecture service leader. Within the first two years as the team’s leader, Cappel’s team nearly tripled in size expanding the service’s geographic footprint across the United States and added a structure of regional leadership. Most recently, Cappel has been asked to transition to a role focused on standalone energy storage to leverage his extensive expertise in land entitlement and team leadership. Cappel is also dedicated to sustainability, developing company-wide initiatives, and contributing to academic research.

Accomplishments/Projects: Clements Ranch Community, Design Lead–Texas; Montgomery Condemnation–Minnesota; Sunstone Development–Nevada

Education: BS in Urban Studies (minor Architecture), University of Texas at Austin

Professional/Public Service: Urban Land Institute, member; American Planning Association, member; Future Cities, volunteer

ISG

Sioux Falls, SD

David Doxtad is an empowering leader, who is passionate about finding new opportunities for communities, employee owners, and the firm.  As president of ISG, Doxtad is committed to building upon the firm’s growth and multi-market, full service structure, and his ability to cultivate talent by empowering employee owners with the resources to succeed is backed by his experience as an engineer, manager, leader, and mentor.  Doxtad leads by example, and exemplifies ISG’s culture of constantly remembering what drives us–communities.

Accomplishments/Projects: ISG Expansion in South Dakota

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Iowa State University

Professional/Public Service: Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, Board Chair; Civil Engineering Classroom and Architecture Scholarship at South Dakota State, ISG Representative; American Society of Civil Engineers

Arup

New York, NY

A senior engineer trained in both civil and structural engineering, Dmitrijs Obolevics brings a broad range of expertise and technical capability to his work at Arup. His roles span from technical lead to project manager for hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and stormwater management projects. From airport terminals and major water and transportation infrastructure projects to climate resilience assessments, he is helping to deliver efficient and resilient water systems across the built environment. Beyond serving as a technical lead, Obolevics also adds value to his team through mentorship, training, and support for junior engineers.

Accomplishments/Projects: Engineers without Borders Guatemala, Designer–Chiche, Guatemala; New York City Transit Authority Flood Analysis and Visualization, Project Manager and Technical Lead–New York, New York

Education: BEng in Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Bradford (UK) Professional/Public Service: Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), member; Water Environment Federation (WEF), Stormwater Committee; New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA), member

Professional/Public Service: Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), member; Water Environment Federation (WEF), Stormwater Committee

Cyntergy

Tulsa, OK

As a Principal and Director of Cyntergy’s Interior Design team, Stephanie Putzke has clearly demonstrated her passion for improving the built environment while prioritizing the people impacted by her architectural projects. Her passion for creating spaces that truly reflect her clients’ personalities is evident in her work. Not only is she an advocate for her team, but she also possesses a natural talent for making people feel valued, which fosters a sense of trust in both her colleagues and clients. Ms. Putzke takes the time to understand her clients’ unique lifestyles and cultures, enabling her to seamlessly integrate their personalities into their surroundings. By doing so, she creates a space that is both personal and functional, and truly reflective of the client’s character.

Accomplishments/Projects: Southern Hills Country Club | Hitting Facility, Main Entry Guard Shack, Pool Locker Room Renovation, Men’s Locker Room | Lead Interior Designer-Tulsa, OK Greenheck Campus | Campus Masterplan, 6 Class A + Warehouse Buildings | Lead Interior Designer- Tulsa, OK, Young Life 540 Headquarters | Office Building Renovation | Lead Architectural & Interior Designer- Colorado Springs, CO

Education: Masters of Architecture, University of Kansas

Professional/Public Service: American Institute of Architects (AIA), Associate Member; Junior League of Tulsa; Zweig Group ElevateHER 2023 Cohort

Halff

Richardson, TX

Servant leader, excellent communicator, proactive, responsive, transparent–these are just a few of the words that describe Melanie Cleavelin.  In her 16 years at Halff, Cleavelin has climbed the ranks from EIT to Public Works/Transportation team leader.  Melanie Cleavelin exemplifies exceptional technical capability, leadership, effective mentorship, and public service that benefit the AEC profession and the community.

Accomplishments/Projects: RM 260, Project Manager; IH 635 Noise Walls, Project Manager; FM 2499, Deputy Project Manager

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University; MS in Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington

Professional/Public Service: Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS), Transportation YOU Committee Chair, Banquet Committee Member, Halff Community Initiative (HCI), Steering Committee Chair

HDR

Dallas, TX

Few structural engineers have the same level of experience that Mark Rocha has in the design and construction of highly complex building projects combined with a passion for automation and programming.  During his 11-year tenure, Rocha’s project experience has included a wide variety of project types, including data centers, courthouses, offices, hospitals, laboratories, and science and technology facilities.  Throughout his career, Rocha has also embraced leadership opportunities, guiding teams from concept design through construction administration.

Accomplishments/Projects: Center for Women’s Tower, Lead Project Structural Engineer–Texas; NASA Johnson Space Center, Project Structural Engineer–Houston, TX; Covenant Medical Center Renovation and Expansion, Lead Project Structural Engineer–Texas

Education: BS in Architectural Engineering, University of Texas at Austin; MS in Civil Engineering, Southern Methodist University

Professional/Public Service: BILT North American, Presenter

Halff

Tallahassee, FL

Mark Llewellyn Jr. is a proven leader known for his trustworthiness and genuine concern for the people of Halff, his clients, and the projects he supports. With a rich experience spanning two decades in the AEC industry, Llewellyn has earned a reputation for being a hands-on project manager who deeply immerses himself in his work. He consistently prioritizes others’ needs above his own, and as a result, his colleagues at Halff regard him as a rising leader within the firm.

Accomplishments/Projects: FAMU Way, Project Manager–Tallahassee, FL; Airport Gateway, Project Manager–Tallahassee, FL; Santa Rosa Boulevard, Project Manager–Okaloosa County, FL

Education: BS in Civil Engineering, Florida State University; MS in Civil Engineering, Florida State University

Professional/Public Service: Halff Veteran Engagement Team, Steering Committee; Halff Workshare Leader; Florida Engineering Society, Chapter President-Elect; American Public Works Association, member; American Society of Civil Engineers, member

Outer Labs

San Francisco, CA

 Maryanne Wachter is a dynamic structural and software engineer with ten years of experience and a career spanning both coasts and Europe. Wachter has a unique perspective within the AEC industry, having worked in both bridge and building design and ultimately transitioning to a full time role in software development within the real estate industry. She is involved in several DEI efforts within the AEC industry, including leading the survey development for the 2020 SE3 survey and acting as a data analyst for the project since 2018.

Accomplishments/Projects: Oculus Transportation Hub, World Trade Center, Project Engineer–New York, NY; Structural Assessment of Existing Structures, Country Way Viaduct, Project Engineer; Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Project Engineer–Los Angeles, CA

Education: BSE in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; MS in Structural Engineering and Geomechanics, Stanford University

Professional/Public Service: Zweig Group ElevateHer 2020 Cohort, mentor starting in 2021; ACE Mentor Program, NYC; Stanford Global Teamwork (PBL Lab) 

O’Connell Robertson

Austin, TX

Jayna Duke’s accomplishments and values catapulted her to a position as a shareholder and O’Connell Roberton’s most recent and youngest Principal, as well as being only the second female principal in the firm’s 73-year history.  With more than 14 years of experience, Duke’s work reflects the individual missions that drive each project while supporting their occupants to reach every goal.  Her accomplishments–ranging from leading the interior design on large and complex projects through growing and managing a team of young designers to supporting the AEC community–clearly demonstrate her passion and enthusiasm for creating spaces and environments that positively impact all.

Accomplishments/Projects: Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Lead Interior Designer–Austin, TX; Lake Belton High School, Interiors Lead–Lake Belton, TX; San Antonio College Fletcher Administration Building, Interiors Lead–San Antonio, TX

Education: BS in Interior Design, Texas State University

Professional/Public Service: International Interior Design Association (IIDA), member; Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), Central Texas Chapter; Zweig Group ElevateHer 2021 Cohort

CROFT & Associates

Kennesaw, GA

Anna Adams joined the CROFT team in October 2020 as a pioneer of sorts, leading the development of CROFT’s new interiors unit.  Adams has helped grow the interiors team, and has become a crucial member of the team as she interfaces with every design studio, helping to bring all the pieces together through interior design.  As new members have joined the interiors team, Adams has been their shepherd, ensuring that they are seamlessly integrated into the team.

Accomplishments/Projects: North Cobb Christian Upper School, Interiors Lead–Cobb County, GA; Augusta Airport Renovation, Interiors Lead–Augusta, GA; Amicalola Falls State Park Welcome Center–Dawsonville, GA

Education: BS in Interior Design, Mississippi State University

Professional/Public Service: Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta; CURE Childhood Cancer

TowerPinkster

Grand Rapids, MI

Kelsey Groesbeck is known for her knowledge of, and passion for, sustainable design. Her expertise can be seen throughout TowerPinkster’s projects as she continues to push for more innovative and responsible design solutions. In addition to leading the firm’s sustainability committee, she launched and now leads its Building Science Group. This group is charged with ensuring sustainable solutions are part of the conversation in every project. Groesbeck’s unique ability to captivate her audience and share information in a way that is consumable by all has made her a regional leader in the sustainable design movement. 

Accomplishments/Projects: Research and Development Headquarters, LEED and WELL Design Teams–Portage, MI; Western Michigan University Alumni Hall Renovation, Design Team Member–Kalamazoo, MI; Kalamazoo College Natatorium, LEED Administrator–Kalamazoo, MI

Education: BS in Mechanical Engineering, Western Michigan University; Masters of Mechanical Engineering, Western Michigan University

Professional/Public Service: US Green Building Council (USBGC), West Michigan; West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum; TowerPinkster Sustainability Committee and Diversity Action Council

RRM Design Group

Santa Barbara, CA

Elijah brings an extraordinary blend of talents to the table, balancing practicality, artistry, and empathy. Promoted to principal of RRM Design Group this year, Elijah specializes in large-scale housing projects that contribute to solving California’s affordable housing crisis. He recently published a children’s book, “The Architectural Alphabet: A Young Architect’s First Primer,” blending his profession, his artistic talent, and his passion for learning and sharing. He spearheads RRM’s “Draws for a Cause,” a team of colleagues who donate their time and expertise to create stunning pro-bono renderings for non-profit organizations. Elijah melds his talents with an effective and diplomatic flair that impresses clients and imprints an important mark on communities.

Accomplishments/Projects: Arrowhead Grove Master Planned Community, Project Manager and Architect–San Bernardino, CA; Gardens on Hope Project, Project Manager–Santa Barbara, CA; Rancho Sierra Senior Apartments–Camarillo, CA

Education: BS in Architecture (minor in Catholic Social Tradition), University of Notre Dame

Professional/Public Service: St. Barbara Parish Community Life Committee, University of Notre Dame Admissions Volunteer Coordinator

Superior Construction based in Florida and Indiana and Feller Enterprises in Utah were recognized in the Best ROI with the B2W Platform category for success with multiple applications of the B2W Platform. Ajax Paving Industries based in Florida and Michigan won the Best ROI with a Single B2W Application award for results with B2W Maintain. The award for Most Innovative New Use of B2W Software went to Jakes Construction based in British Columbia, Canada for a creative use of the B2W Track application for daily performance tracking.

The unified B2W Platform includes applications for estimating, field tracking, scheduling, fleet maintenance and data capture and reporting. B2W has recognized 24 contractors since the origin of the Innovation Awards program in 2017. Judges select winners from applications submitted by contractors throughout North America. 

Superior Construction demonstrated its integration of B2W Estimate, Track, Maintain and Inform as well as the Viewpoint Vista system for accounting in its award application.

“We’ve simplified operations, eliminated a lot of paper and saved countless hours spent on redundancies and double entry of data,” according to Superior learning and development manager Jessica Paske. “Improved accuracy in tracking hours, production and equipment utilization enhances our maintenance program and saves our projects money on a daily basis.”

Replacement of Excel spreadsheets with B2W Estimate and Track was a “game changer” at Feller Enterprises, according to estimator and project manager Travis Snow. Snow says the B2W Platform allows the sitework contractor to now review project performance daily at the production account level and to easily review actual past performance and production rates when putting together new bids.

“We’re bidding much more accurately and faster than with Excel and seeing profits stay very close to what we estimated,” says Snow. “Our foremen like to look at the summary in the B2W Track app daily to make sure they are staying as close as they can to the estimated cost and plan.”

Ajax Paving earned the innovation award based on its success in working closely with B2W to customize and deploy B2W Maintain to improve equipment maintenance processes, costs and uptime.

“Our mission was to move from reactive to proactive maintenance and we have fully demonstrated the power and capabilities of B2W Maintain,” says Ajax fleet manager Dan Maitland. A 29 percent increase in accuracy for planning maintenance, a 31 percent reduction in priority-one emergency work orders and an 11 percent reduction in direct repair costs were among the results highlighted in the application.

B2W recognized Jakes Construction for creative use of B2W Track to meet daily performance reporting requirements of a three-year pipeline project in western Canada. Instead of re-entering data from B2W Track into complex spreadsheets originally required by the project owner and general contractors, Jakes demonstrated that customized reporting directly from B2W Track could provide the information in a more concise and user-friendly format.

“This was a monumental turning point,” according to Derek Sterkenburg, an estimator at Jakes. “We tripled our monthly volume and revenue on the project while reducing administrative time by 66 percent. We estimate that we have saved more than 2,000 hours of administrative time to date.”

The prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship will provide financial support for Kienzle to complete her Ph.D. at an institution of her choosing. Her proposal focuses on characterizing the hydration reactions for limestone calcined clay cements (LC3), which are a sustainable and lower-carbon alternative to traditional cements. 

Her research will answer basic questions about how LC3 cements harden, how the underlying processes can be controlled to produce desirable behavior for construction, and how this can help achieve a new generation of resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure.

“I hope my work both now and in the future will promote more sustainable use of concrete, creating a positive impact on global crises that threaten the future of humanity,” Kienzle said, in keeping with the guiding principle of Clarkson’s Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering, “Technology Serving Humanity.”

Kienzle completed her Honor’s Thesis on the solidification behavior of rapid-setting calcium sulfoaluminate cements with Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Robert Thomas. 

Kienzle’s research was featured in a co-authored publication in Construction and Building Materials in 2022 and she presented her work twice at the biannual American Concrete Institute (ACI) Convention, the leading venue for cement and concrete research in North America. In 2022 she was awarded the prestigious ACI Concrete Practitioner Fellowship. During her time at Clarkson, Kienzle also completed three summer internships and worked weekly shifts at the Writing Center. She was active in Clarkson’s Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, serving as President in 2022, and was a captain of the ASCE Concrete Canoe team.

The prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship will provide financial support for Kienzle to complete her Ph.D. at an institution of her choosing. Her proposal focuses on characterizing the hydration reactions for limestone calcined clay cements (LC3), which are a sustainable and lower-carbon alternative to traditional cements. 

Her research will answer basic questions about how LC3 cements harden, how the underlying processes can be controlled to produce desirable behavior for construction, and how this can help achieve a new generation of resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure.

“I hope my work both now and in the future will promote more sustainable use of concrete, creating a positive impact on global crises that threaten the future of humanity,” Kienzle said, in keeping with the guiding principle of Clarkson’s Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering, “Technology Serving Humanity.”

Kienzle completed her Honor’s Thesis on the solidification behavior of rapid-setting calcium sulfoaluminate cements with Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Robert Thomas. 

Kienzle’s research was featured in a co-authored publication in Construction and Building Materials in 2022 and she presented her work twice at the biannual American Concrete Institute (ACI) Convention, the leading venue for cement and concrete research in North America. In 2022 she was awarded the prestigious ACI Concrete Practitioner Fellowship. During her time at Clarkson, Kienzle also completed three summer internships and worked weekly shifts at the Writing Center. She was active in Clarkson’s Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, serving as President in 2022, and was a captain of the ASCE Concrete Canoe team.

This is the first time CTC has won industry honors for its social media activity. The company’s ongoing Facebook Work Anniversary Campaign recognizes long-term employment milestones. The posts are designed to honor veteran employees and illustrate CTC’s low attrition rate, a discriminator for the company as it competes with other, often larger, organizations for skilled professionals.

“We are very pleased to be recognized in both traditional and emerging media. On social media, we creatively approached the company’s hiring challenges, resulting in increased Facebook interactions and traffic to our Careers webpage,” said Mary Bevan, Director, CTC Corporate Communications and Brand Marketing, who also serves as the project manager for the Annual Report. “I am grateful for our very talented and committed team of professionals who consistently produce outstanding products for our company and our clients.”

In addition to this Hermes award, CTC’s FY22 Annual Report also won a Platinum Marcom Award and a Gold Award from the Service Industry Advertising Awards competition. Overall, CTC Annual Reports have won marketing communications awards for the past 17 consecutive years.

The Hermes Creative Awards competition is administered by the international Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. Approximately 6,500 entries were expected in this year’s competition. Traditionally, approximately 16 percent of entries win Platinum honors, 22 percent achieve Gold awards, and nine percent earn Honorable Mention.

“The far-reaching impacts of climate change and how it intersects with our need to embrace sustainability present challenges that require the work and ingenuity of not just one — but many,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “Morgan welcomes the opportunity to partner with this region’s leading institutions and coalesce our intellect to deliver responsible solutions to our generation’s greatest challenge.”

The BSEC will serve as a solutions-oriented field laboratory producing urban climate science needed to inform community-guided “potential equitable pathways” for climate action. The research team will study atmospheric, climatic and environmental factors in Baltimore and develop adaptation strategies to make the city climate-change resilient and equitable. In addition to MSU researchers, the BSEC brings together teams of scientists and researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Penn State University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Virginia, Drexel University and City University of New York.

“Having a diverse perspective and voice from an HBCU, like Morgan, in DOE-funded research and the formation of an urban integrated field laboratory is critical. Diverse representation in efforts like this matter when addressing climate change and its impact on vulnerable communities,” said Oscar Barton, Jr., Ph.D., dean of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., School of Engineering. “Morgan’s partnership in this very meaningful and effectual research exemplifies how HBCUs can lead the charge in forming equitable solutions that benefit communities the world over.”

Led by James Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of Civil Engineering, Morgan’s research team will study and develop Earth and environmental systems models. The project is expected to enable officials to adopt equitable energy and climate solutions needed to reimagine cities to withstand pressures from climate change while prioritizing investments in historically underserved communities.

“I am honored to lead the Morgan team on this ambitious project alongside university partners who are equally committed,” said Dr. Hunter. “With a focus on community and city priorities, this project has the potential to create a new paradigm for urban planning — bringing to market new thinking and new benchmarks for civil engineering that enhance resilience to climate change and embrace sustainability.”

Morgan’s team spans three schools including the School of Architecture and Planning, the School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, and the Mitchell School of Engineering. Eight faculty members will couple observation networks and models to deliver climate science capable of supporting those priorities. BSEC will document urban microclimate hydrology and air quality, indoor and outdoor, with unparalleled resolution. The observational data and integrated modeling within this community-centered urban climate observatory aims to advance climate solutions in Baltimore with a particular focus on underserved neighborhoods

Baltimore was included in the program because of its multifaceted, interlinked challenges such as urban sprawl, the large number of heat-trapping surfaces and structures, elevated risks from flood and heat, and disproportionate burdens of air and water pollution, similar to other mid-sized cities in the eastern and central United States.

The BSEC integrated field laboratory research will place significant emphasis on the priorities that affect communities (human health and safety, affordable energy, transportation equity, etc.) and policy makers in city government (clean waterways, decarbonization, functioning infrastructure), and will advance the development of sustainable models and infrastructure innovations that address these challenges.