How did you originally get involved with ASCE/EWRI?
I originally became involved with ASCE through participation in the ASCE Student Chapter at South Dakota State University. Following college, I attended an occasional Section or Branch function and eventually became a committee chair of the Section Water Resources Technical Group. In 1999 when EWRI was founded, I became a member and helped form the Section and Branches Council, now the Local Activities Council (LAC), and have been a member of the Council since day one.
What benefits have you realized?
The benefits of being involved with the ASCE/EWRI community are many. These include educational opportunities, developing leadership skills, and getting to know technical experts in the field, as well as meeting, networking, and making life-long friends with fellow water resources engineers.
What committees do you participate in/ have you participated in?
Current EWRI committees that I participate in are the Local Activities Council and the Standards Development Council. Past involvement has included being a member of the Institute Operations Executive Committee which is now the Member Services Executive Committee, member of the Governing Board, and a member of several technical task committees. Within the water resources community, I am currently serving as Past-President of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. (AAWRE).
What advice would you give to someone considering becoming involved in ASCE/EWRI?
I would recommend becoming involved in both ASCE and EWRI early in your career not only at the local level but also the society/national level. Attend your local EWRI Chapter meetings and become part of the leadership and/or join an EWRI council or task committee. It provides a great opportunity to meet and network with engineers with similar backgrounds and interests.
What is your favorite project you’ve worked on in your career?
Rather than a favorite project, I have a favorite river system that I have worked on which is the Salt River. I have had more than twenty projects along the river within the Phoenix metropolitan area. The projects involved channel stabilization, new freeway bridges, airport expansion, and environmental and habitat restoration. Each project presented its own set of challenges due in part to the sand and gravel mining activities that had occurred and the number of old landfills adjacent to the river.
What is something that surprised you with a project?
One of the projects along the Salt River involved closure of a 200-acre landfill which was a designated Superfund site. The closure design was based on soil borings that had been completed several years prior to the design project since new borings were not permitted for design. The surprise came during construction when it was determined the elevation of the trash in the landfill was as much as five feet higher than indicated in the original investigations requiring significantly more fill material to meet closure requirements.
What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
The advice I would give myself would be to broaden my experience and knowledge of civil engineering disciplines outside my specialty in the initial years of my career since the majority of our projects involve working as part of a multi-disciplinary project team.