2019 National Engineers Week – Meet Our Engineers!

This year, Engineers Week is February 17, 2019 through February 23, 2019. Engineers Week was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers to promote a “diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers”.

Our team shares why they chose this profession and what they enjoy most about being an engineer.

"The physical infrastructure that connects and houses humans wouldn’t be there without a Civil engineer." -Aaron Murphy, PE, Senior Project Manager

"Most people think engineering is just math and science so telling them you are an engineer doesn’t give them any idea of what we do. Explaining that engineers take concepts and make them a reality by providing the design and specifications to be used by others to build what began a just a vision." -Gregg Weston, PE, Chief Engineering Manager

"I use my knowledge and skills from school and experience to design the world around us. I design roads to help you go places as safely and efficiently as possible. I work with a team of designers and engineers from other disciplines or fields, and together we develop solutions to help solve our client’s needs." -Jake Johnston, PE, Civil Engineer

"Structural engineers have buildings, geotechnical engineers and geologists have soils and rock. As a general civil engineer, I use lot of dirt, paint, concrete, asphalt, rock and plastic. Just never in the same way twice. I’ve had the most success by explaining my job as 'a citywide janitor or handyperson.' We have to come up with solutions for all the things that affect our lives on a personal scale in our homes and workplaces … but bigger!" -Jesse Emerson, PE, Civil Engineer

"I help people bring their ideas to reality through design (and then assist them through the government permitting process)." -John Howorth, PE, President

"I figure out where stormwater runoff currently goes, how much stormwater runoff there will be after the development, how treat the runoff and how to decrease the post-construction runoff so that the downstream system isn’t impacted." -Kathleen Freeman, PE, Water Resources Project Manager

"Civil Engineers design things you use every day but you may not think twice about how it got there. Roadways, bridges, drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, buildings, sidewalks, the list goes on. Civil Engineers think through how something will be used and what materials it should be made out of to be safe, long lasting, and cost effective." -Laura Oxsen, PE, Civil Engineer

"When explaining to people what I do for a living, I tell them I work with rainwater; more specifically, I help treat and quantify rainwater. If they have time, I’ll discern between rain and runoff." -Phillip Patague, PE, Water Resources Engineer