Highlights from 2021 Federal Engineer of the Year

Major Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E. of the U.S. Air Force, was named NSPE’s 2021 Federal Engineer of the Year Award winner on February 24 during a virtual awards event.

Maj. Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK)
Pyeongtaek, South Korea
Read the press release.

Virtual Federal Engineer of the Year Award Ceremony

For reasons of health and safety, this year's ceremony was a virtual awards event. FEYA winners appeared in a pre-recorded launch of an awards video and the winner of the NSPE 2021 Federal Engineer of the Year, Major Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E. of the U.S. Air Force, was announced on February 24 NSPE’s YouTube channel:

The Federal Engineer of the Year Award, sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Government, honors engineers employed by a federal agency that employs at least 50 engineers worldwide.

Introducing the FEYA Top Ten Finalists

• Cmdr. Roberto Alvarado, P.E.
• Ian Grant, P.E.
• Joshua Henson, P.E.
• Steven Loken, P.E.
• Silas Nichols, P.E.
• Maj. Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E.
• Jerzy Salamon, Ph.D., P.E.
• Maj. Joel E. Trejo, P.E.
• Scott Turygan, P.E.
• Cmdr. Matthew Walker, P.E.

Cmdr. Roberto Alvarado, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Navy
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC)
Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.

NAVFAC OFFICER USES ENGINEERING PROWESS DURING CRISIS SITUATIONS

During an unprecedented transition of three assistant commanders within a four-month period, Cmdr. Roberto Alvarado, P.E., provided unifying leadership enabling delivery of critical NAVFAC services. Foremost, as assistant commander for public works, he served as leader on the COVID-19 technical team, managing efforts to quickly research and release technical guidance to detect and mitigate viral impacts involving pier side operations, HVAC systems, facility services, and transportation assets. Exceeding expectations, Alvarado supervised a complete revision of seven public works courses used globally to train the Navy’s current and future facility planners, and operators.

While serving as executive officer for NAVFAC Marianas, Alvarado rapidly responded to a main generator explosion at the islands’ only power generation plant. He developed a response plan that avoided an islandwide power crisis, thereby eliminating outages at U.S. Department of Defense territorial facilities. Notably, he also led the NAVFAC Marianas construction safety program, receiving the Chief of Naval Operations’ Shore Safety Award. On a different front for the Navy Integrated Warfare Division, Alvarado streamlined resource allocation methods, enabling completion of critical construction projects within reduced schedule timelines.

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Ian Grant, P.E.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Transmission and Power Supply
Chattanooga, Tennessee

UTILITY ENGINEER PURSUES WAYS TO MITIGATE SOLAR STORM ADVERSITY

Electrical engineer Ian Grant, P.E., leads TVA’s resilience program targeting geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs), commonly known as solar storms. His significant involvement includes contributing research to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), establishing an instrumentation network throughout the TVA grid, and developing a grid response model to severe GMDs. Additionally, Grant initiated geomagnetically-induced-current blocker installations to meet U.S. Department of Energy requirements, and he is guiding TVA’s development and compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards for GMD events.

Among other benchmark activities, Grant has facilitated efforts that will bolster the national power grid system’s GMD resilience when sunspot activity commences. He further leads TVA’s research on electromagnetic pulse effects to the national grid and contributed to EPRI research on potential EMP impacts to transmission systems and switch house EMP shielding. His research has also been incorporated in the Electric Infrastructure Security Council’s first EMP protection manual. Although no comprehensive electric utility EMP resilience program yet exists, Grant’s efforts have positioned TVA to better understand how to preserve essential grid components within achievable time and financial limits.

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Joshua Henson, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Navy
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC)
Port Hueneme, California

NAVAL ENGINEER MANAGES THREE AWARD-WINNING UNDERSEA PROJECTS

Over a four-year span, ocean engineer and marine expert Joshua Henson, P.E., led government and industry teams on three prominent projects that developed, built, and demonstrated innovative undersea infrastructure for the United States. His achievements include the Tactical Undersea Network Architectures (TUNA) project, the Seismo-Hydroacoustic Data Acquisition System (SHDAS), and the Maritime Test Bed (MTB) project. All three accomplishments received the Society of Military Engineers’ Project of the Year Award in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively.

Guided by Henson, the complex, multidisciplined TUNA team performed modeling, simulation, and offshore experiments related to fiber optic cable performance, cable deployment, and survivability. The SHDAS project team developed and installed a novel underwater seismic and hydroacoustic monitoring system used for nuclear treaty monitoring, providing data to national decision-makers. Through Henson’s oversight, the team successfully deployed a complex subsea cable network interfacing with seismo-hydroacoustic packages installed in water exceeding one-and-a-half miles deep. Henson also adeptly formed and led his MTB team, which developed, integrated, and installed offshore cable and an advanced access point, reactivated a 286-foot project vessel, and established a facility.

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Steven Loken, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC)
Hurlburt Field, Florida

AIR FORCE ENGINEER SUPERVISES UPGRADES TO IMPROVE BASE FACILITIES

The expertise of Steve Loken, P.E., fulfills a unique responsibility within AFSOC ranks. He is the only electrical engineer in the 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron, supporting 970 facilities and infrastructure spanning 6,600 acres valued at $3.4 billion. As one of several benchmark achievements, he supervised squadron efforts to implement Unified Facility Guide Specifications into all design projects and developed five years of projects to sustain and improve base functions. Part of Loken’s basewide energy-saving efforts include converting all interior, exterior, and airfield ramp light fixtures with LED, in addition to upgrading all HVAC and direct digital control systems to increase the cyber security of industrial control systems.

To his credit on another front, Loken leveraged two partnership programs — involving the Air Force and the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council — to charter a new working group. The initiative focuses on sustaining and enhancing the base/community infrastructure in the face of challenges, including man-made and natural disasters. Loken’s collective efforts have already transformed the electrical power resilience of Hurlburt Field and the local community.

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Silas Nichols, P.E.

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Washington, D.C.

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER DELIVERS INNOVATION TO HIGHWAY PROJECTS

FHWA’s principal geotechnical engineer, Silas Nichols, P.E., is internationally recognized in the design and construction of earth and rock works, retaining structures, and foundations, in addition to subsurface investigation. With much of his focus on bridge and tunnel projects and related structures, he assumes technical lead for the development or updating of geotechnical engineering circulars on numerous topics and is heading FHWA’s program on Advanced Geotechnical Methods in Exploration. Known as The A-GaME, the initiative seeks to improve geotechnical site characterization while reducing risk, improving quality, and accelerating project delivery.

Other noteworthy roles for Nichols include technical lead for research efforts on post-grouting of drilled shafts, high-performance (tremie) concrete, and deep mixing methods. He also serves as FHWA’s innovation lead for deployment of EPS geofoam for transportation applications and is leading implementation of an agency research program addressing new geotechnical products for use in the transportation industry. Moreover, Nichols has facilitated FHWA/National Highway Institute training partnerships with several national organizations and is an editorial columnist for the Deep Foundations Institute’s official publication, Deep Foundations.

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Maj. Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK)
Pyeongtaek, South Korea

AIR FORCE OFFICER LEADS CONSTRUCTION, WATER RESOURCES MODELING

Serving as USFK’s chief of construction, Maj. Monica Pickenpaugh, Ph.D., P.E., directed $5.7 billion of funded construction in the Republic of Korea. As part of a sharing agreement with the United States, the construction program supports USFK commanders’ defense efforts through critical projects. Pickenpaugh synchronized all U.S. Armed Forces’ project requests to validate and fund key construction requirements vital to USFK’s mission. Prior to all planned project scheduling and coordination, she strategically advocated for use of the National Defense Authorization Act to allow construction authorization.

Pickenpaugh’s achievements in the United States are exemplary, too. With her combined educational background in civil, environmental, and fire protection engineering, her research in water resources led to development of a cost analysis of water markets for use in Arizona water sales. Equally significant, her analysis of drinking water distribution systems and fire flow pressure compared to pipe sizing is the first-ever analysis of distribution networks designed for water quality. Pickenpaugh’s continued research facilitated development of the Tucson Water Accountability Model, allowing users to select conditions such as climate change, water conservation, and desalination possibilities.

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Jerzy Salamon, Ph.D., P.E.

U.S. Department of Interior
Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec)
Denver, Colorado

CIVIL ENGINEER ASSESSES SEISMIC LOADS, PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE DAMS

As his agency’s technical specialist in waterways and concrete dams, Jerzy Salamon, Ph.D., P.E., serves as reviewer, technical approver, and advisor for work related to safety evaluation of BuRec dams. His engineering reach extends further, however. As a project manager or assuming technical lead, he has been involved in other significant endeavors, including assessment of seismic loads at Hoover Dam and the design and construction of a new auxiliary spillway at Folsom Dam. Salamon’s other projects have addressed the design of new radial gates at Minidoka Dam and a safety assessment of Seminoe Dam, adversely affected by concrete expansion due to alkali silica reaction.

With nearly 6,000 registered reads, Salamon is also an author and co-author of numerous technical documents, in addition to being editor of two technical journals. Cooperating with global experts, academia, government agencies, he develops state-of-the-art standards for concrete dams analysis and design and implements them in BuRec practices. Additionally, since 2016, Salamon has chaired a 40-member concrete dams committee for the U.S. Society on Dams, facilitating activities and organizing conferences, technical sessions, and workshops.

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Maj. Joel E. Trejo, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Combat Command (ACC)
San Antonio, Texas

AIR FORCE OFFICER STREAMLINES ENGINEERING, INSTALLATION PROTOCOL

Within his agency’s 668 Alteration and Installation Squadron, Maj. Joel Trejo, P.E., serves in numerous capacities, including project management and streamlining procurement practices. Among his notable successes, he managed construction of a $601 million strategic command headquarters facility, overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers’ on-time project execution. Trejo also gained engineering and installation approval for an $80 million joint project between the Air Force Mission Support Center and the U.S. Space Force (formerly Air Force Space Command). Through this endeavor, he established governance roles and set the future leadership path for AFMSC.

Through integrating more engineering and installation priorities with military construction protocol, Trejo aligned more than 700 cyber defense projects and established the Air Force’s first true turnkey process. He further increased situation awareness among Air Force operations for updated communications infrastructure and positioned $2.3 billion to address neglected systems. And as part of an Air Force operations reorganization, Trejo rewrote engineering and installation work-plan criteria to provide better policy guidance. He also managed a $1.3 million operations center remodeling project while synchronizing command and control for more than 5,000 airmen.

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Scott Turygan, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Army
U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR)
Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany

ARMY CIVIL ENGINEER EXHIBITS BROAD OUTREACH ON EUROPEAN MISSION

The responsibilities of civil engineer Scott Turygan, P.E., are far reaching to say the least. He is charged with identifying and overseeing broad engineering initiatives to help increase the effectiveness of USAREUR protection and mission assurance throughout a 51-country area of operations. Particularly notable, his research and publications guided the U.S. Department of Defense in developing protective engineering design standards against weaponized unmanned aircraft systems. In a related achievement, Turygan coordinated a three-year international research partnership with Germany to develop modeling capabilities to improve design and analysis of vehicle barriers that protect DoD assets and public spaces.

Turygan further created and manages a portal-based system that tracks all USAREUR design and construction with protection equities — nearly 150 military construction projects valued in excess of $2 billion. The system ensures that relevant unified facility criteria are incorporated, and that protection experts perform design reviews. Additionally, Turygan worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in facilitating a $49 million multiyear contract to streamline the procurement process for security-related construction requirements throughout Europe.

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Cmdr. Matthew Walker, P.E.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
Elizabeth City, North Carolina

COAST GUARD OFFICER OVERSEES AVIATION UPGRADES, CYBER AWARENESS

Serving as engineering technical authority for USCG aviation, Cmdr. Matthew Walker, P.E., oversees the airworthiness of an aviation fleet that includes seven different aircraft/variants. His responsibility encompasses technical information management and development, configuration control, and engineering processes. Notably, he has played a significant role in upgrading USCG’s Dolphin helicopter fleet to the MH-65E variant, used for large-scale rescue operations, in addition to facilitating change management for all USCG aircraft. To his credit, he completed an overdue revamp of the agency’s configuration control process.

Moreover, Walker is continually engaged in monitoring his agency’s certification of airworthiness and engineering processes. Through his efforts, he identified the need for a USCG aviation cyber and platform-IT program manager, with specialized education and training. Consequently, he promulgated protocol standards for the new position to address potential cyber/PIT challenges. Walker also developed key Aircraft Structural Integrity Program goals for USCG’s HC-144 Ocean Sentry, a medium-range twin-engine turboprop aircraft used in search-and-rescue and maritime patrol missions. As an ASIP milestone, he supervised a development team that was awarded a U.S. patent for a special tool for on-wing HC-144 structural repairs.