THE 2023 FEDERAL ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD CEREMONY ON FEBRUARY 24 AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB IN WASHINGTON, DC.

Congratulations to Stephen Craven, Ph.D., P.E. of Tennessee Valley Authority, the 2023 Federal Engineer of the Year Award Winner!

• Read the press release.
• FEYA ceremony photos can be accessed on the NSPE Flickr album.

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  STEPHEN CRAVEN, PH.D., THE 2023 FEDERAL ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER.

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  STEPHEN CRAVEN, PH.D., AT THE PODIUM DURING THE 2023 FEDERAL ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD LUNCHEON.

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  NSPE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MONIKA SCHULZ WELCOMES ATTENDEES TO THE 2023 FEDERAL ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD LUNCHEON.

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  NSPE PRESIDENT BRITT SMITH HONORS 23 EXCEPTIONAL ENGINEERS WHO, BY THEIR WORK AND EFFORT, EMBODY THE HIGHEST IDEALS OF OUR PROFESSION.

Congratulations to the FEYA Top Ten Finalists

Read the press release.

• Stephen Craven, Ph.D., P.E.
• Steven Dunn, Ph.D., P.E.
• Dustin Gooden, P.E.
• Chad Hogan, P.E.
• Capt. Jeneé Jagoda, P.E.
• Christopher Jankowski, P.E.
• Andrew Lawrence, P.E.
• Nicholas Melly, P.E.
• Brandon Toliver, Ph.D., P.E.
• Brian Wybrecht, P.E.

Stephen Craven, Ph.D., P.E.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Power Service Center
Chattanooga, Tennessee

NETWORKING ENGINEER IMPROVES TELEPROTECTION MESSAGING PROCESS

Craven is responsible for all aspects of cybersecurity for TVA substations and power system communications, with particular emphasis on efficient teleprotection messaging between substations. As the power industry transitions from legacy synchronous optic network (SONET) devices to packet-based solutions for communication and teleprotection messaging, there are some shortfalls. Packet-based equipment cannot easily provide guarantees for essential bandwidth, latency, and circuit restoration. Through his engineering intuitiveness, Craven adapted packet-based systems for efficient teleprotection messaging and developed an architecture five times faster than SONET at half the expense, providing instantaneous circuit restoration while removing all single points of failure. His architecture was adopted as TVA’s teleprotection standard.

Utilizing some of his former defense agency experience, Craven persuaded TVA cybersecurity compliance personnel that threats to a critical facility were minimal, thereby avoiding outages required for security mitigation patches that could have affected grid stability and impacted more than 600,000 customers. He further developed a unique logging-through-the-tap monitoring scheme that allows critical equipment to remain disconnected from external networks while sending security logs. Craven also discovered and addressed TVA substation networking equipment security vulnerabilities, eliminating the potential for hacking between isolated networks.

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Steven C. Dunn, Ph.D., P.E.

General Services Administration (GSA)
Public Buildings Service
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER SHOWS TALENT IN POWER OUTAGE INVESTIGATIONS

As regional electrical engineer, Dunn has regularly performed complex qualitative and failure analyses on multiple GSA systems and projects, a testament to his engineering prowess spanning more than two decades. For instance in 2022, he provided hand-drawn single lines and drawings from other projects showing how to streamline Tier III requirements for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data center in Fairmont, W.V., saving at least $7 million from a projected $160 million expenditure. At other federal building locations, Dunn investigated multiple breaker trips to determine causes of unexplained excessive voltage decreases.

He further served as the technical lead for an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) replacement prospectus project: debugging a nonworking circuit breaker during a critical outage. And in a technical supportive role, Dunn headed a regional engineering study determining requirements for updating to current standards a federal agency’s sensitive records storage complex. He also leads the GSA Region 3 Design and Construction Division’s Technical Leadership Committee, a mission that includes updating and maintaining their exclusive software that streamlines security clearance processes for GSA contractors. This software has been adopted for widespread use.

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Dustin L. Gooden, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
U.S. Air Force Headquarters, Pentagon
Washington, D.C.

AIR FORCE ENGINEER STRATEGICALLY IMPROVES BASING POLICY, GUIDANCE

Gooden, who serves as chief of the Air Force’s Basing Corporate Branch, provides military-level strategic basing policy and guidance in support of nearly 160 installations and a $16 billion portfolio. His wide-range analyses of Air Force basing requests further enables defense weapon system beddown and unit-level movement directives. Gooden formerly held operations flight commander and squadron section commander posts at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. While at Altus, he directed a diverse team of military and civilian engineers to facilitate operations, maintenance, and repair of $2 billion in infrastructure — a benchmark achievement that received back-to-back annual accolades from command leadership.

Prior to his service at Altus, Gooden led a team of skilled personnel at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois to develop a new civil engineer work management execution process and scheduling tool. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center immediately recognized the benefits of this new process and coined it a “best practice.” Gooden then worked to publish the new process and tool as an Air Force-wide standard operating procedure, a notable accomplishment that has been recognized by the Air Force Institute of Technology and disseminated nationwide.

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Chad C. Hogan, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Force Material Command
Hill Air Force Base, Utah

TESTING, MATERIALS ENGINEER SEEKS ENHANCED PERFORMANCE OF METALS

A recognized aeronautical testing and materials expert, Hogan researched, tested, developed, and implemented (RDT&I) a new electroplated metal corrosion control coating, which has become a worldwide commercial and military industry standard. Its benefits include improved corrosion resistance, cadmium (deadly carcinogen) elimination, less sensitivity to hydrogen-assisted failure modes such as stress corrosion cracking, and resistance to solid/liquid metal embrittlement. Moreover, Hogan has also done significant research of hydrogen embrittlement in steel. Ultra-high strength steel is subject to in-service failures associated with excess or free hydrogen that must be removed through baking steel components. His research determined the impact of relief bake delays by examining 1,000 test samples using varied coatings and numerous baking conditions.

Some of Hogan’s other RDT&I projects as lead engineer include: a new strain-life structural analysis method for safe-life aircraft structure; use of S53 ultra-high strength stainless steel in landing gear redesign; a “sputtered aluminum” process to achieve atom-by-atom repair of structural aluminum; and newly designed wheels and brakes for the B-1 Lancer and C-130 Hercules aircraft, with more than 10 times component-life improvement and a cost savings of $802 million.

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Capt. Jeneé Jagoda, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Force Global Strike Command
Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota

AIR FORCE OFFICER TAKES ENGINEERING LEAD IN OPERATIONS, LOGISTICS

Currently serving as engineering flight commander at Ellsworth AFB, Jagoda oversees 35 personnel and an $80 million budget supporting the current B-1B Lancer mission and the future B-21 Raider beddown. To her credit, last year her flight team received accolades for their engineering excellence as a global strike force. In 2021, she deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where she played an integral role in evacuating at-risk Afghan civilians through Operation Allies Refuge. In that capacity, she served as the engineering lead at the Emergency Operations Center, prioritizing work orders and key services to the 14 beddown sites established for the operation. As the base population more than tripled from 8,000 to 27,000 people, Jagoda was instrumental in sustaining facilities and quality of life for the base.

Through her earlier master’s degree study at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Jagoda pioneered research on 3D-printed construction in an expeditionary environment. Her thesis has garnered more than 3,500 downloads and has been used by the U.S. Air National Guard and civilian institutions worldwide to shape the continued research, development, and use of 3D printing.

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Christopher Jankowski, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Pacific Air Forces, 51st Civil Engineer Squadron
Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea

AIR FORCE ENGINEER HEADS PROJECT OPERATIONS, TRAINING INITIATIVES

As chief of operations engineering with the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron, Jankowski leads a diverse work center comprising more than 40 members that oversee joint efforts serving $5.6 billion in real property assets at the Air Force’s most forward-located installation. He further manages a portfolio of more than 20 service contracts that help maintain 1,000 facilities and 12 million square feet of airfield supporting $1.5 billion in aircraft. Additionally, Jankowski serves as lead for developing the 51st Fighter Wing’s Multi-Capable Airmen training program and is the engineering subject matter expert for agile combat employment activities.

Formerly, Jankowski was engineering flight commander and led 20 military personnel in developing a three-year troop construction portfolio of a dozen projects valued at $15 million. These projects are vital to setting up the Indo-Pacific Command theater for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative. Moreover, he served as both chief project engineer and deployed squadron troop commander, directing 70 personnel in executing three projects valued at $5 million at three separate sites in the Republic of Korea. This was the squadron’s largest deployment of equipment and personnel in nearly 15 years.

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Andrew Lawrence, P.E.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Safety Center
Washington, D.C.

COAST GUARD ENGINEER AN AUTHORITY ON MARINE ACCIDENTS, FORENSICS

Lawrence is routinely recruited to address the most challenging marine accidents and lead post-casualty forensic engineering analyses to determine proximate causes. As principal naval architect of the elite Salvage Engineering Response Team, he has elevated readiness through a rigorous training program and has become a trusted advisor to port captains nationwide. His feasibility and safety assessments of numerous vessel salvage plans following hurricane landfalls have minimized property loss, mitigated pollution damage, and restored access to critical ports and waterways.

Particularly impressive was Lawrence’s in-depth analysis of the sinking of the Scandies Rose fishing boat near Kodiak, Alaska in 2019. The technical report issued in 2021, along with expert witness and survivor testimony, clearly established that the vessel’s capsizing in icing conditions was due to flawed stability guidance, not operator error. In another case in 2019, Lawrence facilitated the review of the capsized and grounded foreign car-carrier Golden Ray off the coast of Georgia. He then served as the Coast Guard’s lead engineer for the wreck’s removal from St. Simons Sound. Also notable, Lawrence participated in the investigation of the capsized liftboat Seacor Power near Louisiana in 2021.

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Nicholas Melly, P.E.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Washington, D.C.

FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER SPEARHEADS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SAFETY

Serving as fire protection engineer, Melly headed breakthrough research and regulatory activities to advance the understanding of nuclear power plant (NPP) fire safety, risk assessment, and hazard mitigation. He first comprehensively assessed the knowledge archive of high energy arcing faults (HEAFs) — high-voltage discharges between two or more conductors for extended durations that have the potential to cause fires and other electrical system failures. He then spearheaded a multiyear international research effort that leveraged the expertise and resources of 10 countries to better understand the risk posed by this phenomenon.

Directing more than 50 complex, full-scale experiments using prototypical NPP equipment with real-world configurations, Melly’s research led to an enhanced understanding of HEAF-induced electromagnetic occurrences. Consequently, his findings furthered development of advanced hazard modeling and simulation techniques, identification of fire mitigation measures, and updated technical guidance to strengthen NPP fire safety. Melly’s mastery in fire safety performance modeling is in high demand by nuclear safety professionals worldwide. He provides technical leadership for a HEAF working group within the Electric Power and Research Institute and represents the United States on several significant international projects related to NPP fire safety.

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Brandon Toliver, Ph.D., P.E.

U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Force Installation and Mission Support
Ramstein Air Base, Germany

CIVIL ENGINEER USES GLOBAL EXPERIENCE TO BOLSTER DEFENSE SECURITY

With project management experience spanning 10 countries, Toliver has facilitated government facilities, hospitals, housing, infrastructure, and other medical facilities with budgets ranging from $5 million to $650 million. Under both military and corporate environments, he has served as a subject matter expert, service provider, strategist, and advisor to senior leaders. He currently supports the Air Force’s European theater with a focus on deterring Russian aggression, where he has directed plans for nine beddowns by developing facilities and logistics requirements. Key to this challenge is Toliver’s oversight of task force personnel supporting a $2.4 billion infrastructure portfolio and $320 million in logistics equipment, aimed at strengthening NATO’s eastern flank defense across 35 bases.

Toliver also worked directly with the NATO Security Investment Program, providing responsive and cost-efficient acquisition, including armaments procurement, logistics, and operational and systems support services to the Allies, NATO military authorities, and partnering nations. He further designed and managed an expansive array of civil engineering infrastructure projects for the NATO-led Afghanistan Resolute Support mission. Farther east, Toliver served multiple roles in the $10.7 billion Yongsan Relocation Plan, based in Seoul, South Korea.

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Brian R. Wybrecht, P.E.

U.S. Department of the Army
U.S. Army Europe and Africa
Wiesbaden, Germany

ARMY ENGINEER FACILITATES NATO SUPPORT PROJECTS, MIDDLE EAST BASES

Wybrecht’s most recent milestone was spurring military construction and foreign military sales in Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine — a task posing navigational challenges brought on by COVID-19 to assist and lead design reviews, requirements workshops, and virtual site investigations. His engineering expertise guided a dozen construction projects worth more than $96 million through enhanced project management and quality assurance that supported increased allied presence across NATO’s eastern flank. In providing engineering support for Operation Inherent Resolve in the Middle East, Wybrecht produced plans and specifications for medical clinics, building retrofits, and munitions storage projects spanning seven bases across the Iraq area of responsibility.

On the domestic front as a design engineer, Wybrecht served as assistant technical manager for the closeout of the Permanent Canal Closure and Pumps in New Orleans, a $700 million design-build project addressing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. As another noteworthy benchmark, Wybrecht was requested to be technical lead for the Soo Locks upgrade, a $1 billion three-phase project to construct a larger lock in the Great Lakes region. He sequenced the construction schedule across multiple domains using advanced blasting techniques and seawall construction.

Past FEYA Winners and Events