Fred Brooks, EI

Fred Brooks, EI, a design engineer with Bolton & Menk, Inc. in Mankato, Minnesota, manages complex projects from conceptual ideas to functioning structures.

Brooks worked on a $2.2 million sanitary sewer interceptor that serves a city with a population of over 14,000. This project was challenging because the sewer was live during the one-year construction process and was installed via trenchless methods at 30 feet below an existing alley. As a member of the Civil Engineering Squadron for the Minnesota Air National Guard, Brooks developed the backflow preventer program for the entire base water supply system.

fredbr@bolton-menk.com

J. Carlos Gittens, P.E.

J. Carlos Gittens, P.E., a civil engineer with Jacobs Civil, Inc. in Orlando, Florida, currently handles a wide array of responsibilities including project management, lead design on roadway projects and field inspection of current construction projects.

Gitten’s career path includes bridge construction inspector on a ten bridge interchange, roadway design engineer, and traffic control design. Currently Gittens is project engineer working on a Florida Department of Transportation District-wide contract composed of several roadway and drainage projects.

As a student and working engineer, Gittens has worked on numerous educational programs inspiring and promoting engineering students of all ages. For his efforts he was awarded the 2003 Florida Engineering Society President's Award.

wildmanengr@yahoo.com

Christopher Alan Powers

Christopher Alan Powers, process engineer with ChevronTexaco in Houston, Texas, is currently working on the development and deployment of novel heavy crude oil upgrading technologies.

Powers has applied his strong commercial and business skills in evaluating a third party technology from both a technical and an overall economic standpoint. He worked as a summer research associate at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Department of Clinical Investigation where he synthesized several novel compounds for potential cancer treatment, and the research was published in the Journal of Coordination Chemistry.

powersca@yahoo.com

Rachel Stender, P.E.

Rachel Stender, project engineer for the Port of Corpus Christi Authority in Texas, is responsible for the design, construction and management of capital and maintenance projects throughout the port. She is the first registered woman engineer in the 77-year history of the port, where she currently serves as project manager for the construction of a new water taxi landing, a $1.9 million project intended to encourage alternate transportation in the arts and museum district of Corpus Christi. Among the numerous other port projects she manages are demolition of more than one million square feet of timber warehouses for future construction of a minor league baseball stadium, dock upgrades, and marine rehabilitation. Through her efforts in the port's stormwater program in 2000, the port received the Cal Hurst Outstanding Achievement Award for Comprehensive Environmental Management.

Stender recently completed reserve duty in the U.S. Air Force as a civil engineering officer with the 307th Red Horse Unit, a mobile, rapid-response construction unit, and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the local community college.

Stender is also a member of the Leadership Corpus Christi Class XXXII, a yearlong program designed to increase awareness and diversity among community leaders, and a student mentor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi FUSE, which furthers minority interest in science and engineering fields.

rachel@pocca.com