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Engineers Nominated By American
Consulting Engineers Council
Jonathan A. Ford, P.E., a civil engineer for Judith Nitsch Engineering, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts, designs utilities, stormwater management systems, and site layout and grading for public and private construction across New England. Ford believes strongly in the importance of the New Urbanism -- mixed-use, context sensitive, pedestrian-oriented urban design that results in healthier, more environmentally sustainable communities. As a co-founder of the New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism, formed to advocate compact, mixed-use, transit oriented design and fight sprawl in New England, Ford is leading an initiative to document the civil engineering benefits of New Urbanist design. When complete, the research will be used as curriculum for an interdisciplinary education program to educate civil engineers about their potential impact upon effective community design, or "placemaking.”
Jeremy J. Franz, P.E., a water resources engineer at Ayres Associates in Fort Collins, Colorado, is a hydraulic and hydrologic modeling expert who performs numerical modeling of rivers and tidal waterways throughout the nation to support highway design and flood control projects. Franz is currently coordinating the modeling of an 8-mile stretch of the Big Thompson River through Loveland, Colorado, to modernize outdated floodplain maps. The new maps will provide the city with an updated tool to help ensure the safety of its citizens. He developed innovative designs of tributary outlet channels for the ongoing Sims Bayou flood control project in Houston and is currently modeling hurricane-induced flooding on Florida’s Gulf Coast; the modeling is used to evaluate the ability of bridges over coastal waterways to withstand the surges caused by extreme storms and to facilitate emergency evacuations. Franz is a hydraulic modeling instructor with the National Highway Institute, the educational branch of the Federal Highway Administration. This allows him to travel throughout the country, instructing engineers in hydraulic modeling techniques of waterways and floodplains. Franz serves as the Scholarship Committee Chair for the Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain Managers, where he oversees an annual $2,000 scholarship.
Benjamin S. Johnson, a project engineer at Richard P. Arber Associates, Inc., in Denver, Colorado, helps protect the environment through his work on challenging wastewater treatment projects. Johnson is Project Engineer on the expansion of a wastewater treatment facility in Arapahoe County, Colorado. To meet stringent phosphorus limits for water leaving the Lone Tree Creek plant, a large scale Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system was installed in 1998 to separate the suspended biomass from the treated wastewater producing a high quality effluent. In 2003 Johnson began work at the facility looking at short-term upgrades while an expansion of the facility is being designed. Phase one includes improvements to operational flexibility and reliability while phase two will expand plant capacity from 2.4 to 3.6 million gallons per day
Kevin Smith, a project engineer at Malcolm Pirnie in White Plains, New York, works in the Control Systems Group. Smith began his career performing Vulnerability Assessments (VA) for water clients. Federally mandated by the government after 9/11, the purpose of a VA is to analyze a utility's water system to determine its most vulnerable points to malicious attack. The methodology was developed by Sandia National Labs for protecting the nuclear industry. Smith learned the methodology, coordinated and helped facilitate meetings with clients, performed site visits, and produced the final report. For the last year security design has been Smith's primary focus. An integrated security system was designed for a large wastewater treatment plant in the New York City area. While not mandated by the government, many proactive wastewater plants are upgrading their security against both external and internal malicious threats. Smith served as deputy project manager and lead security designer. As deputy project manager he helped coordinate the efforts of Civil, Architectural, Electrical, and Structural groups as well as helped to manage the budget, arrange site visits, and coordinate with the client. As the lead security designer Smith met with vendors, evaluated new products and ultimately designed the placement and configuration of the cameras, access control, and associated software. |
Jonathan A. Ford, P.E.
Jeremy J. Franz, P.E.
Benjamin Johnson
Kevin Smith
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National Engineers Week Foundation
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