National Engineers Week (Eweek) was founded in 1951 by the National Society for Professional Engineers. With the goal of ensuring a strong pipeline of future engineering talent, Eweek shines a spotlight on engineers to increase understanding of and interest in these careers.
From the civil engineers who design transportation solutions to get planes, trains, and cars to their destinations safely and efficiently to the software engineers who defend government networks from cyber-attacks, engineers are a key component of our workforce in every market we touch. Supporting and growing this internal talent is just as important as engaging and building the future workforce.
Each Engineers week, we take the challenge of recognizing our engineering stars seriously. All Parsons employees are invited to nominate the outstanding engineers and technical trailblazers they work with for our 7th Annual Engineering & Technical Excellence Awards. The Excellence Awards celebrate exceptional work, commitment, and innovation in pursuit of our shared vision of delivering a better world. Individuals who demonstrate exceptional and sustained performance above and beyond the expectations of their role are considered, and we are proud to announce the winners of the 2020 awards.
This year, we recognized 12 winners from around the world for furthering our quest to deliver a better world; for providing inventive solutions to our clients’ complex challenges; and for being agile, disruptive, collaborative, and innovative. Each winner was presented with a crystal trophy and accolades from our leadership and their peers on the job.
Read more about our winners below:
Pamela W., Manager of Urban and Environmental Planning
ADDRESSING RESILIENCY WITH GROUNDBREAKING CLIMATE CHANGE ASSESSMENT TOOL. Pam is committed to providing infrastructure design and city planning with attention to social, environmental, and economic objectives. She led her team in its development of a climate change impact assessment tool that approaches climate change through environmental impact assessments. Using this simplified evaluation tool, her team is helping weigh in on meaningful ways to address resiliency considerations.
Brian D., Chief Architect, Space Architecture/Space, and Geospatial Solutions
DISTINGUISHED PARSONS FELLOW. Brian has been building complex satellite ground processing systems for the past 20 years, specializing in complex algorithm processing, component development, systems engineering, systems integration, and software architecture. Recently, his focus has shifted to migrating these complex workloads into cloud-hosted environments to simplify complex IT problems that accompany efforts of this size. He serves as the chief architect of the Space Architecture group in Denver, Colorado, guiding efforts to harness the power of DevOps and cloud-native design to accelerate project performance and improve the mission benefit for our customers.
Parameshwar A., Senior Project Engineer Road & Highway
INNOVATOR. Paramesh saw a need for advanced modeling skills while working on a large proposal, and he took it upon himself to learn extremely complex 3D modeling techniques and then singlehandedly modeled the entire project, which was met with open applause during client meetings. Since then, he’s become a valued resource at Parsons for 3D modeling, sometimes convincing clients who prefer traditional methods to 3D modeling of its importance and effectiveness. Using advanced innovative techniques, Paramesh produces detailed 3D models that have the capability to provide automated updates as designs progress. He consistently strives for a very high quality of service and over the years he has earned a great deal of experience on many design build projects.
Jonathan S., Principal, Physical Security and Protective Structure Specialist
INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED EXPERT IN ANTI-TERRORISM AND FORCE PROTECTION (ATFP). Jon is known for his diligence, breadth of knowledge, expertise, and passion for ATFP engineering. ATFP is a field that aims to defeat terrorist threats via a system of active and passive denial. Since joining Parsons in 2017, Jon has designed a weapons manufacturing facility in the Middle East and helped establish physical security standards for a large airport.
Sean B., Senior Project Engineer
NATURAL LEADER. Sean possesses a rare mix of technical excellence, infectious enthusiasm, business acumen, and outgoing personality. Sean pioneered an emerging building information modeling (BIM) practice in our bridge technical organization. Sean’s innovative work and his leading-edge papers and presentations detailing his work won him top honors at the New England American Council of Engineering and Construction (ACEC) and National ACEC awards.
Brian G., Systems Engineering Lead
ANTICIPATES CLIENTS’ PROBLEMS. Brian has the unique ability to identify and solve problems long before the customer is aware that the problems are present. Brian currently leads the technical development of a large program across the diverse areas of counterspace, anti-missile defense, integrated air defense, ballistic missile operations, weapon command and control, and surface-to-air missile performance.
George P., Technical Director/Senior Engineer
MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL MARVEL. George is known for his ability to rapidly research, comprehend, and put into operation almost any modern technology. He has managed and provided technical solutions for more than 40 different government-funded programs in domains including geospatial intelligence, radar and data fusion, sensor protocols and integration, biometrics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. He designed and implemented the Sensor Data Server, which is used to normalize disparate sensor inputs into common formats for analytics to more easily process the data.
Brian B., Principal Project Engineer
DEMONSTRATES TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING. As the lead engineer and field team leader for our remediation work at a former military base, Brian designed and oversaw the installation and operation of seven soil vapor extraction systems and six bioventing systems at the site. Challenged by extremely cold temperatures, he insulated and included heating tape in all vent lines to prevent condensation from freezing and blocking the system.
Jim S., Senior Project Manager, Groundwater Remediation Subject Matter Expert
REVERED GROUNDWATER EXPERT. Jim has a passion for innovation and science—and his numerical and analytical modeling experience makes him the go-to person for groundwater challenges firmwide. He provides technical direction and detailed analyses for complex, litigated, community-sensitive remediation projects. He’s leading the geostatistical and advanced mathematical modeling efforts of a complicated, high-profile, subsurface-contaminant Superfund site, where his technical aptitude and leadership have proven crucial to progressing the site amid technically challenging regulatory settings.
Casey O., Principal Engineer
SOUGHT-AFTER NONLINEAR DYNAMIC MODELER. A client referred to Casey as “more efficient than a team of six of the most skilled nonlinear dynamic modelers.”Casey’s experience executing full-scale blast and ballistic testing, coupled with his structural engineering background, enables him to design systems to remain survivable in extreme environments.
Igor M., Design Manager
DESIGN OWNER WHO DEMONSTRATES EXCELLENCE. Igor demonstrates excellence not only as a project lead but also as a design owner. As the infrastructure design manager and on-site coordinator, his responsibilities encompass all major utility disciplines as well as mechanical and instrumentation elements of the design. He has developed projects in a 3D, building information modeling (BIM)–inclusive environment to ensure design quality, constructability assurance, and client satisfaction.
John S., System Engineering, Lead/Communications, and Networks Lead
STRATEGIC TEAM LEADER AND DEVELOPER. John established a reputation as the key communications/networks lead in the Missile Defense field. As a strategic team leader and developer of new concepts of operations, John ensured the operations plan provides warfighter insight into network operations and ensured network operations were restored quickly and efficiently after an outage.