Delco engineering society announces honorees for February banquet
The Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers Delaware County Chapter announces its awards selections for 2018. All honorees will be recognized during the national celebration of Engineers Week at the chapter’s banquet on Feb 21 at the Concordville Inn, 780 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills.
For banquet reservations, contact Mike Ciocco at 610532-2884, mjcengr@verizon.net, or register online at www.delawarecountypspe.wixsite.com/delco-pspe
The honorees for 2018 are:
Engineer of the Year
The Delco chapter will honor Charles Catania, Jr. as the 2018 Engineer of the Year. The award is given each year to a candidate who resides or is employed in Delaware County or Southern Chester County. The candidate is evaluated against a list of criteria including professional achievement and contributions to community.
The Villanova graduate (B.S., civil, magna cum laude) joined his father’s firm in 1989 and contributed immediately as the lead engineer in countless community revitalization, streetscapes and drainage improvement projects. Catania, the Licensed Engineer in some 10 municipalities within Delaware County, is now a principal of the firm, founded by his father in 1964.
Catania has been involved with the Ridley United Soccer Club for over 20 years, starting out as a coach and now serving as club president since 2011. He has led the organization which had only a small group of players in 1998 to over 500 kids — ages 2 to 15 — today. He has helped with “The Outreach Program for Soccer” (TOPS) within his club. The program provides training for young athletes with disabilities.
Charles is a lifelong resident of Ridley Township along with his wife Renee and daughter Jill.
He joins his sister, Lisa Catania who was the 2000 recipient, while his father, the late Charles J. received the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Young Engineer of the Year
The chapter announces Joshua Treisner as the 2018 Young Engineer of the Year. The award is given each year to a candidate who is a licensed (or in-training) engineer, no more than 35 years old, and resides or is employed in Delaware County or Southern Chester County. The candidate is evaluated against a list of criteria including professional achievement and contributions to community.
Treisner, a licensed Professional Engineer in both Pennsylvania and Delaware, is a senior reliability engineer at Monroe Energy’s Trainer Refinery. He has responsibilities for the safe and reliable run times of the refinery’s fixed equipment. He is also responsible for implementing the piping specifications and engineering standards utilized by the refinery.
A 2007 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Delaware (B.S., mechanical), he was the recipient of the W. Francis Lindell Mechanical Engineering Distinguished Senior award in 2007. He is also the co-inventor for a U.S. Patent entitled “Portable Metered Flow Apparatus for Calibration/ Bump Testing ” (patent # 9,261,885 B2).
Treisner resides in Wilmington and enjoys amateur photography and is a parttime volunteer at “Tree Tops Animal Rescue.”
Lifetime Achievement Award
The chapter announces Dave Campbell, PE, D.WRE, is the recipient of the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is bestowed annually to a Delaware or southern Chester County engineer whose contributions have advanced the profession locally, regionally, nationally and/or globally.
Campbell, a licensed Professional Engineer and a Diplomate in Water Resources Engineering, has practiced dam engineering for more than 40 years. After joining Schnabel Engineering in 1994, he led the creation of a highly respected and thriving dam, levee and water resources engineering group with nearly 100 full-time employees.
The Villanova graduate (B.S. and M.S., civil) is the recipient of several honors for his contributions to dam safety awareness, innovation and advancement. These include a National Award of Merit and the Terry L. Hampton Medal from The Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO); the John J. Gallen Memorial Award from Villanova University; and the Inaugural Practitioner of the Year Award from the American Association of Water Resources Engineers. Campbell was also project manager and lead designer for the upgrading of Sugar Hollow Dam in Virginia, which was chosen by ASDSO as National Dam Rehabilitation Project of the Year in 2000.
A resident of West Chester, Campbell has written more than 30 papers related to dam engineering and reservoir water supply planning; presented a keynote address at the second International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures in Portugal; and contributed to all three editions of the American Water Works Association-sponsored Water Resources Planning manual of practice.
Outstanding Project Award
The chapter recognizes Swarthmore’s roundabout for the 2018 Outstanding Project Award. This award is given for an outstanding project, research, or other significant contribution to Delaware and southern Chester County. Projects are evaluated on several factors including: innovation, complexity, social, economic and sustainable development, and the successful meeting of objectives
Swarthmore College retained Engineer of Record, McMahon Associates, Inc., a Fort Washington, Pa., based engineering firm to help resolve the vehicular and pedestrian access problem at the highly complex intersection along Chester Road (SR 0320). The final design resulted in a singlelane roundabout providing a key multimodal connection between Swarthmore College, the borough’s business district, and SEPTA’s Swarthmore Regional Rail Station.
The existing intersection was a unique five-leg, unsignalized expanse which was confusing for drivers and bicyclists and signed to prohibit pedestrian crossing. This intersection divided the campus from the businesses of Swarthmore Borough.
The team, led by McMahon President Joseph DeSantis, PE, included Swarthmore College Director of Capital Planning and Project Management Janet Semler, Swarthmore Borough Manager Jane Billings, and W.S Cumby,Inc Site Manager Robert Long.
The project required extensive community outreach, and several permitting and construction challenges including a phased approach to accommodating traffic during construction. Construction was completed in 2015 with final landscaping completed in 2017.