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municipalauthorities.org | 29 - F ebruary 16 - 22, 2025 What emerging technology in water/wastewater treatment excites you the most? I’m most excited about our industry’s commitment to extracting every resource from all we do – even wasting. We’re currently constructing a biogas treatment facility to condition our anaerobic digester gas to Renewable Natural Gas quality for sale to UGIES by the end of next year. What career milestones have you achieved that you’re most proud of? As I age, I’ve forgotten many of the milestones, and I realize that I take more from the many meaningful relationships developed in my work. We’ve been able to build such an incredible, collaborative responsive team of professional staff here, all committed individually to personal excellence (whether it’s SW, DW, WW, GIS, Asset Management, construction, etc.) yet they’re somehow, still stronger working as a group to deliver value to customers that have been historically overlooked. Can you share an example of a project that significantly reduced environmental pollution? Our $50 million 2016 Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility Biological Nutrient Removal improvements project transformed a 1980s high-rate secondary plant to complete nutrient removal, and our operations staff soon pushed beyond its capabilities in transitioning from methanol (as denit. carbon) feed to Micro-C, then to food waste slurry, so we can now completely denitrify without purchasing costly chemicals. Their initiative and innovative approach to operations is one of the primary drivers that drew me to CRW. What inspired you to become a water/wastewater engineer? As long as I can remember, my dad expressed disappointment that he didn’t pursue a career in engineering (he worked at a bank in Center City Philadelphia), and he never really presented me with any alternative to being an engineer. Early on at Penn State (when we started exploring engineering majors), I resonated with the beauty, scale and logic of Civil Engineering works (mostly hydrology & hydraulics, and process kinetics of biological systems). I’m amazed by the elegance of how natural systems evolve and how civil engineering adopts and leverages those processes. To me, there are few more reverent environments than alongside an aeration basin or clarifiers, so serene, yet there’s so much unseen activity under the surface – once you understand your role in that delicate balance that can easily be disrupted, by toxic chemicals, temperature or pH imbalance - changing the process landscape entirely, I think you’re hooked for life. How has the field changed since you started your career? The biggest change is (like everything else) in computer processing power. What skills do you think will be most important for future water/wastewater engineers? As always, concern for the natural world (including humanity’s place in it) along with a willingness to communicate and share, as I’ve always found any audience entirely rapt by discussion of what engineers are planning and why. Can you share an instance where your work significantly improved a community’s quality of life? We’ve collaborated with many Harrisburg community organizations to design and construct Green Infrastructure improvements that combine effective stormwater management with neighborhood amenities. We’ve upgraded several parks throughout the City to incorporate pervious basketball courts, subsurface storage, rain gardens, tree trenches, etc. all quietly managing surrounding impervious stormwater flows to mitigate wet weather peak issues. A few partners include: Summit Terrace Neighborhood Association, Tri-County Community Action, Camp Curtin YMCA, Boys and Girls Club of Harrisburg, Bellevue Park Association, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Impact Harrisburg, the City of Harrisburg, Capital Area Greenbelt Association, PennDOT, and Susquehanna and Lower Paxton Townships. National Engineers Week, or EWeek, according to Wikipedia, was started in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in conjunction with President George Washington’s birthday. Washington is considered as the nation’s first engineer, notably for his survey work. National Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.