Engineer of the Year Nominees.

Namoniated by the American Society of Professional Engineers

Amos Joseph "Joe" Alter, longtime Alaskan resident and prominent civil engineer, passed away on October 26, 2000. Alter was a driving force in the American Society of Civil Engineers and American Society of Professional Engineers throughout his many years in Alaska.

Alter was born on August 4, 1916 on Rosebud Farm in Jasper County, Ind. He graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1938. Following this degree, he specialized in public health and environmental issues in his graduate studies and earned a master's degree in public health from the University of Michigan in 1948 and his professional engineering degree from Purdue University in 1949.

Alter and his wife, Catherine, came to Alaska in 1944. He was a commissioned officer with the Public Health Service. For more than 35 years, he worked as a civil engineer, focusing on problems of water supply, waste disposal, environmental conservation and pollution control in an arctic environment. He worked for the U.S. Public Health Service, the Territory of Alaska, the State of Alaska, and as a private consultant. His professional involvement included charter memberships and past presidencies in the Alaska Public Health Association, the Alaska Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American/Association of the Advancement of Science.

Nationally, Alter served on the National Academy of Sciences Cold Regions Engineering Subcommittee from 1950 to 1965, and as a national director of the American Society of Civil Engineers from 1972 to 1975. He authored numerous articles and monographs for professional journals and conferences, and received awards in recognition of his contributions and service. He was especially pleased to have had a role in virtually eliminating tuberculosis as a daily threat to the lives of the state's citizens.

Jerry L. Brady

Nominated by the Society of Petroleum Engineers

Jerry L. Brady is a senior staff engineer for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. He is the project manager for the Subsurface Process and Re-Injection Compressor-a small, high-speed compressor powered by a turbo expander that injects gas back into the well eliminating normal emission associated with typical recompression facilities. Brady is also the project manager of a novel new surveillance technique that monitors waterflood movement thousands of feet below ground using surface gravity. This technique provides a time-lapse 4-D view of the water movement in the ground.

Brady graduated with honors from Montana Tech, receiving a degree in petroleum engineering. He has a 20-year career in production engineering, where he has been responsible for the development of several new technologies. These include the development of acid-resistant cement, new horizontal well evaluation techniques and smart well surveillance technologies. Brady holds 12 U.S. patents and more than 25 published professional papers relating to his work with new well technology development. He has routinely given professional presentations on the work that he has performed.

Brady has volunteered and provided technical assistance in the efforts to conserve underground water resources by properly abandoning old wells, and he has worked with ranchers on improving their water well systems. He is also involved with the youth in his church as a Royal Ranger Commander.

Fred R. Brown, P.E.

Nominated by American Society of Civil Engineers

Fred R. Brown relocated to Anchorage in 1982 to develop a new office of Shannon & Wilson Inc., a recognized consulting firm specializing in geotechnical engineering. He has ensured Shannon & Wilson stability, with over 35 years of unbroken service, starting in 1965 as an Engineer 1 and progressing to his current position as office manager, senior vice president and a member of the firm's board of directors.

Brown has maintained personal involvement with the technologically advanced aspects of geotechnical engineering, as well as providing consulting services on numerous high-profile projects in both Alaska and the Lower 48. He has directed or managed geotechnical-related efforts for evaluating many hazardous waste sites in Alaska; performed Phase I safety evaluations for 38 Alaska dams; developed design or remedial recommendations for over 20 waterfront structures, 100 Alaska building foundations, five landslides, 20 water and sewer line projects, five dams, five tunnels and numerous roads and paved surfaces throughout Alaska.

Currently, he is serving as geotechnical engineer for the 3,500-foot Gravina Island to Ketchikan Access Bridge to be constructed across the Wrangell Narrows, ongoing geotechnical studies for the Port of Anchorage Intermodal Facility, the pile design for a new TOTE trestle at the Port of Anchorage's Terminal No.3, and improvements to nine miles of Homer's East End Road. He has bachelor's of science and master's of science degrees in civil engineering, has been a registered professional engineer since 1968, and is active in a number of professional societies.

Debendra Kumar Das

Nominated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

Debendra Das is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has spent the past 17 years at UAF as a teacher educating many engineering students and making dedicated efforts to enhance engineering education in Alaska. During his career at UAF he has brought in $460,000 of research grants to UAF as the principal investigator. Jointly, as co-principal investigator with other faculty members, he has procured $1.47 million worth of research grants to conduct several Alaska-related research projects. He has been the major professor for seven master's degree graduates and one doctoral graduate. Das is also the founder and president of Cold Weather Testing Inc., which has provided consulting services in engineering, technology and scientific fields since 1993.

Das has been a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for 27 years, and also is a member of the Institution of Engineers India. He has served as the ASME Student Section advisor at UAF for 10 years. He is the current secretary of the Northern Alaska ASME Group. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Alaska and Rhode Island. Das has been the secretary of the board for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill since 1995. He also has served as an adult troop leader for the Boy Scouts of America.

Das has received the following awards: University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Engineering Merit Award, 1990; nominated by UAF faculty for initiation into Honor Society of Phi, Kappa, Phi, 1996; Professor of the Year Award from American Society of Mechanical Engineers Student Section at UAF, 1996; listed in Who is Who among America's Teachers by nomination of UAF students, 1998.

Steven Gilbert

Nominated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

Steven C. Gilbert serves as the Manager of Energy Projects Development, Operations & Maintenance for Chugach Electric Association Inc.'s Energy Supply Division. He is highly respected as a senior member of Alaska's electrical power engineering community. His extensive body of professional work includes national and international power projects, many of which are considered "firsts" among his peers. During his 20-year career in the electrical utility industry, he has provided special expertise in the areas of industrial instrumentation and controls, large and medium power plant and commissioning, and the development of alternative generation technologies, including fuel cells and wind power generation. in 2000, Gilbert commissioned the largest parallel fuel cell plant to date worldwide: the 1-Megawatt Fuel Cell Plant located at the United States Postal Service Airport Facility at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Gilbert's reputation and expertise in industrial power plant controls and instrumentation has led to his involvement in various industry organizations, including the Alaska Intertie Operating Committee, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the National Institute for the Uniform Licensing of Power Engineers. Gilbert serves as the Chairman of the Alaska Machine Rating Subcommittee of the Alaska Intertie Operating Committee, a group responsible for establishing power plant ratings for all Alaska Railbelt utilities. He is a cofounder and current board member of the Alaska jurisdiction of the NIULPE. Steve is registered as a Chief Engineer with NIULPE, and was commissioned as an examining engineer within that institute in 1994.

Gilbert is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a member of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a Member of the Association of Energy Engineers. He is also a member of the National Association of Power Engineers. He received his formal engineering education at Western Wisconsin Technical College.

Dennis R. Linnell

Nominated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers 

Dennis R. Linnell, P.E., is a senior civil engineer with R&M Consultants Inc. Linnell has served as the project engineer and project manager for some of the larger highway, roadway and airport projects undertaken in Alaska over the last 10 years, including the extensive rehabilitation and widening of the Parks Highway, Glenn intersection to Willow; planning and preliminary roadway design for Gateway Alaska, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Redevelopment project; and the extension of C Street, Dimond to O'Malley.

A highly versatile engineer, Linnell's experience includes: highways, municipal streets, airport master plans & design, marine facilities, railroad facilities, shore protection systems, erosion control & protection, site development, water/wastewater, hazardous waste cleanup, environmental permitting and construction management.

Linnell was born in Anchorage where he graduated from Dimond High School. He holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Oregon State University, and has been a registered professional engineer in Alaska since 1988. He is active in the Alaska Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, holding every officer position, and recently serving as president from 1999 to 2000. He is a member of various other professional organizations as well.

Linnell is also active within the community, volunteering for Church Youth Director, Salvation Army, Anchorage Rescue Mission, Alaska National Guard Youth Corps, Heritage Christian School, Youth for Christ, Christmas in May, United Way Campaign, student engineering groups at UAA, and youth basketball/soccer coach.

He "Helen" Liu

Nominated by the Society of Women Engineers

He "Helen" Liu, Ph.D., P.E., is an assistant professor of the School of Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and an active researcher and practical engineer in Alaska. She received bachelor's of science and master's of science degrees in civil engineering from Beijing Polytechnic University in China and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She joined UAA in 1995 and was honored as the Professor of the Year for academic year '98-'99 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, University of Alaska.

For more than 20 years, Liu has been dedicated to studies in the field of structural and earthquake engineering. She was a researcher in the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research during 1990-1994. Her research work there was in the area of seismic isolation for buildings and bridges, which was a part of the U.S.-Japan collaborated research program on earthquake protective systems.

After coming to Alaska, Liu became a registered professional engineer. Since then, her research and engineering work have covered a wide spectrum. Utilizing her expertise and knowledge of seismic design codes for the United States and China, she accomplished several international consulting projects. Since 1995, she has bee a co-investigator of the project "Seismic Microzonation: Metropolitan Anchorage, Alaska" sponsored by the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation. The project will benefit the design community for long-term structural reliability. She is also a co-investigator of the project "Evaluation of Helical Piers for Use in Frozen Ground." She received the Best of Session Technical Paper Award [or her research paper "Dynamic Behavior and Response Analysis of Fluid/Tank Systems" in an international conference in August 2000.

Stephen Schwicht

Nominated by the Society of American Military Engineers

Stephen Schwicht, P.E., is a project manager with DOWL Engineers. Since joining the firm in July 1997, he has managed projects for a variety of private and public clients.

Prior to this assignment, Steve served as manager of maintenance and engineering and as planning chief at the trans-Alaska oil pipeline terminal in Valdez.

From 1990 to 1991, he was a program manager for the Federal Aviation Administration in Alaska.

From 1981 to 1990, Steve served as a civilian employee with the Alaska District Corps of Engineers. His work assignments included military and civil works projects throughout Alaska, and he served concurrently as an engineer officer with the U.S. Army Reserves, headquartered on Fort Richardson.

Schwicht earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Brigham Young University in 1980 and a master's of science degree in engineering management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1989.

Schwicht is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Alaska. He was Alaska District's nominee for 1985 Federal Employee of the Year. He is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers and the Project Management Institute.

He is married to Debra Schwicht. They have six children: Michael (20), Lara (18), EmmaLee (15), Jeffrey (13), Daniel (10) and Sarah (6).