The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
http://www.PittsburghPE.Org
E-mail [email protected]
Published by:
The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of
Professional Engineers
337 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
P. 412-391-0615 F. 412-261-1606
March 2008
Engineers’ Week Banquet
Over 120 engineers and guests attended the Engineers’ Week Banquet at The Club at Nevillewood. The Chapter was
honored to have State President, Len Bernstein P.E., in attendance. This year’s awards had an airport theme as the Chapter
honored Bradley D. Penrod, CEO & Executive Director at Pittsburgh International Airport, with the Distinguished Service
Award. The Young Engineer, Jeff Bezek E.I.T. of PBS&J also highlighted his work at several airports including PIT.
Involvement with the construction of the Midfield Terminal at Pittsburgh
International Airport in 1992 was just one of the “hints” used by the presenter, Dave
Briskey P.E., to describe the career of the 2008 Lawrence W. Hornfeck Award
winner. Other hints included reference to time spent surfing in California where the
honoree made his first successful attempt to gain national media exposure before he
moved back to Pittsburgh “because four is a crowd.” These hints highlighted the
honoree’s involvement in the construction of the bike path that was featured at the
beginning of each Three’s Company TV episode in the 70’s. The final hint made the
selection clear to every Chapter member who has ever attended a dinner event by
describing the honoree as “a humble man who knows how to thank Those who
provide our food.”
Dave Samek, Michel Sadaka,
Vicki Sadaka and Len Bernstein.
The Pittsburgh Section is honored and privileged to award the
2008 Lawrence W. Hornfeck Award to
Thomas Weber, P.E.
Other Award winners were John Broscious for his help to the Chapter President in carrying out her duties. The Dedicated
Service Award was given to Dave Samek for his continuing involvement with MATCHOUNTS. Pittsburgh’s first High
Definition broadcast on October 6, 2007 originated from WPXI, Cox Television’s new media facility. This facility
received recognition with the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award and will be the destination of a future Chapter
tour. In addition, the 2008 MATHCOUNT Winners were introduced and Len Bernstein personally presented the two
newest Professional Engineers, Ken Shimko and Phillip Elgin, with a complimentary 6-month free membership in NSPE.
Finally, Joe Boward was recognized for being this year’s Chapter Nomination for State Engineer or the Year Award.
Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everyone who took the time to honor the Awardees with their presence.
Everyone in attendance enjoyed great food and even better company!!
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
Page 1
March 2008
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Engineers’ Week
Banquet
Banquet Pictures
Apprenticeship Program
Westinghouse Film
April Meeting Activities
1
2
3
4
5
ENGINEERS’ WEEK BANQUET PICTURES
Aileen Drosendahl, Dusty
Branting, Reyman Branting,
and Jon Drosendahl
Recognizing our new PEs is State
President Len Bernstein. New PEs are
Ken Shimko and Phillip Elgin.
2007 Hornfeck
Award Winner –
Dave Briskey as MC
Milan Spanovich, Fred Graham,
Vicki Sadaka and Sylvia Spanovich
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
Page 2
March 2008
Michael Baker Visit Report
Engineering Apprenticeship – Group 4
Keith Henry, Brigid Hartnet
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
On December 19th, 2007, Group 4 went to visit the Michael Baker Office in Moon Township. We were
welcomed by Ed Telega. He told us about his job experiences and his education at Penn State. He briefed us on
the plans of the Missing Ramps Project.
Missing Ramp Project
Aerial View
We were then introduced to a few other engineers in the office. Sean Hart, a structural engineer, portrayed
his passion and love for what he did. Dan Ference discussed his changing careers and his position as a traffic
engineer.
We ended our experience by touring the worksite of the Missing Ramps
Project. We got to understand the day to day activities and the amount of
people needed to undergo a project this size. It was an empowering
opportunity to see varying engineers do their job in the office and out in the
field.
2007-2008 Chapter Officers
President – Virginia Dailey, P.E.
President Elect – Tom Weber, P.E.
Vice President – Dave Samek, P.E.
State Director - David Briskey, P.E. 2005-2008
Jeff Mazza, P.E. 2005-2008
Moe Rayan, E.I.T. 2005-2008
Vacant Position 2006 - 2009
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
Executive Secretary - Kevin Wiley, P.E.
Treasurer - John A. Broscious, P.E.
Financial Secretary - Reyman Branting, P.E.
Immediate Past President – Darryl Brogan, P.E.
2007-2008 Chapter Directors
Brian Schull, P.E. 2006 - 2009
Kirk Thompson, P.E. 2007 – 2010
Joe Garlicki, P.E. 2007 - 2010
Page 3
March 2008
History of Pittsburgh Captured
Westinghouse is a feature-length documentary about the life and times of
George Westinghouse, his companies, legacy, personality, partnership with
Nikola Tesla and conflict with Thomas Edison.
George Westinghouse is considered America’s greatest industrialist and the
only man who would go up against Thomas Edison and win.
His victory over Edison during the Battle of the Currents set the stage for the
entire future of electric power. The Westinghouse air brake is considered one
of the most important inventions in history. Automobile shock absorbers,
railroad signaling and the modern day weekend all owe their existence to the
man who Andrew Carnegie called “A genius who can’t be downed.”
Westinghouse may be most famous for the massive companies that he created,
but the man called “Uncle George” was a reserved, creative giant who went
out of his way to treat his workforce with dignity and respect. He was an
honest millionaire in the days of robber barons, an optimist in the days of skeptics and a generous CEO from
whom today's executives can learn.
For more information about this wonderful piece of history go to www.westinghousefilm.com.
George Westinghouse
and Nikola Tesla
Fans, switchgear and many
other electrical products
were all inventions from
Westinghouse.
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
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March 2008
April Meeting Activities and Dates
The Pittsburgh Chapter has many opportunities this month to get involved with various activities in engineering
projects here in Pittsburgh.
The first opportunity is our site visit to the “Big Dig” – the tunnel under the river to the North Shore and back.
Kirk Thompson, one of Directors, will be scheduling this site visit probably in late April. The scheduled event
will take place on a Saturday, to accommodate the site and
construction conditions. Depending on the weather and the progress
of the project, it will most likely be in late April. Keep your eye on
the Chapter web site, www.pittsburghpe.org, for details and also in the
upcoming newsletter.
Cutting heads of tunnel boring machines. The tunnel boring
machine will be used to cut through rock and soil underneath the
Allegheny River to create LRT tunnels.
The second opportunity is for a site visit to the new WPXI High Definition studios. Sandy Hughes, Construction
Manager for WPXI, who received the award for the Outstanding
Engineering Achievement Award for WPXI at our Engineers’ Week
Banquet, has agreed to host a tour of the facility on April 16th.
State-of-the-art broadcasting includes new
103-inch monitors weighing nearly 600 lbs. each.
They measure just over 100-inches diagonally.
The third opportunity is for our younger members to socialize with young members of other technical societies in
Pittsburgh. ASCE/ASHE/SAME are hosting a social on Friday, April 18th, location to be determined. The social
portion of the evening will begin at 6:00pm with a presentation later in the evening. The scheduling was set up to
accommodate the completion of the FE/PE tests and prior to the local school’s final tests.
Be sure and mark you calendars for one of these three events in April.
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
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March 2008
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
Published by
Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers
Pittsburgh Chapter
337 Fourth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(Return Service Requested)
PSPE, Pittsburgh chapter – http://www.PittsburghPE.Org
2007-2008 CALENDAR
MEMBERSHIP EVENTS & MEETINGS
Date
Time
Description
Location
April 2008
April 16, 2008
April 18, 2008
May 2008
June 2008
TBD
WPXI
TBD
TBD
TBD
Various
TBD
6:00pm
TBD
TBD
April Chapter Meeting – Tunnel Site Visit
April Chapter Meeting/Joint with IES – WPXI Visit
April Chapter Meeting/Joint with ASCE/ASHE/SAME
Installation of Chapter Officers,
Recognition of Apprenticeship Participants
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ON:
March 13, 2008, April 10, 2008,
May 8, 2008 and June 12, 2008
All BOD meeting are to held @ 5:30PM @ the ESWP Building pending further notice.
The Pittsburgh Professional Engineer
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March 2008