• Junior Engineer of the Year - Matthew Stewart

• Co-Senior Engineer of the Year - Ron Stahlhut

• Co-Senior Engineer of the Year -  Barbara Lester

• Senior Scientist of the Year - John Johnson

• Lifetime Achievement Award - S.K. Nanda

• Society of the Year - Society of Women Engineers, Quad Cities/Muscatine Section

• President's Award of Merit - Chris Hebel

• Special Service Award - Pat Barnes

Junior Engineer of the Year:

Matthew Stewart

Mr. Stewart is a Civil Engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. Currently, Mr. Stewart is managing a regional team of professionals with the Rock Island New Orleans Support team. He is the project team lead for six multi-faceted projects comprised of closure-gate structures, a four-lane highway bridge, levees, and navigable sector gates totaling approximately $100 million in construction.

During the Great Flood of 2008, Mr. Stewart served with distinction as the Flood Area Engineer for the Quincy Flood Area as he led a team of over 50 flood fight support personnel from the local District and across the nation. Mr. Stewart's exceptional efforts resulted in significant reduction in risk of loss of life and damage to property in central Illinois, southern Iowa and northern Missouri. For his efforts, Mr. Stewart was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Medal from Brigadier General Walsh.

Mr. Stewart was the lead Project and Geotechnical Engineer for the Lockport Dam’s $120 million Major Rehabilitation Project. This is a high hazard dam that is number two on the priority list for navigation dams in the Corps of Engineers. The success of Mr. Stewart's effort will provide significant navigation, flood control, and hydropower benefits to the region and nation.

Mr. Stewart is active in his local community where he volunteers time to support the Domestic Abuse Shelter for Women and Children and the Emmaus Café (a local soup kitchen). He also serves as a recruiter for the Army Corps of Engineers at his alma mater, the University of Iowa.

As a Professional Engineer, Mr. Stewart holds a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa where he has extensive post baccalaureate work in Hydrogeology. He is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the Order of the Engineer. Mr. Stewart lives in Muscatine, Iowa with his wife, Andrea, and their two children, Kate and Cael.

Co-Senior Engineer of the Year

Ron Stahlhut

Mr. Stahlhut is Manager of Hybrid Electrical Systems at John Deere’s Moline Technology Innovation Center. With 28 years of service at John Deere, he is an accomplished engineer with a broad base of experience.  During the past 12 years of his career, he has worked in product development.  Prior assignments include both manufacturing, engineering systems and information technology.   Some of his accomplishments at Deere include leading engine controller development at Deere Power Systems and launching the John Deere Software Delivery System which currently delivers vehicle electronic control software to Deere dealers, customers and factories world-wide.   Ron also had key program responsibility for putting the John Deere Flex Box electronics platform into production which now exceeds volumes of 300,000 units per year.

Currently Ron is responsible for leading Deere’s product technology development in Vehicle Hybrid Electrification.   This includes working with Deere divisions around the globe to advance electric hybrid product technology and capability.   Ron had significant involvement with two recent award winning Deere product introductions.   These include the 2500E Greens Mower and the 7430 ePremium Tractor which recently won a European Agritechnica Gold Medal.   He is recognized within Deere for both his professional contributions and collaboration among division product groups in hybrid technology.  The focus of his effort improves machine performance and reduces environmental impact.  As a result, he has been awarded three US patents and one European Union patent in the area of hybrid product technology.

Over his career, he has been active in a number of engineering societies including the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.   He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State University.   Ron currently lives in Bettendorf with his wife Lynelle and their 3 children.

Co-Senior Engineer of the Year:

Barbara Lester

Ms. Lester was nominated for her many contributions to construction management at the Corps of Engineers in 2008, which included her work as the Area Engineer/Administrative Contracting Officer for the Central Area Office, Construction Branch, Engineering and Construction Division. She very successfully managed a heavy workload of varied projects and was instrumental in the successful completion of the Rock Island District Construction Mission. She provided the leadership and stability needed to help the Corps successfully execute its construction mission during a very tumultuous period due to significant personnel losses, turnover, deployments, and the Great Midwest Flood of 2008. Ms. Lester has repeatedly proven her willingness to take on and successfully complete difficult assignments.

Ms. Lester has recently been responsible for construction management of over 10 construction contracts, including the two top priority projects in the District and Upper Mississippi River – Lock No. 19 Major Rehab Stage II and Lock No. 11 Major Rehab Stage II.

Of particular significance were her many efforts on MVR’s most significant contract—the 18 million dollar major rehabilitation of Lock 19. Due to subcontractor performance issues, several major work items in this contract were in jeopardy of not being accomplished in time for the scheduled lock closure. Ms. Lester was a key player with the District’s senior staff team and with the contractor and subcontractors to develop a work-around to these project issues, negotiate the contract changes that the Project Delivery Team determined were in the District’s best interest, and maintain daily contact between all the parties involved on progress made. It was Ms. Lester’s leadership, teambuilding skills, and ability to work effectively with the District and the contractor/subcontractors’ senior leadership that played a major role to bring about successful completion of the Lock 19 Stage II project in 2006.

Her work as Area Engineer has contributed directly to the Rock Island District’s recognition as a leader in navigation and environmental improvements. She is the first female in MVR to be selected to the leadership position of Area Engineer. She is a superior role model and was recognized as such during the March 2006 Department of the Army Federal Women’s History Month.

Ms. Lester received her B. S. in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University in 1984 and her M. S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1991.  A resident of Davenport, she is a licensed Professional Engineer and a member of the Quad Cities Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Rock Island Post of the Society of American Military Engineers.  She is a volunteer with the Generations Area Agency on Aging and the Davenport Central High School PTA.

Senior Scientist of the Year:

Dr. John Johnson

Dr. John D. Johnson has been a senior security program manager at John Deere for 10 years.  Prior to joining John Deere, he was a consultant and a security manager for the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In his current position, John is responsible for global security programs including antivirus management, vulnerability management and strong authentication. His current initiatives include charters on PCI compliance, NAC, mobile security, web application security, desktop security convergence and how to employ adaptive technologies to better authenticate users for Internet collaboration. John is also involved in evaluating data loss prevention technologies, open source software, cloud computing and software as a service.

John is active in the security community as a security blogger, educator and frequent speaker and serves on various boards and advisory councils. He is currently Iowa-Illinois IEEE Section Past-Chair, R4 IEEE Education Chair and Springfield FBI Infragard Treasurer and is a member of several other professional organizations and peer groups. John is an adjunct professor at St. Ambrose University and Scott Community College where he has taught physics, astronomy, ethics and computer security courses. He has also developed online security courses for other universities.  John works to raise public awareness of science through his professional affiliations, peer groups, writing and speaking engagements. John received his B.S. in Physics from Michigan Technological University, his M.S. in Physics from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. in Physics from The University of Texas at Austin.  A resident of Bettendorf, he is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society.

Lifetime Achievement Award:

S.K. Nanda

Mr. Nanda is the Chief, Hydrology & Hydraulics Branch at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Rock Island District.  For over 40 years at the Corps, Mr. Nanda has devoted his knowledge and expertise in planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of water resources projects in the Midwest.  He is responsible for day-to-day water resources operation of all locks and dams on the Mississippi River and reservoirs in the Rock Island District.  He serves on many national committees that develop policy and guidelines for hydrology and hydraulics design and research and development in the Corps of Engineers.  He represents the Corps on the National Academy of Science’s “Committee on Hydrological Science.”

Mr. Nanda has served on the White House Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team and as the Chairman of the Inter-State and Inter-Agency Task Force to revise the flood profiles of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  He was the project manager for the pioneering “Remote Sensing Demonstration Project” for the Corps of Engineers that linked satellite technologies to day-to-day water resources management.  He has written numerous scientific papers and has given numerous international key note addresses.   He has taught hydraulics related courses nationally, represented the Corps internationally and has served on many USACE strategy teams to advance the state of the technology over five decades.

Mr. Nanda is a Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers and a Fellow and Regional Vice-President of the Society of American Military Engineers.  He is a Founding Member, Diplomate and Trustee of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.  He is a registered Professional Engineer in Iowa and Illinois and a Professional Hydrologist of the American Institute of Hydrology.  He has served on the Advisory Board of the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa.

At the community level, Mr. Nanda has served as the President of the Bettendorf Lions Club and Governor of the Lions of Iowa (Dist 9x9); President of the Bettendorf Rotary Club; president of the Rock Island Post of SAME; Director of the Vera French Mental Health Center and the Chairman of the Quad Cities Engineering and Science Council.  

Mr. Nanda is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras, India) and the University of Iowa.  He is also a graduate of the Army Management Staff College.  He has received numerous awards including awards for engineering excellence in the Rock Island District and the North Central Division of the Corps; QCESC Senior Engineer of the Year; Commander’s award for civilian service and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the highest service award of the Corps of Engineers.

Society of the Year Award:

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Quad Cities/Muscatine Section, was the recipient of the Society of the Year Award for its contributions to the QCESC, its society members and the community as a whole for 2008.

Angel Jacobs, Section President, accepted the award at the banquet for SWE.

2008 SWE meetings included Portion Distortion by HyVee, Escape from Horrid Meetings by Pam Hillary, a Botanical Center tour, Grain Processing Center tour, End of Year Potluck, Lafarge Tour, Exercise & Stress Management by Gold's Gym, and Wreath Making by Rock Island Parks. 2008 average meeting attendance was 18. The Section also organized “A Night Out with SWE” which all other local societies were invited to.

The Section communicates through a monthly newsletter and web site – see http://www.swe.org/SWE/RegionH/Sections/Quad_Cities/ .

Besides donating annually to the QCESC scholarship fund, the Section will also be providing a scholarship of its own. The Section helped a new SWE College Interest Group at Saint Ambrose College get started and receive its charter paying half the membership fees for all the students. The local Section also helped their national organization by scoring 750 scholarship applications for National SWE scholarships.

Community projects SWE participates in include the Festival of Trees, Birdies for Charity, Girl's Night Out, Science Siesta, and Job Shadowing. In spring 2008, the Section hosted their annual Girl Scout Workshop/Outreach Event for 68 girls in the 3rd-4th grades spending the afternoon helping the girls earn a Science Discovery Badge
 

Chris Hebel

Chris Hebel was presented the President's Award of Merit by QCESC President Patrick Barnes, for his outstanding contributions to the QCESC and service to the Quad Cities Community.  Chris has served on the QCESC Executive Board since 1998 and currently is a Director, Treasurer, and Scholarship Chair for the QCESC.  He served two consecutive terms as QCESC President in 2006-2008.  Chris has been instrumental in the success of scholarship program in which scholarships are awarded to the top Quad City Area students enrolling in Engineering and Science.   Each year we have received 20-50 applications which can be attributed to his willingness to hand deliver the scholarship application forms to the area high schools.  Along with volunteering his time, Chris has continued to provide financial support to QCESC including for students activities.

Chris Hebel holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from  Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  He is currently an Outage Specialist at the Exelon, Quad Cites Nuclear Power Plant in Cordova, Illinois.  In addition to being a twice Past President of the Quad City Engineering and Science Council, he a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and served as President of the Quad Cities Branch.  Chris is a resident of Port Byron, Illinois with his wife Sue.
 

A surprise presentation at the 2009 QCESC awards ceremony was made by QCESC Secretary Tom Richmond who presented President Pat Barnes a special plaque in recognition of his outstanding devotion and service to the Council. Tom mentioned that Pat had served a previous term as QCESC President in 1995-1996 coming back to again serve in that capacity the past two years. Tom echoed the sentiments of all who've worked with Pat in saying his enthusiasm and example in serving the Council had revitalized it and inspired those serving with him. The plaque recognized Pat for his "extraordinary leadership, uncompromising professionalism and unselfish service".