Construction is underway as the City of Beloit officially broke ground to upgrade and expand its Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF).
Two Donohue wastewater professionals will be sharing technical insight as part of the Michigan Water Environment Associations 2022 Annual Conference in Acme, Michigan. Brief summaries of the presentations follow.
On March 22 and 23, the Michigan Water Environment Association (MWEA) hosted their annual Biosolids Conference in Holland, Michigan. As part of the conference, tours were held at the Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) Water Reclamation Facility (WRF). Donohue was honored to assist the HBPW staff, guiding tours and highlighting our collaborative efforts on biosolids improvements.
Donohue & Associates and the City of Fishers received a 2022 ACEC Indiana Engineering Excellence Merit Award for the Cheeney Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion and optimization project. The project team was challenged to increase peak flow treatment capacity by 4 million gallons per day (25%) while meeting challenging budget and site constraints.
Donohue & Associates and the City of Appleton collaborated on an award-winning biogas system design at the Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant. The project received a 2022 ACEC WI Best of State Engineering Excellence Award and is eligible for the state’s Grand Conceptor Award to be announced in April 2022.
Donohue & Associates and the City of Joliet, Illinois received a 2022 ACEC IL Engineering Excellence Special Achievement Award for phosphorus removal and other innovative enhancements to the Eastside Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). This project addressed new regulatory requirements and outdated facilities, resulting in a modern plant producing a high quality effluent, an improved working environment, and enhanced community relations.
*Tell me about yourself, your schooling, career path.* I grew up in Baraboo, Wis. and received both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from UW-Madison. While in college, I decided I wanted to focus on wastewater treatment after my bachelor’s; this led me to pursue my master’s degree, including a research assistant position for the Kenosha wastewater treatment facility studying odor control systems. After graduation, I worked at EarthTech for 15 years doing wastewater design and later moved to Donohue. In my time with Donohue so far, I am still very wastewater focused, where I manage studies, planning reports, and design projects.
*Tell me about yourself, your schooling, career path.* I’m from Albuquerque, New Mexico and I studied at the University of New Mexico and received a bachelor’s in civil engineering. While in my sophomore year of college, I started an internship with a consulting firm and continued my internship until I graduated. After graduating, I received a full-time position there as a civil engineer. I moved to Chicago four years ago and accepted my position with Donohue as a civil engineer working on site design and improvements for wastewater treatment facilities, drinking water, sewer and storm water projects.
*Tell me about yourself, your schooling, career path.* I went to college at Michigan Tech and received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in structural engineering. Starting out, I was a construction engineer in the heavy oil and gas industries for another company in Green Bay, Wis. I had an opportunity to move to the structural engineering group in Sheboygan and have been at Donohue since 2014. In 2016, I was looking to move back to Michigan to be closer to family and helped Donohue open a new office in Grand Rapids, where I have been located ever since. Since moving here, I am focused on project management and business development along with structural engineering.
*Tell me about yourself, your schooling, career path.* I graduated from UW-Platteville with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering and civil engineering with an environmental emphasis. During college, I worked as a co-op for Donohue and became a full-time employee after graduation; I’ve been here 18 years. When I started, I generally was helping other process-mechanical engineers with their designs on projects. As got more experience, I became more independent and started working on my own process-mechanical designs and eventually started doing project management as well. For the most part, I work on municipal wastewater treatment plant projects, but I have also worked on industrial wastewater treatment plants, municipal water treatment plants, and collection system lift stations. Internally at Donohue, I am part of the hydraulics committee (performing quality reviews of hydraulic calculations) and the cost estimating committee, and have become a senior level process-mechanical engineer and project manager.