TSPE - Fort Worth Chapter

2011 Society Award Winners

The 60th anniversary of National Engineers Week will be celebrated February 20-26, 2011. The Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) will be honoring the Fort Worth area engineering community.

TSPE Engineer of the Year

The TSPE Engineer of the Year Award is the highest honor given to an individual TSPE member. Chapters nominate eligible members for consideration at the state level and ultimately national level. Eligibility is restricted to engineers whose sustained and unusual contributions improved the public welfare and the advancement of his/her profession, and is an engineer of recognized standing in the state of Texas.

Harold J. Leeman, Jr., PE, LEED AP, of Keller, TX is this year's Ft. Worth Chapter Engineer of the Year recipient for his continued contributions to his profession and community.

Harold is the Associate Director for Major Projects at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX. Under his watch the landscape of the university has changed considerably by creating a very student friendly environment to include great open spaces, state of the art classrooms as well as influencing the social aspect of the university experience by building new residence halls, the student union, and admission center. Most recently, the $105M renovation of the 1936 football stadium has been his major focus. In the last three years, Texas Christian University has focused all its new construction in a very sustainable manner which has been demonstrated by obtaining five LEED Gold certifications on past new construction.

Prior to his TCU career, Harold served as a senior Engineer officer in the United States Army retiring after 23 years. His military career is highlighted by his leadership of men and women of small units up to battalion command. Two of his most rewarding achievements are his command of an 800 person battalion, and his assistant professorship of Engineering at West Point. Harold taught cadets to not only understand the mechanics of civil engineering but to embrace a love for engineering, as well as influencing the cadet as to what it means to be a professional within the United States Army.

Harold is active in the local chapters of TSPE (Texas Society of Professional Engineers) and SAME (Society of Military Engineers). He has been president of both organizations in Fort Worth. He served on the National Board of Direction of SAME for three years and is a Fellow in that organization. He is also a member of ASCE (Association of Civil Engineers) since 1986 and APPA Leaders in Education Facilities since 2003. He is active in his church, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, where he has led small groups in a five year Catholic Scripture Study and is currently assisting in a four year “Why Catholic?” program.

Harold is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point with advanced degrees from Stanford University in structural engineering, and construction engineering & management.

When asked of his life accomplishments, Harold replied “I thank God for all my blessings; in particular, my wife, Cathie. She has been my pillar of strength and greatest counsel during my Army career and civilian professional life. Without her support, I would not have been able to attain even a part of my career successes. I am also very proud of being associated with some truly great people during my Army life, now at TCU, and the many professionals throughout the metroplex.”

TSPE Young Engineer of the Year

The TSPE Young Engineer of the Year award is presented to individuals who exhibit outstanding contributions to public welfare and advancing the profession of engineering by an engineer less than 34 years of age.

Josh Logan, P.E., has been named the Young Engineer of the Year by the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers for his outstanding contributions to his community and the profession of engineering.

Mr. Logan was born in San Antonio, Texas, where he attended John Marshall High School. After graduating high school in, he enrolled in the civil engineering program at Texas Tech University. While at Texas Tech, Mr. Logan was inducted into Chi Epsilon (Civil Engineering Honor Society) and Tau Beta Pi (College of Engineering Honor Society). He graduated from Texas Tech in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering.

Upon graduation, Mr. Logan accepted a position at Halff Associates’ Fort Worth office. Halff Associates, founded in 1950 by Dr. Albert Halff, PE, is a Texas-based, employee-owned, multi-disciplined firm that provides full-service engineering, surveying, environmental services, architecture, right of way acquisition, landscape architecture, planning and visual technologies. Based in Richardson, Halff Associates has nine additional offices across the state and provides services to government and private sector clients.

In December 2007, Mr. Logan obtained his professional engineering license and is now managing an array of drainage, public works, and ecosystem restoration projects for Halff Associates in the Fort Worth Office. Mr. Logan has significant experience with site development, drainage, and stream restoration design.

Since being at Halff Associates, Mr. Logan has been an active member in the TSPE. He served as the Chapter’s MATHCOUNTS Coordinator for four years and now serves as the Education Director, where he coordinates and volunteers at several educational activities that TSPE sponsors and supports. Away from work, Mr. Logan enjoys cheering for the Red Raiders, serving in his church, and spending time with his wife and two young daughters.

TSPE Fort Worth Richard Van Trump Award

The Fort Worth Chapter instituted the Richard Van Trump Award in 1971, as a means to recognize an exemplary member or members for service to the Chapter during the previous year and to give honor to the memory of the late Richard Van Trump, P. E. The recipient is selected by the Chapter Past President to recognize those whom he finds most helpful and deserving in service to the Chapter during the Past President’s year in office.

Kelly Cook Dillard, P.E., CFM, has been named the Richard Van Trump Award Winner by the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers for her commitment and contribution to the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers.

Ms. Dillard is a Fort Worth native with a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University. At Texas A&M, she was a member of APO – a university service fraternity, ASCE, Tau Beta Pi, and served as president of Chi Epsilon, the Civil Engineering Honor Society. During her 20 year career, Ms. Dillard has specialized in hydraulics and hydrology with a focus on municipal storm water management. Ms. Dillard worked as an EIT and Project Engineer at TCB/AECOM in Houston and in Fort Worth for approximately 5 years, before joining Teague Nall and Perkins, Inc., a local civil engineering consulting firm. At TNP, Kelly advanced from project engineer to manager of the storm water department over a period of 11 years. She was honored to work closely with many fine engineers at TNP, including the late Gary J. Teague.

In 2007, Ms. Dillard joined Freese and Nichols, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is an Associate and Manager of the Fort Worth Storm Water department. Established in 1894, Freese and Nichols is a full service professional consulting firm serving municipal and county governments, river authorities and water districts, transportation entities, the U.S. government, higher education and the energy industry. With offices in the Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio and Tyler areas, Freese and Nichols’ 450 employees provide engineering, architecture, environmental science, planning and program management services throughout Texas. The company was recently selected as the first engineering and architectural firm to ever be honored with a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, recognizing FNI’s commitment to performance excellence.

Throughout her career, Ms. Dillard has been an active member of local professional organizations, including TSPE and ASCE. Kelly has been an active member of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, where she has served as Vice President –Education, Vice President – Public Relations, as a member of the scholarship committee, and has been the Grading Room coordinator for the Fort Worth Chapter of MATHCOUNTS competition for the past 4 years. Ms. Dillard is married to Preston Dillard, a consulting civil engineer with Alan Plummer and Associates. They have two children, Katie (15) and Mason (12). Kelly is on the Paschal High SchooPTA Board as Vice President for Programs, Camp Fire’s El Tesoro Building Committee, and leads the 9th Grade Youth Small Group at her church, Arborlawn United Methodist Church.

ASCE Fort Worth Branch Edmund Friendman Young Engineer of the Year

The ASCE Young Engineer Award is made to younger members of ASCE (35 years of age or younger) who are judged to have attained significant professional achievements by the degree to which they have served to advance the profession; exhibited technical competence, high character and integrity; developed improved member attitudes toward the profession; and contributed to public service outside their professional careers.

Mr. Sam Hinojosa, P.E., CFM, is the recipient of the Fort Worth Branch Edmund Friedman Young Engineer of the Year Award.

An interview for a school project with an engineer with the City of Lubbock, Don Jennings, P.E., set Mr. Hinojosa on the path toward a career in civil engineering. In college, he was an active member of ASCE, Chi Epsilon, and Tau Beta Pi. Upon graduating from Texas Tech in December 2003, Mr. Hinojosa accepted a position with Halff Associates, Inc. in Fort Worth.

Mr. Hinojosa has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects related to stormwater and floodplain management in various cities including Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Richland Hills, and Austin. His projects have ranged from design to fully dynamic two-dimensional modeling of stormwater and riverine systems. Mr. Hinojosa has presented various technical papers at ASCE and Texas Floodplain Management Association (TFMA) conferences.

He is currently employed by Halff as a Project Engineer. In 2008, he graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Masters of Engineering in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Water Resources. Mr. Hinojosa has been an active member of ASCE since 2004. Currently, Mr. Hinojosa is the Vice-President/Secretary of the Fort Worth Branch. He has served as meeting-setup, membership chair, and treasurer. Mr. Hinojosa is married to Christina and has a wonderful one-year old daughter, Naomi. He and his wife enjoy serving at Calvary Church of Irving.

Our Mission

In order to assist the engineering profession in its responsibilities to protect the public health, safety, and property, the Texas Society of Professional Engineers is dedicated to:

The maintenance and observance of high ethical standards of conduct.
The support of high standards of formal educational preparation for the practice of engineering.
The continuing professional development of members of the engineering profession.
The focusing of appropriate public attention upon engineering responsibilities and engineering accomplishments for the purpose of attracting qualified persons to the practice of engineering.
The restriction of the practice of engineering to properly qualified and licensed persons.
The providing of appropriate assistance to its members to facilitate the pursuit of their professional goals.

The Fort Worth Chapter geographically serves all of the counties of Jack, Wise, Parker, Palo Pinto, Hood, Somervell, Erath, Johnson, and Tarrant, except for the cities of Arlington, Bedford, Euless, Grand Prarie, Grapevine, Hurst, Irving, and Mansfield which all are assigned to the Mid-Cities Chapter. See the "History" page for information on the origin and development of the Fort Worth Chapter and how new Chapters formed in the territory originally within our Chapter.

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