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Reclamation's 2010 Engineer of the Year, wins 2010 Federal Engineer of the Year Award

River Research and Ecosystem-Friendly Engineering Garners 2010 Federal Engineer of the Year Award

Media Contact: Kip White, 202-513-0684, cwhite@usbr.gov

For Release: February 23, 2010

Dr. Lisa Fotherby Named Reclamation's 2010 Engineer of the Year and is honored with the prestigious 2010 Federal Engineer of the Year Award

Lisa Fotherby, Ph.D., P.E., was honored on February 18, 2010, in Washington D.C., as the Federal Engineer of the Year by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). She was chosen for the top honor among Engineers of the Year representing 28 federal agencies and military commands. "Reclamation engineers' knowledge, talent and expertise have helped provide water storage and delivery systems, electric power generation and delivery networks, and environmental and other facilities throughout the West to serve the American public," said Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor.

Fotherby was selected for her significant achievements in the fields of river research and development, river engineering and restoration design, and collaborative planning in interdisciplinary teams for adaptive management. For the Animas-La Plata Project in Colorado, she designed three miles of meandering stream for flow delivery. This ecosystem friendly design preserves pre-project sediment movement in the stream system, promotes expansion of riparian habitat and natural channel evolution, and protects a native fishery in the downstream Animas River.

"Lisa's achievements demonstrate a vigorous role in the synthesis of complex environmental river data for responsible engineering," added Connor.

Fotherby is a Hydraulic Engineer in Reclamation's Technical Service Center in Denver, Colo. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., in 1980. She received her master of science in Civil Engineering in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1995, both from Colorado State University.

Of the 96,000 federally employed engineers identified by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 28 were nominated and only one of 10 finalists was selected for the award. It is a crowning achievement for the award winner and the federal agency or military branch the engineer represents.

Reclamation's Engineer of the Year is selected from nominees across Reclamation and Lisa is the first Reclamation Engineer to be selected for this national award.

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Relevant Link:

National Society of Professional Engineers Announcement of Federal Engineer of the Year