By the ASCE-Pittsburgh Awards Committee and the ASCE Blog Editor
Tom Batroney, PE, ENV SP, is the ASCE-PGH 2015 Young Engineer of the Year. “The Pittsburgh region has so many impressive civil engineering professionals,” says Tom. “To be recognized amongst a great group of professionals feels good.” Tom is currently a Project Engineer with Hatch Mott MacDonald in Pittsburgh where he works on a variety of environmental and water resources related projects. He received his B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Wilkes University in 2001 and his M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Villanova in 2007. He obtained his P.E. license in 2012. Tom has demonstrated technical, organizational, and managerial skills that have been recognized by his employer and his clients as outstanding.
“Tom has been an exemplar of a civil engineer ever since he came to Pittsburgh,” says colleague, Gregory Scott. “Besides his professional competency, he has demonstrated his leadership with the EWRI Pittsburgh Chapter and then on a National level with EWRI.”
As a member of ASCE, Tom currently serves as a Director for the Pittsburgh Section’s Board and is the Past Chair of the Pittsburgh Section’s Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI). Tom was a key person in expanding the EWRI’s reach through organizing numerous technical and industry-relevant seminars and conferences. He was instrumental in creating the first EWRI graduate student chapter at Carnegie Mellon University. “Fresh and new ideas are needed in all organizations and businesses,” he explains. “Contributions from EWRI student chapters at Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh are perfect examples. Motivated and active new members often will stimulate the entire group and spur new ideas that eventually improve ASCE as a whole.”
He continues to provide unselfish contributions to ASCE and EWRI activities, collaborate with other technical groups and institutes, mentor new members, and provide valuable guidance to the Pittsburgh EWRI Student Chapter. More recently, Tom has risen to the challenge of forming and leading the Pittsburgh Section’s Sustainability Committee, addressing one of the Society’s strategic initiatives. “There are tools out there that civil engineers can use to evaluate the sustainability of their projects,” Tom says. “My goal is turn the somewhat nebulous word 'sustainability' into something more clear for engineers to understand how it relates to their projects.”
In addition to these professional achievements, Tom has shown a very strong commitment to various community activities, most notable of which are the Regent Square Gateway Project Team, and the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association.“It was no surprise to me to volunteer for a stream clean up last fall and run into Tom there volunteering along with many local community members,” says Mr. Scott. “He is a terrific person who deeply cares about the environment.”
