Articles

Technical Sessions - April 2024

AM Technical Sessions @ 8:30AM - 9:20AM

Susan Alvarez, P.E. CFM- NCTCOG

Topic: NCTCOG E&D Programs, Including efforts under the EPA Climate Pollution Grant Program
Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI)

Susan Alvarez currently serves as the Director of Environment and Development at the North Central Texas Council of Government, where she manages programs related to water, material resources, regional codes, public works and regional climate action.   She brings a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with a minor in Geology from Rice University, and about 40 years of varied related experience.  She recently served on the Southern Great Plains Chapter of the 5th National Climate Assessment that was released in November.

Jason Christian, PhD, P.E - Jacobs

Topic: Probabilistic Floodplains and Natural Disasters
Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI)

Jason has decades of engineering design and analysis experience working with water resource and land development projects for both public and private clients. He earned BS and ME degrees from Texas A&M University in Civil Engineering (1990 and 1994) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Rice University (2012) and holds engineering licenses in Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia. Representative projects from 30+ years of professional consulting experience include a mix of municipal infrastructure analysis and design, land development engineering, floodplain hydraulic analysis, and regional floodplain mitigation projects. This professional experience helped focused his doctoral research to areas of infrastructure vulnerability analysis and water resources management in coastal environments where the unique hydrologic characteristics are poorly understood and chronically understudied.

AM Technical Sessions @ 9:35AM - 10:25AM

Casey Cannon - NCTCOG and Sam Sarkar, PE, CFM - Halff

Topic: iSWM Program
Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI)

Casey Cannon has been with the North Central Texas Council of Governments here in DFW since 2020, and currently serves as a planner in the Environment and Development Department, primarily focused on stormwater and solid waste management. His responsibilities over the last few years have included management of various programs such as the Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination Roundtable, the Regional Stormwater Monitoring Program, and the integrated Stormwater Management Program, otherwise known as the iSWM Program (pronounced I-swim). 

Sam Sarkar, PE is a Senior Water Resources Project Manager at Halff. He has over 14 years of experience specializing in stormwater management with a focus on integrated practices using green stormwater infrastructure and low impact development.  Sam is Halff's Project Manager for the NCTCOG iSWM support services contract.

Randy Bowers - Cement Council of Texas

Topic: The Latest in Roller Compacted Concrete
Construction Institute (CI)

Randy Bowers is the Director of Stabilization for the Cement Council of Texas. He is a professional engineer with 35 years of service with TxDOT, where he served as Area Engineer in Tarrant County and Assistant Director of Maintenance for the Fort Worth District. While in the Johnson County Area Office, he served as the Area Engineer and Assistant Area Engineer where he constructed numerous cement stabilized pavements. Previously as planning/design engineer, he directed analysis and testing and submitted numerous pavement design reports and recommendations for the Fort Worth District . Randy now focuses on offering concrete and cement related solutions and support for end users.

AM Technical Sessions @ 10:40AM - 11:30AM

Dr. Fouad Jaber & Dr. Yufan Zhang-Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

Topic: Upper Trinity Transportation & Stormwater Infrastructure Project
Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI)

Dr. Fouad Jaber is a professor and water resources extension specialist located at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University with emphasis in Natural and Environmental Resources Engineering. Dr. Jaber worked as a Postdoc Research Associate at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2007, after which he joined Texas A&M as a faculty. He conducts research and extension programs related to green stormwater infrastructure, water quality and stream restoration in the urban environment with funding exceeding 2.5 million dollars since 2007.

Dr. Yufan Zhang currently is a postdoc extension associate in Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas center, where he is actively involved in "Upper Trinity River Transportation and Stormwater Infrastructure Project".  He obtained his Ph.D. in Agricultural & Biological Engineering with a minor in Statistics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2023 December. Over his doctoral program, he aimed to utilize a hybrid approach including plot-scale experiments and computer simulation modeling to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of various stormwater management practices on construction landscapes. Here at Texas A&M AgriLife, he will be focusing on the topics including stormwater management, green infrastructure design, water quality, and flooding control, etc. He is also an Engineer-In-Training (E.I.T.) in civil engineering.

Harish Rao-DFW Airport

Topic: DFW Airport International Airport: What’s Going On There?
Construction Institute (CI)

Harish Rao, a P.E. (Professional Engineer), serves as the structures engineer for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in the Asset Management division. His responsibilities include overseeing the airport’s structural assets, including capital projects and maintenance. Harish relocated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Dallas in 2014 after earning his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Penn State University. His professional journey includes positions with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Michael Baker International, and service as a veteran in the United States Army. Beyond his engineering prowess, Harish enjoys science fiction, gardening, sightseeing, and passionately supports his hometown Pittsburgh sports teams.