Puget Sound Engineering Council

Donald G. Anderson, Ph. D., P. E., G. E.

Jacobs Engineering Group

Donald G. Anderson, Jacobs Engineering Group, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Professional Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the engineering profession and his lifetime achievements in the geotechnical design of numerous infrastructure projects throughout the Pacific Northwest including transportation, water storage and conveyance, wastewater treatment, and environmental restoration.

He has a long history of providing geotechnical engineering leadership and consultation on major projects in the Seattle area, as well as projects across the United States and Canada. He provides specialized expertise in the areas of earthquake engineering and soil dynamics. His work on highway and bridge projects involved geotechnical design of cut and fill slopes, approach fills, deep foundations, spread footings, and retaining walls. His work on port and harbor projects included design of deep foundations, embankment stability analysis, dredging studies, pile installation monitoring, and pile-load testing. His work on water storage and treatment facilities involved determination of foundation support requirements, earth pressures on buried walls, and seismic design criteria.

He has been actively involved in the advancement of geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil dynamics. He participated in the development of seismic ground motion design requirements included in the International Building Code and in United States and Canadian Building Codes. He has been an active participant in community affairs and technical society engagement. He has served as vice-chair and chair of the Seattle area American Society of Civil Engineers Geotechnical Group as well as a board director of the group.

M. Lee Marsh, Ph. D., P. E.

WSP USA, Inc.

M. Lee Marsh, Ph. D., P. E., WSP USA, Inc., has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Professional Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements in the   development and maintenance of seismic design procedures for bridges, his design support of numerous Northwest public agency bridge projects, and his contributions to publication of national bridge design guidelines.

As a design engineer at Berger ABAM, he quickly emerged as the firm’s go-to specialist and helped many internal teams perform seismic design and seismic assessment. He became the company seismic specialist and supported all structural practice groups in the firm – bridge, marine, and buildings with seismic design concerns. His work bridges between academic research and design of actual structures. He led the development and delivery of a National Highway Institute course on seismic design of bridges. This training provides critical skill development for application of modern bridge seismic design provisions. He supported the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in the development of their performance-based seismic design procedures. In addition, he led a team to develop a fully precast bent system to be used for accelerated bridge construction in high seismic regions. This resulted in a demonstration bridge being constructed over I-5 south of Olympia.

He has served as a key design team member providing seismic design criteria and approaches for numerous bridge projects for Washington Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Transportation, and Sound Transit. He was part of the team that identified and stabilized the West Seattle High Bridge cracking problem.

Andrew W. Taylor, Ph.D., P.E., S.E.

KPFF Consulting Engineers

Andrew W. Taylor, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., KPFF Consulting Engineers, has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Professional Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his exceptional career as a structural engineer focused on earthquake engineering, structural engineering of reinforced concrete buildings, structural vibrations, and building code development.

As a research structural engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he conducted research to advance the state of engineering practice.  His research activities included performance-based seismic design of bridges, seismic isolation of structures, numerical modeling of earthquake damage to concrete structures, and testing standards for earthquake protection systems.

He served as an advisor to the State of Washington in evaluating the remaining strength and durability of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  He synthesized study information and concluded that it was not economical or advisable to attempt to repair and strengthen the viaduct.  He served as a technical expert on the potential damage to structures due to ground settlement created by excavation of the new SR 99 tunnel beneath Seattle.  He evaluated the potential settlement profile at dozens of buildings above the tunnel route and performed analysis to determine if the expected levels of ground settlement would cause damage to the structures.

He has served for eleven years on the American Concrete Institute committee that writes and maintains the U.S. national building code for concrete structures, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary, and is the national chair of the committee formed to develop the 2025 edition of this code.

John H. Clark, P. E., S. E.

2019 Award Recipient

Nominated by the Structural Engineers Association of Washington and the American Society of Civil Engineers

John H. Clark, P.E., S.E.

John H. Clark, P.E., S.E., has been selected as the recipient of the 2019 Professional Engineer of the Year Award for his lifetime achievement and innovation in bridge design and advocacy of cost-effective designs that protect public safety.  He was employed by Arvid Grant and Associates from 1963 to 1978; by Anderson, Bjornstad, Kane, Jacobs of Seattle from 19679 to 1997; and as an independent consultant from 1997 to 2017.  He is now retired.

Throughout his distinguished career, he as been involved in the design of many significant bridges and in value engineering studies that examined the bridge designs of others. Notable examples of his achievements include serving as a bridge specialist for the consulting team charged with investigating the 1990 sinking of the Lacey V. Morrow floating bridge on I-90, serving as an independent review consultant for the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge across the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona, serving as a design consultant for the West Seattle Freeway High Level Bridge, and serving as a design consultant on the seismic retrofit of the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge.

He was responsible for the structural design for the first major concrete cable-stayed bridge in North America across the Columbia River at Pasco, Washington.  The 2,500-foot long bridge is composed of precast post-tensioned cable-stayed elements and cast-in-place box girder approach spans.  He also led the design of the West Seattle Freeway Low Level Swing Bridge.  The movable spans of this double leaf swing bridge are post-tensioned concrete box girders constructed segmentally.  Each moveable leaf weighs 7,500 tons and is raised and moved hydraulically.

David B. Swanson, P.E., S.E., Reid Middleton, Inc.

2018 Award Recipient

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineers Association of Washington

David B. Swanson, P.E., S.E.
Reid Middleton, Inc.

David B. Swanson, P.E., S.E., Reid Middleton, Inc., has been selected as the recipient of the 2018 Professional Engineer of the Year Award for his commitment to promoting professional engineering excellence and innovation, mentorship of younger engineers, promotion of public safety, and ongoing work to advance the engineering profession.  He designs and manages projects for clients in the aviation, civil, commercial, educational, healthcare and military sectors.  His expertise lies in improving our infrastructure’s seismic resilience and promoting earthquake preparedness and response to seismic risk.   He excels at communicating the need for ongoing seismic resilience to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.  His energy, drive, and enthusiasm for addressing seismic risk have led to his personal and professional success.

He represents engineers nationally as a member of the Disaster Response and Recovery Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers and serves on FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue Washington Task Force as a structural engineer evaluating collapsed buildings for urban search and rescue operations.  He has organized and led earthquake response and reconnaissance teams to research lessons learned from devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan (1995), Taiwan (1999), China (2008), Chile (2010), Haiti (2010), New Zealand (2011), Japan (2011) and Mexico (2017).  This experience has enabled him to design innovative seismic protection systems for both historic and modern structures.

Throughout his career, he has been actively involved as a consulting structural engineer.  He is a sought-after peer reviewer, code consultant, analysis reviewer, and technical speaker on structural and earthquake engineering.  He has authored over 25 technical papers on seismic and structural design, earthquake risk reduction, emergency preparedness, and the seismic rehabilitation of historic and essential buildings and infrastructure.

Mark D’Amato, P.E. S.E.
DCI Engineers

Mark D’Amato, P.E., S.E., DCI Engineers

2017 Award Recipient

Nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineers Association of Washington

Mark D’Amato, P.E., S.E., DCI Engineers, has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Professional Engineer of the Year Award for his outstanding service to the engineering profession and his lifetime of achievement in excellence and innovation in structural engineering. He  designs and manages projects for clients in the commercial, medical, residential, industrial, and marine sectors.  His expertise lies in the design of post-tensioned concrete and steel framed structures.  His special areas of interest include high-rise building design, seismic retrofit, and the design of brick and structural glass cladding systems.

He has extensive project experience gained over his 38-year career as a structural engineer.  His engineering for low cost housing and municipal buildings are noteworthy for their economical and durable designs.  Many of his iconic structures have changed the skylines of cities while pushing the envelope of engineering and construction practice.  Throughout his career, he has advocated for advances in engineering techniques that contribute to building efficiency and streamlined construction.  The University District’s 47^th + 7^th apartment building was the result of nearly seven years of research and development into modular construction techniques.  Using pre-fabricated steel framed wall and floor systems containing plumbing, electrical systems, fire sprinklers, and interior cabinetry; it was assembled like an erector set.  The outcome was a highly sustainable and sleek, modern building that does not appear as a modular building.

In addition to his engineering work, he is actively involved in his community.  He participated in Washington STEM and the Bellevue Downtown Association.  He hosts high school students to tour the Seattle Center to show the works of several great civil/structural engineers who contributed to the amazing structural legacy.  He often visits local high schools to encourage students to pursue careers in structural engineering.

Vladimir Shepsis, PhD, PE Coast and Harbor Engineering, Inc.