2017 Issue

17 ENGINEER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE Ryan Cole The Utah Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers nominated Ryan Cole, Founder and President of Gerhart Cole, Inc., as Utah’s Engineer of the Year. Dr. Cole has led the Utah Geo-Institute/Group as the Chair since 2008. In this position, he has served in ASCE section leadership, planned events and trainings to improve the practice of Civil/Geotechnical Engineering and promoted the value of engineering in the community. His recent contributions have helped focus state-wide attention on such geotechnical assets as dams, canals, and levees, reported in the 2015 Utah ASCE report card. He has served in the local leadership of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Utah Section of the Geo-Institute Chapter, and he has volunteered countless hours at career days hosted by local elementary, middle, and high schools. Among his many notable projects are $34 million in canal and dam modifications, a 10 acre water evaporation and salt crystallization test pond, $45 million in slurry wall design and 6.5 miles of I-15. ENGINEER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE Marc Bodson The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has nominated Marc Bodson, a professor in the University Of Utah Department of Electrical Engineering, as Utah Engineer of the Year. After finishing his undergraduate work at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, Marc graduated with an M.S. in both Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982. Four years later he earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley. He has obtained numerous grants and is published in numerous scholarly journals. He has facilitated numerous national and international collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. Among his many honors, he is a former Utah’s Engineering Educator of the Year award recipient. He is noted for putting the best interests of the Science and Engineering community first. He actively promotes undergraduate research and scholarly activities, and serves as a mentor and advisor in various capacities, promoting education in the community. UEC-Awards-26: From left to right: Robert Kesler, UEC Awards Committee Chair; Ryan Thomas Cole (Gerhart Cole, Inc.), Utah’s Engineer of the Year Nominee from ASCE. UEC-Awards-29: From left to right: Robert Kesler, UEC Awards Committee Chair; Marc Bodson (University of Utah), Utah’s Engineer of the Year Nominee from IEEE.