Clean water services (CWS) - Business practice leader - Research & Innovation department - Hillsboro, Oregon

Program Management: Performance Excellence, Strategic Planning, and Goal Sharing Program

This role provides me with the opportunity to manage, direct and lead the development of Clean Water Services’ Business Strategy and Performance Systems program. This includes the Performance Excellence, Strategic Planning, and Goal Sharing programs as well as the development of performance measures and the implementation of Clean Water Services’ performance management system.

Enabling a culture of data-driven quantitative decision-making, leading technical innovation, developing and sustaining effective water industry partnerships and supervising integrated teams are just a few of the day-to-day activities that support my IKIGAI and allow for meaningful change to our region, the nation, and the world.

As our region grows and technology advances, we can no longer afford to view our used water as a waste to be disposed of, but rather as a source of valuable resources. We must embrace our new role as leaders in a fully circular water economy. We recover resources – clean water, fertilizer, energy and materials – for our region. 

Organizational collective impact is realized when subject matter experts and leadership come together to evaluate performance and establish strategies to meet our mission, vision, and a culture of excellence.

Excellence involves our investment in our workforce, the connection our community has with the natural environment – clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, safe places for recreation.

Leading utilities of the world (LUOW)

Clean Water Services was inducted into the Leading Utilities of the World (LUOW) network on November 13, 2019, during the American Water Summit in Houston, Texas. The LUOW is a global network of the world’s most successful and innovative water and wastewater utilities. The network now includes 49 of the world’s most forward-thinking water and wastewater utilities from 16 countries.

Clean Water Services was recognized for demonstrating outstanding innovation in the areas of Business Development, Energy Efficiency, and Wastewater Treatment & Environmental Impact. This recognition included innovative solutions that captured previously unutilized value, innovations that created new sources of energy and additional revenues for our utility, and innovations in wastewater treatment systems and the overall environmental sustainability of the region. A detailed description of these innovation areas can be found in CWS’ LUOW Application.

Clean Water services Strategic Approach - Working Together for the river

Clean Water Services is planning for the key challenges that face the Tualatin River and dynamic region, including water supply and security, climate change, increasing regulatory requirements, urban growth, and aging infrastructure. In doing so, CWS is discovering new ways to manage water resources, measure performance, and practice internal and external transparency while continuing to provide the highest level of service and value to the river and the region that depends upon it.

CWS’ Strategic Approach outlines the system and philosophy for guiding the work of the people of CWS as they contribute - with a common purpose - towards five Key Strategic Outcomes: Organizational Excellence, Integrated Water Resource Management & Resilient Watersheds, Research, Innovation & Resource Recovery, Catalyzing Transformational Partnerships, and Contributing to the Region’s Environmental & Economic Vitality.

In 2017/18, I worked across NSF to establish the Signals in the Soil (SitS) DCL program and SitS themed NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs) for early concept grants and to encourage the planning of one or more long-term partnership among industry, academe, and government around developing the next generation of sensor systems capable of in situ measurement of dynamic soil variables . The response from the research community in the areas of sensors, wireless systems, advanced cyber systems and data analytics, and modeling soil ecosystems was overwhelming, with NSF awarding nearly $7 million across 21 projects, showing great promise for transforming the current understanding of these systems and unlocking secrets from the soil.

Over the last several years, I have advocated for advancing stormwater research at the watershed scale. In its inaugural year, NSF's Smart and Connected Communities program awarded more than  $3.7 million in projects to support 32 researchers whose aim is to advance fundamental science and engineering research in the area of water resource management, adaptive stormwater management, active controls for stormwater treatment, and the integration of environmental sensor networks for real-time forecasting. 

I worked with our NSF/CISE team to scope the creation of a new framework that will drive truly integrative, community-focused research done in partnership with funders from philanthropy and industry. Answering questions on how community-focused research is crafted and how the research integrates into the broader ecosystem of state and local government, public planning, philanthropic programming, industry research and development activities, and collaboration across communities. To meet this objective, the agency awarded an EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant for Scoping an NSF Prize Challenge for Smart and Connected Communities to MetroLab Network and Smart Cities Lab to provide solutions to technically and socially complex needs that are of broad and pressing interest to communities.

National Research Agenda Setting

Worked to set future research directions through the organization of national visioning workshops, including a two-part workshop series on Community-University-Industry collaboration models and a National Workshop aimed to advance the quality of life in under-connected communities.

NSF Visioning Workshop: Towards Effective Community-University Industry Collaboration Models and NSF Sponsored Workshop on Effective Community-University-Industry Collaboration Models for Smart and Connected Communities Research

2017 National Workshop on Developing a Research Agenda for Connected Rural Communities (CRC17)

Clean water services (CWS) - office of the deputy general manager - hillsboro, oregon

Thought Leadership Projects: Hub and Spoke Integrative Research Model, Utility of the Future - Watershed Partnership Strategy, Sub-basin Research - Healthy Streams 2.0, Real-Time Control - Decision Support Systems, Ecosystem Services, Pure Water Brew Public Perception Study.

"For healthy communities we need a healthy watershed that includes access to clean air, clean water, and healthy habitat, but to meet these demands we must bring balance to our ecosystems."

"Our current trajectory is not sustainable and more effort is required to build the collective WE in the Tualatin Watershed and in watersheds across the globe. Sustainable solutions are not likely to be the product of decree or rule, but are necessary and hard work. Mother Nature and our citizenry are depending upon us to engage em and each other in this vital pursuit."

August 2010 - May 2015; Environmental Engineering Doctoral Candidate

Advised directly by USF Associate Professor of CEE, Maya Trotz, Ph.D., and USF Professor of Integrative Biology, Thomas Crisman, Ph.D. 

Green Space Based Learning Model for Repurposing Underutilized Green Spaces within School Campuses publication in Advances in Engineering Education, A Journal of Engineering Education Applications. 

University of South Florida (USF) - Civil and environmental engineering (cee) department - college of engineering - Tampa, Florida

Developed Green Space Based Learning, an educational model to mainstream green infrastructure within urban environments that builds on a long-term partnership between a Research I university, surrounding underserved community, and local school district with a portion being piloted through a federally funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program. The RET program provides an opportunity for graduate students and professors to share their field of knowledge with teacher participants in two intensive 6-week summer research experiences. This content knowledge is then translated by the participating teachers into grade specific lessons that support the development of interactive and sustainable green spaces within their school campus. Stakeholder groups participate in academic year components, bringing their expertise into the K-12 classroom. Ultimately, K-12 students are guided through the design/build of a green infrastructure improvement project, transforming an underutilized green space within their school campuses into a multi-use educational environment. Click the picture to the left for a video summarizing a green infrastructure implementation project within the East Tampa community.

Stantec INC. (Fromerly WilsonMiller) PUblic Infrastructure Group - Tampa, Florida

May 2006 - January 2009; Design Engineer

Reported Directly to Senior Associate, Hamid Sahebkar, P.E.

I am a registered professional engineer (PE) in the State of Florida and have worked as a design engineer for Stantec, a private consulting firm. Here, I managed approximately 20 complex redevelopment projects using first-principle engineering concepts to solve client derived initiatives and designed point and non-point source collection systems while negotiating and ensuring compliance with state, local, and federal permitting entities. These projects include the 100-year Channel District Redevelopment Plan, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children's Museum), and The Salvador Dali Museum.