ALEXANDRIA, VA -- (Aug. 11, 2022) The Institute for Water Resources (IWR), a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Operating Activity, has bestowed its highest honor to nine alumni by inducting them into the IWR Class of 2022 Distinguished Gallery of Employees.
According to Joe Manous, IWR director, the alumni were critical in helping the organization provide forward-looking analysis, cutting-edge methodologies, and innovative tools to aid the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program, delivering water resources development needs and policies on behalf of the nation. “It is the selfless service and dedication of people such as these being honored today, who make these outcomes possible and the Institute for Water Resources the truly unique organization it has become,” stated Manous.
Criteria for induction includes having worked at IWR for at least 5 years at IWR and having accomplished assigned duties in exceptional manner, attaining national professional standing and both internal and external peer recognition through past honors and awards. Inductees must have developed and/or improved methods and procedures and have contributed substantially to USACE. The former employees must have also performed loyally and faithfully throughout the period of service.
Of the hundreds of IWR employees over the past 53-years, only thirty-one have been inducted. During the ceremony, that number increased to forty.
The class of 2022 inductees are as follows:
Robert D. Carl, PE – Mr. Carl’s contributions set the standard for plan formulation and evaluation. While at HEC, Bob developed several water management programs related to data management and display to include CHANOP for modeling Florida’s Kissimmee River basin; HEC-PRM for prescriptive reservoir modeling of the Missouri and Columbia River basins and California’s water system; and HEC-FDA (Flood Damage Assessment) software for evaluating flood damage reduction plans. As lead developer of HEC-FDA, Robert developed the primary USACE tool for evaluating billions of dollars in flood risk management investment decisions. Mr. Carl was an innovative engineer and software developer who helped establish the excellent reputation of the Hydrologic Engineer Center.
Charles (Mark) Dunning, PhD (awarded posthumously) – During Dr. Mark Dunning’s 30-plus years with IWR that culminated as Chief of IWR’s Programs Division, Mark helped build the foundation of present-day efforts to establish tools and metrics for social effects and socially vulnerable populations. Dr Dunning supported Headquarters USACE in budget development and led several reimbursable projects to support development of environmental compliance and stewardship strategies for Army installations and military training programs. His approach as both a senior leader and a highly skilled Social Scientist exemplified career balance. Dr Dunning was a level-headed, considerate, and admirably proficient colleague who led by example.
Sandra T. Phillips – Ms. Phillips is recognized for her extraordinary leadership of the Corporate Business Team and superb performance as IWR’s Budget Officer. Her 41-years of dedicated service to USACE proved critical to the mission success of IWR 's expanding role in service to the Civil Works program. Sandy’s superb budget and financial knowledge, in conjunction with the highest levels of integrity, honesty and loyalty, provided IWR with the trusted financial foundation that allowed its programs to flourish by instilling the highest degree of confidence in IWR's business practices from HQUSACE and other customers. Ms. Phillips was totally dependable, an impeccable role model, and wonderful colleague and teammate.
David L. Penick – During his 23-year career as Director of the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), Mr. Penick helped design and implement The ORACLE Waterborne System (TOWS), the current waterway network geographic information system, and Master Docks Plus GIS system. These enhancements transformed WCSC from a hard copy publication office to a GIS-based Oracle relational database office. IWR used these data as input to transportation models to estimate benefits of new USACE navigation projects and set dredging priorities. As a WCSC rehired annuitant, Dave developed methods to improve the WCSC budget submission data. Throughout his many efforts, Dave’s leadership produced improved and consistent responsiveness to the public with many new products designed based on customer feedback.
Ronald R. Conner (awarded posthumously) – Mr. Conner began his career in Los Angeles District eventually becoming Chief of the Los Angeles District Economics and Social Analysis Branch. In 1995, Ron joined the Planning and Policy Division in the Headquarters USACE Directorate of Civil Works while also serving as a HQs Emergency Response Program Manager. Mr. Conner joined IWR as a senior economist in 2002 and served as Secretary of the US Section of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC). Mr. Conner played in integral part in developing and establishing Interagency Flood Hazard Advisory Teams and Flood Risk Management Initiatives to improve partnerships with other agencies.
David A. Moser, PhD – Dr. Dave Moser started his career as a civil servant in 1975 and served as the USACE Chief Economist since 2004. As Chief Economist he led the USACE Economic Community of Practice leading and mentoring over 180 economists located around the country. Dr. Moser was the USACE technical economic expert on benefit-cost analysis and risk analysis and set the foundation for many USACE and other agency practices. Dr. Moser also served as the National Team Lead for Risk-Informed Decision Making. In that role, he oversaw teams conducting work in a variety of areas related to risk analysis.
Lawrence (Leigh) Skaggs – During Mr. Skaggs 32-years with USACE and 17-years with IWR, he became widely regarded as a national expert in plan formulation, ecosystem restoration, multi-criteria decision analysis, cost-effectiveness/incremental cost analysis, risk and uncertainty, and planning in general. Additionally, Mr. Skaggs developed methods and tools that set the precedent for ecosystem restoration analysis, IWR Planning Suite, planning policy and training. Leigh was truly a Plan Formulation guru who loved sharing that knowledge with others. He is a mentor and friend to many and served as an inspiration to the USACE Planning Community.
Donna E. Wood – Ms. Wood spent most of her 40-year career at IWR and was one of the founding information technology members of the navigation program. As project manager for the USACE Civil Works national navigation systems for 20-years, Donna developed resource plans and budgets for million-dollar systems covering production, development, and test environments. Additionally, Ms. Wood developed training and communication programs for end users of national systems including the Lock Performance Monitoring System. Donna was a technical person who saw the true value of integrating IT into the everyday processes of IWR and USACE. She was a visionary technical leader who saw the future and made it work.
Steve M. Martin – Mr. Martin began his 29-year career with USACE in 1991 as an environmental scientist and emerged as a leader in compensatory mitigation policy and practice, chairing and developing multiple compensatory mitigation banks. Steve spent 16-years with IWR as the National Subject Matter Expert for compensatory wetland mitigation, advancing wetland and stream compensatory mitigation policy and implementation and helped develop and deliver national and regional interagency training on all aspects of compensatory mitigation. Mr. Martin established a framework of technology that supports better compensatory mitigation decisions while also establishing an infrastructure of relationships among private and public entities that facilitates more intelligent and productive exchanges.
About IWR:
The Institute for Water Resources (IWR) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Field Operating Activity that primarily supports the USACE Civil Works mission.
IWR is a 278-person organization consisting of seven centers that include the Water Resources Center (WRC), Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center (NDC), Collaboration and Public Participation Center of Expertise (CPCX), and International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) all located in Alexandria, VA; Hydrologic Engineer Center (HEC) in Davis, CA; Risk Management Center (RMC) located in Lakewood, CO, Pittsburg, PA, and Louisville, KY; and the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) located in New Orleans, LA.
The vision of IWR is to “provide forward-looking analysis, cutting-edge methodologies, and innovative tools to aid the Civil Works program”.