Our Industry Person of the Week is Ted Bennett, P.E. Ted is a Civil Engineer solving Water Infrastructure Challenges.
Q: How did you get started working in your field?
Ted: I always thought civil engineering was a pretty cool profession. From my early days of serving as the survey rodman with my dad (who is also a civil engineer), I saw this profession as something that I had an amazing passion for. Planning and designing cities seemed interesting and rewarding. I had a wonderful hydraulics teacher at Ohio Northern University who sparked my interest in the analysis of the movement of water in pressure systems. Since then, I have been very fortunate to have worked with many people who encouraged and helped me become a professional engineer in water resources.
Q: What do you love the most about your job? What are you most proud of?
Ted: The part about my profession that I love most is helping to solve problems for the communities that I live and work in. It’s incredibly interesting and fun to analyze and design water and sewer infrastructure, but when someone says, “thank you” in this industry it means a lot. Knowing that my efforts make my communities a better place is what motivates me to provide the very best of my abilities on all of my projects – big or small.
Q: What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field?
Ted: I would advise anyone interested or entering this field to read everything you can and soak up any knowledge that comes your way. Every experience, even bad ones, can teach you something. It’s cliche, but I learn something new each day, often from unexpected sources. Never underestimate the value of someone’s honestly offered insights. Also, I urge those aspiring industry experts to become licensed or certified in their work. Having the professional qualifications to support your knowledge and experience is a key to advancement in this field.
Q: Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?
Ted: One project that sticks out in my mind is a pump station replacement that hasn’t happened yet. The client wished to replace the pump station, however, there are serious SSO issues upstream. The initial plan was the construction of a new pump station and storage basin. After having studied the issue and thought about it, the real solution was to go repair the sanitary sewers before replacing the pump station. This sewer rehabilitation and replacement work will help us to more reasonably size the pump station and perhaps eliminate the storage. Beyond the technical aspects of this project, it was the client’s trust in my idea that really means a lot to me.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
Ted: I urge that everyone be open to new ideas and remember my favorite quote “We are only limited by our own creativity” when solving problems. Out-of-the-box thinking is sometimes what is needed. Go create something great!
THANK YOU, TED! WE LOOK FORWARD TO KEEPING UP WITH YOU THROUGH THE #PUMPTALK COMMUNITY!
KNOW AN AMAZING PERSON WHO IS MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS WITHIN INDUSTRY? NOMINATE THEM TO BE AN “INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE WEEK”!
Comments