Joe Reed, NPS Engineer of the Year - Building Bridges and Winning Awards

Civil Engineer Joe Reed

NPS

Congratulations to Joe Reed, P.E. on receiving the 2022 Federal Engineer of the Year award for the National Park Service, given by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Joe is one of two engineers from NPS and five from DOI to be honored.

For the last three years, Joe has served as engineering lead with the National Park Service, stationed at the C&O Canal National Historical Park. The canal contains nearly 1300 historic structures and the most intact engineering record of 19th century river navigation. As part of a critical interdisciplinary team, he led the development, design, construction, and oversight of $90 million in projects during the past fiscal year alone and over $450 million in projects anticipated to begin soon. One such project includes the award-winning restoration of the Conococheague Aqueduct, which earned the National Excellence Award from the American Concrete Institute and Outstanding Excellence in Structural Engineering from the Structural Engineers Association.

"What I love about engineering is that every day I am learning something new and contributing to making things better," Reed said. "At its core, engineering is the application of mathematics and science to help people. There is always more to learn and something else that needs to be fixed/improved/created! To me engineering is about helping others via solving problems, contributing to solutions, and (in my current position) preserving history so that others can enjoy/learn from it as much as me and my family do!"

Joe’s hard work preserves the historic engineering structures of the canal with resource integrity at the forefront, while also balancing the needs of park visitors and park resources. In his own words,

“The types of projects I work on require a multidisciplinary approach that spans multiple types of engineering, as well as a whole team of others that is needed to bring their specific subject matter expertise (i.e. safety, natural resources, cultural resources, etc.) to result in the best solutions," Reed said.

His tremendous efforts ensure that visitors can continue to safely enjoy the history and nature of the park. Many thanks, and way to go, Joe!

Civil Engineer Joe Reed

NPS