Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Engineering Excellence Awards

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Arkansas honored Garver with two Engineering Excellence Awards at its annual banquet Tuesday night. In addition, Garver's Two Rivers Bridge project won the People's Choice Award, receiving more votes than nine other projects.
Structural Systems Category: Two Rivers Bridge
The Two Rivers Bridge is 1,162 feet long and is part of a 2,300-foot improvement project that includes ramps and trail connections. The structure connects the south bank of the Arkansas River with Two Rivers Park in Pulaski County, further expanding the central Arkansas trail system and allowing pedestrians and cyclists access to 17 additional miles of trails. At the highest point, the bridge deck is approximately 45 feet above the river’s normal pool level.

Garver provided structural, electrical, and site design and environmental services on the project. Engineers and surveyors spent more than 4,000 hours from concept to completion to ensure that the $5.3 million pedestrian and bicycle bridge will be enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts for years to come.

An LED aesthetic lighting system uses state-of-the-art linear “wall-wash” LED fixtures to illuminate the exterior bridge fascia. These linear light fixtures are mounted along the bottom of the deck overhang and the truss’ bottom chord. The LED fixtures are capable of 16.7 million color combinations, and the programmable control system can display multiple color light shows.
Water and Wastewater Category: Siloam Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant Design
As part of a plant upgrade to increase treatment capacity, as shown in the construction picture above, the Siloam Springs, Arkansas wastewater treatment plant has incorporated a custom-designed biological nutrient removal (BNR) process without filtration. Now operational, the new bioreactor is producing a discharge phosphorus of less than 0.4 mg/L and nitrate less than 10 mg/L.

To achieve this level of performance, the city partnered with Garver to develop, design, and implement the enhanced nutrient removal program, which reduces the phosphorus levels in three process phases. The project’s first two phases are now online and improve the liquid process treatment train through BNR and chemical nutrient removal (CNR).

Although the new BNR technology has achieved phosphorus nutrient removal as low as 0.4 mg/L at the treatment plant, its marriage to the CNR process will help the plant achieve phosphorus levels another magnitude lower. Together, the custom-designed nutrient reduction program and biosolids improvements have increased treatment performance, reliability, and operational flexibility for the city.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Arkansas Engineer of the Year

Steve Brawner photo
After being named a Central Chapter Engineer of the Year, A.J. Khairi, PE has been recognized as the statewide Engineer of the Year by the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers.

ASPE President Steve Mallet, PE presented the 2011-2012 award to A.J. at the ASPE annual conference awards banquet. The award is presented to an Arkansas engineer who has made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, the public welfare, and humankind.

An employee with Garver for 20 years, A.J. is a bridge team leader and structural engineer. He began his career as a design engineer and has progressed to a bridge team leader in our North Little Rock, Arkansas office. His projects include designs for the Great River Bridge over the Mississippi River and the Big Dam Bridge over the Murray Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River. He has worked on hundreds of bridge rehabilitation and scour study projects in Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

In addition, Blake Roberson and Rusty Tate graduated from the Emerging Leaders program, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Arkansas and the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers.


Monday, March 19, 2012

One Mile at a Time

Garver congratulates several employees who recently pushed themselves to the limit and conquered half and full marathons.

Scott Donaldson
Transportation engineer Scott Donaldson ran in the Little Rock Marathon and finished the 26.2 miles. This was Scott's first full marathon after completing four half marathons. His training included running during lunch breaks and tackling longer distances on the weekends. He ran in the event along with his wife who completed the half marathon.

Scott overcame several challenges to cross the finish line. He'd developed inflammation in one foot toward the end of training, and he battled through leg cramps during the race.

"Although finishing was every bit as hard as I thought it would be, I may do it again to improve my time," Scott said and then joked, "but I will probably only do the Little Rock Marathon because of the huge medals!"
Nancy Fulmer
Executive assistant Nancy Fulmer ran in her first half marathon in Little Rock and finished six minutes ahead of her three-hour goal. She followed a 10-week training schedule to prepare for the 13.1 miles, and prior to the race, her longest run had been 11 miles.

"A half marathon is something I wanted to see if I could achieve," Nancy said. "I was pretty confident that I could do it, but I just wasn't sure how hard it would be. I'm pretty happy with my accomplishment, and now I'm ready to move on to another challenge!"
Cassidy Burton
Technical intern and Mississippi State University co-op student Cassidy Burton ran in the Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans half marathon, which was her first half marathon.

"My main goal was just to finish," Cassidy said. "Completing a half marathon was something I have wanted to do for a long time but never thought I could do it. It was tough, but once I passed the halfway mark, I knew I could finish it, and I wasn't going to give up."

Cassidy began training with her mom by walking and running several miles every morning and pushing herself farther on weekends. Her next goal is to complete a half marathon by running the entire way. After that, she has set even higher goals.

"I would like to complete a full marathon, and maybe even try a triathlon!"

Thursday, March 8, 2012

President's Award

The Oklahoma Airport Operators Association has given its President's Award to Garver Aviation Team Leader Curtis Brown, PE (far right in picture). The honor recognizes one person for service that promotes and enhances the association. This year, Curtis received the award for his hard work contributing to the 2012 OAOA/FAA Partnership Conference.

Curtis, who is also serving as the OAOA corporate director, has served as audio/visual liaison for 10 years. At this joint conference, he was responsible for the purchase and lease of audio and visual components for eight general conference presentations and twelve conference sessions in two rooms. This included making sure that the computers, microphones, speakers, screens, and slide shows worked well throughout the conference.

The conference, sponsored by the FAA, OAOA, and Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, invited industry leaders to present sessions on topics such as wildlife management, airport marketing, pavement management, the airport improvement program, and the aeronautical study process.

In addition, he has used his skills to coordinate the audio and visual needs for Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, several Washington D.C. representatives, numerous FAA-SW Region speakers, and regional industry experts.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Rodeo Run


Garver's Houston, Texas office formed a team to participate in the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run in downtown Houston. Garver employees Tom Dodson and Tirso Gonzalez, along with Betsy Dodson and Stacy Garcia, ran the 10k with more than 15,000 other runners, which set a race record.

In its 25th year, the event raised more than $400,000 for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Educational Fund. Since 1988, the race has contributed approximately $3.3 million to support college scholarships.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Meals for Children

Employees in Garver's Frisco, Texas office joined together to help package meals for malnourished children around the world.

Garver employees and their families packed more than 26 boxes, which will provide over 5,600 meals and feed 15 children for a year. The volunteers worked with Feed My Starving Children, which is a Christian nonprofit hunger relief organization. Garver participants included James Henderson, Brandon Beville, Colin Bible, Perry Havenar, Camille Keene, Mitchell McAnally, Brandon Nelsen, and Frank McIllwain.

FMSC delivers food to children in nearly 70 countries, and the boxes are distributed to orphanages, schools, clinics, refugee camps, nutrition programs, and more. The recent food-packing event in Frisco aimed to box 100,000 meals over three shifts. By the end of the day, 440 volunteers had packed 101,488 meals, which can feed 279 children for a year.

Additional food-packing events planned for locations near Garver offices include:
  • Arkansas: Conway (April 13-14)
  • Oklahoma: Tulsa (April 27-29); Broken Arrow (September 7-8)
  • Texas: Dallas (June 20)

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