BLACK ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS
Yvette Brett Senior Project Manager CH2M Hill
graduated from Morgan State University in 2001. That year, she was ranked second among civil en- gineering grads at Morgan State University. While in college, Yvette began working for the Army Corps of Engineers as a sum- mer hire (1999-2001) and as a co-op student with the Baltimore District. She excelled in the environmental engineering program, assisting with management of Superfund sites in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency. Superfund is the federal government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
A After graduation, Brett became an intern with the Depart-
ment of the Army, attached to the Corps of Engineers Norfolk District, where she assisted on civil works projects across the state of Virginia and provided quality assurance for military con- struction projects at Langley Air Force Base and at Fort Monroe. She also attended graduate school at Old Dominion University, and earned a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering in 2004. After completing early career rotational assignments, she settled in as a full time employee at one of the Corps’ area offices on Langley Air Force base, where she progressed from Project Engineer to Contracting Officer’s Representative and a team leader for mili- tary construction projects ranging from $3 – 52 million. While working in the field, she gained on-the-job training that allowed her to earn a Professional Engineering license. In 2006, she was named an Emerging Leader with the Corps. This selection identifies talented employees and places them on the fast track to leadership and management positions in government. From late 2006 to early 2007, Brett worked with the New Orleans-based office of the Corps of Engineers, where she pro- vided planning, contracting and management support for design and construction of an improved hurricane protection system. Further, she initiated and led a “Building the Bench” program, which was focused on recruiting and training young engineers and scientists to ensure the knowledge base remained current as more experienced professional engineers continued to retire form government service. Brett partnered early career engineers and scientists with seasoned professionals to evaluate the hurricane protection systems in New Orleans and develop solutions to improve major infrastructure.
In 2007, Brett expanded her career potential to the private sector and provided engineering and construction consulting services for a $1 billion program with the Department of Home- land Security, which was focused on protecting the northern and southern borders of the United States. A year later she led multidisciplinary teams in the evaluation of proposals to privatize
www.blackengineer.com 41 USBE&IT I WINTER 2012
first-generation college student, Yvette Brett
utility systems on military bases. She managed fifteen contracts valued between $100 million and $500 million. This project management opportunity coupled with the experience she gained in her previous positions helped her to become a certified project management professional in 2008. A senior project manager with CH2M HILL since 2010, she oversees a Corps of Engineers ad- ministered $30 million military construction project at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Brett is responsible for management of over three hundred workers from more than seven countries. Because of her proven skills and competency, she won a competi- tive place in a group of CHM2 HILL employees who are exposed to accelerated development training and management processes in preparation for high level positions within the company. As a part of the program, she has also taken on the challenge of devel- oping a diversity action plan to set goals and stimulate company behaviors that will promote and encourage diversity within the organization.
Kami Carter Chemist, Materials Engineering Laboratory Naval Air Systems Command
Air Force Base in Hamp- ton, Virginia, just a few days before Thanksgiving in 1986. Kami’s father was a senior chief in the navy. When she turned twelve, the family moved to Yokosuka Naval Station in Japan, where she spent part of her middle school education and the majority of her high school years. In 2008, Carter graduated from University of North Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a minor in Mathematics. She started her career with the Naval Air Systems Command in Jacksonville, FL, and after completing her early-career internship, she has been respon- sible for a program that will maintain quality and the integrity of electroplating, cleaning, and surface finishing in nondestructive inspection process solutions used in military specifications. As the lead analyst, she has worked on lean six sigma projects to increase the effectiveness of the program and she has also been working with fellow chemists and engineers to find a suitable cleaning alternative for Aviator Breathing Oxygen. Carter’s knowledge of cleaning chemicals led to engineering investigations and development work related to the establish- ment or introduction of production chemicals, processes and techniques. She has also worked on a solvent substitution navy environmental sustainability project for replacing a known ozone depleting substance, Freon, in the oxygen shop. Over the three years that Carter has been working with Naval Air Systems Com- mand, she has taken leadership development courses and was accepted to the New Leadership Program, where she has received
K USBE&IT I WINTER 2012 41
www.blackengineer.com
ami Carter was born on the Langley
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