Industry Advisory Board

The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) provides support and guidance to the UCLA Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department from the perspective of industry leaders. CEE graduates represent our principal product and the IAB represents our customers. As such, the IAB provides valuable advice to CEE regarding the changing needs of industry and the engineering profession. IAB also provides suggestions for strengthening ties with industry in order to promote industry-academia interaction, joint collaboration and research, and technology transfer.

Ted Allen

Ted Allen

Development Services & Permits | Deputy City Engineer
City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering | Department of Public Works

Ted Allen is a Deputy City Engineer for the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering which has almost 1,000 employees, over 40% of which are in the field of Civil Engineering.  The Bureau of Engineering is responsible for managing and permitting work in the Public Right of Way and delivering various types of capital improvement projects totaling hundreds of millions of dollars annually.  Ted started with the Bureau of Engineering in 1993 and in his early years designed and managed capital improvement projects, mainly related to structural and geotechnical improvements.  In more recent years Ted has functioned as an executive manager over the development services program and participates in many city policy working groups related to future public right of way use.  Ted has always had an affinity for technology and has led many projects and initiatives to incorporate technology into the organization.  Current examples of policy and technology items that Ted is working on include discussions on the future of urban aerial mobility, innovative transportation projects using tunnels and gondolas, using virtual GIS to view GIS data layers in the field as an overlay at their actual location, working with private industry to utilize dashcam footage and artificial intelligence for near instant notification of important events, serving as a local sponsor for a Cal State Los Angeles student project in the Computer Science program to develop a robotic sidewalk assessment vehicle, and establishing a technology lab.  Ted has also been one of the leaders of a multi-agency benchmarking group that includes 6 other large California cities for over 10 years.  Ted graduated from UCLA in 1992 and is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California.

 

Nicole Blute

Senior Associate
Hazen and Sawyer Environmental Engineers and Scientists

Nicole Blute is a Senior Associate with Hazen and Sawyer Environmental Engineers and Scientists in their Los Angeles office. She specializes in water quality and treatment. Much of her work involves developing, testing, and planning treatment of impaired groundwater for both constituents of health concern and aesthetics. She also leads distribution system water quality projects and disinfection strategy improvements. Dr. Blute is a trained Flavor Profile Analyst for diagnosing taste and odor issues in water. She earned her PhD from MIT in Environmental Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in California.

Sarah Brandenberg

Principal
Fehr and Peers

Sarah Brandenberg is a Principal at Fehr & Peers’ Los Angeles office and has served as its Operations Manager since 2008. Sarah has over 13 years of experience and has managed many complex studies, such as transportation impact studies, EIR transportation and circulation sections, transportation planning studies, and multi-modal corridor studies throughout California. Fehr & Peers specializes in providing transportation planning and engineering services to public and private sector clients, with an emphasis on the development of creative, cost-effective, and results-oriented solutions to planning and design problems associated with all modes of transportation.

Lewis Cornell, P.E.

Vice President – Southern California District Operations Manager and PDL Lead
AECOM

Marshall Davert, Ph.D.

Operating President, Government and Infrastructure
MWH Global, Inc.

Marshall Davert is operating president of MWH Government and Infrastructure for the Americas and Asia Pacific. In this role, he provides strategic direction for the development of water and energy services for government clients and other clients in these two key regions. He has a proven track record of sustainable growth in the global water sector and a deep knowledge of institutional and regulatory policies world-wide.

He has special expertise in all aspects of integrated watershed planning and management; water resources planning and management; and the management of multidisciplinary teams to implement projects and programs in complex regulatory, Institutional and political environments.

Spanning 17 years, Davert’s career at MWH has taken him to leadership posts around the world, including Sydney, Australia, where he previously served as president of the Asia Pacific region.

A registered Civil Engineer, Mr. Davert is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

R. Travis Deane, P.E., G.E.

Senior Associate
Shannon & Wilson, Inc.

Travis Deane is a geotechnical engineer with over 20 years of experience working on a variety of projects across the western United States, particularly in California. Travis began his career in the San Francisco Bay Area graduating with a Master’s degree in civil engineering from UC Berkeley. He joined Shannon & Wilson in 2003 after moving to Seattle, Washington. Upon Shannon & Wilson’s acquisition of a geotechnical firm in the Los Angeles area, Travis was transferred to Glendale, California to manage the new office.

Travis has worked on numerous projects throughout his career and in a variety of subsurface conditions. He enjoys solving challenging problems with innovative solutions designed to be practical, economical, and workable within the numerous constraints that typically beset complex projects. He manages the Los Angeles office with a team approach and works to build consensus with his colleagues, having the opinion that two engineers and/or geologists agreeing usually results in a solution that is ten times better than one person working in a vacuum.

For fun, Travis enjoys golfing, hiking, downhill skiing, and coaching the soccer teams for his two young sons.

Jan Dougalas

Associate
KPFF

A California native, Jan Dougalas has been living and working in Los Angeles since graduating from UCLA (BS Civil Engineering-1987, MS Civil Engineering-1988). Her professional resume includes structural engineering consulting services to architects, developers and owners in healthcare, retail, commercial, higher education, seismic retrofit and entertainment. She has served as a guest lecturer at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UCLA, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Currently an Associate at KPFF, Jan’s focus is on healthcare driven projects, recruiting, and internal staff training. Personally, Jan is married, has three children, and enjoys camping trips and relaxing on the beach.

Ron Eguchi

President and CEO
ImageCat, Inc.

Mr. Eguchi is President and CEO of ImageCat, Inc., a risk management company specializing in the development and use of advanced technologies for risk assessment and reduction. Mr. Eguchi has over 30 years of experience in risk analysis and risk management studies. He has directed major research and application studies in these areas for government agencies and private industry. He currently serves or has served on several Editorial Boards including the Natural Hazards Review published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, University of Colorado; the Journal on Uncertainties in Engineering Mechanics published by Resonance Publications, Inc.; and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s Journal SPECTRA. He is a member of the National Research Council’s Disaster Roundtable whose mission it is to identify urgent and important issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural, technological, and other disasters. He is a past member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey, a committee that reports to Congress on recommended research directions for the USGS in the area of earthquake hazard reduction. In 1997, he was awarded the ASCE C. Martin Duke Award for his contributions to the area of lifeline earthquake engineering. He still remains active in the ASCE Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering serving on several committees and having chaired the Council’s Executive Committee in 1991. In 1992, Mr. Eguchi was asked to chair a panel, established jointly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a plan for assembling and adopting seismic design standards for public and private lifelines in the U.S. This effort has led to the formation of the American Lifeline Alliance, currently managed by the National Institute of Building Sciences. In 2006, he accepted an ATC Award of Excellence on behalf of the ATC-61 project team for work on An Independent Study to Assess Future Savings from Mitigation Activities that showed that a dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves the nation about $4 in future benefits. He was recently recognized by EERI as the 2008 Distinguished Lecture where he discussed the topic of “Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and other Disasters: A View from Space.” He was also invited as a keynote speaker to the 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, held in Beijing, China in 2008. Recently, he gave keynote talks at the 10th International Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering held in Tokyo, Japan (2013) and the 12th Americas Conference on Wind Engineering held in Seattle, WA (2013). He has authored over 250 publications, many of them dealing with the seismic risk of utility lifeline systems and the use of remote sensing technologies for disaster response.

Nolan Lenahan

Associate Principal
DCI Engineer

Nolan is an Associate Principal in DCI Engineers’ Los Angeles office. His expertise includes structural design and evaluation of building types across the cultural, performing arts, justice, civic, education, hospitality, commercial, mixed-use, and residential sectors; and managing teams of engineering professionals. He is a California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Safety Assessment Program-certified building evaluator, and is proficient in building codes, design practices, and seismic mitigation strategies for new and existing buildings. Nolan is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Structural Engineers Association of California. Nolan earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering (2007) and M.S. in Structural/Earthquake Engineering (2009), both from UCLA. Outside of work, Nolan enjoys watching and playing sports, fitness, music, restaurants, movies, reading, and traveling.

Marshall Lew

Principal and Vice President
Principal and Vice President

Dr. Marshall Lew received his B.S. (1972), M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1976), all from UCLA. After one year of teaching at California State University Long Beach, Dr. Lew joined LeRoy Crandall and Associates, a prominent geotechnical engineering company in Southern California and is now a Principal and Vice President of AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc.

Dr. Lew has practiced in geotechnical and earthquake engineering and has worked on prominent projects in Southern California, including the 73-story US Bank Building (tallest building in the western US), Metro Blue, Green, and Gold Line Rail Projects for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Silver Lake Reservoir replacement project for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, San Diego Padres Petco Park Baseball Stadium, Keck Hospital of USC (first base isolated hospital in the world), and the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center.

Dr. Lew is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Geo-Institute, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Structural Engineers Association of Southern California, and the Seismological Society of America. He served as a Board Member and Secretary-Treasurer of EERI for 6 years.
Dr. Lew was also a member of the State of California’s Hospital Building Safety Board and is currently a member of the State’s Strong Motion Instrumentation Advisory Committee. Dr. Lew is a registered Civil and Geotechnical Engineer in California and is a registered Professional Engineer in 9 other states.

Paul Liu

Manager
Water Recycling Policy

Paul Liu is the Manager of the Water Recycling Policy, Groundwater Rights, and Resource Management Section of Water Resources Division at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). He has been with LADWP for over 26 years and has experience in managing the recycled water and groundwater programs for the City.  Paul is currently overseeing the initiative to recycle 100% of Hyperion effluent by 2035 in a joint effort with the City of Los Angeles’ Bureau of Sanitation (LASAN). Paul has also successfully led a team in reaching agreements with the USEPA and responsible parties on groundwater contamination cleanup projects in the San Fernando Groundwater Basin and has served on various steering, project advisory, and inter-agency committees on local water supply issues.  Paul has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCLA, is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California, a member of AWWA and ASCE, and is Board Certified with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his six children, finding good eating places, and fishing at Mammoth.

 

Dennis Lundquist

Senior Technical Program Manager
Battelle

Irshad Rasheed

Irshad Rasheed

Chief Operating Officer
Sanveo, Inc.,

Responsibilities include strategy, corporate growth, sales & marketing, IT, HR and Accounting and overall company P&L.

Irshad is a seasoned executive with a track record of developing new markets, solutions and products leveraging engineering & IT technologies. His focus is by leading innovations in Engineering, Business processes and effective Corporate Management. He has successfully led and exited companies while creating intrinsic value and compelling products.

His current focus area is on developing solutions for Construction Industry in design integration, supply chain management and industrialized construction. He believes that the large construction market is ripe for digital transformation and benefit from the accompanying efficiency & productivity improvement.

In the past, Irshad has founded and led companies in IOT and semiconductor space.

Thomas A. Sabol, Ph.D., S.E.

Principal Engineer Englekirk Institutional

Faculty Profile: Thomas A. Sabol

David Selna

Vice President
Taslimi Construction Co.

David Selna has over twenty- five years of construction experience in Southern California, leading numerous high-profile projects for private and public clients. He has worked as an estimator, preconstruction manager, construction project manager, and as a construction executive. David has extensive experience leading design-build projects and in managing self-performed architectural and structural concrete work. Throughout his career, David has demonstrated his strength in working collaboratively and developing long-lasting relationships with consultants and clients. His projects have won numerous awards from organizations including the national and local chapters of the American Institute of Architects, Structural Engineers Association of California, American Concrete Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Design Build Institute of America as well as local organizations such as the Los Angeles Business Council, Southern California Development Forum, and Mc Graw Hill California Construction.

David is a Vice President at Santa Monica based Taslimi Construction Company. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley Civil Engineering Program as well as the Anderson School of Business at UCLA Executive Program.

Soroosh Sorrooshian

Ph.D., Distinguished Professor
University of California, Irvine

Soroosh Sorooshian, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science and Director, Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS) is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Fellow of AGU, AMS, AAAS, and IWRA.   He is the recipient of numerous national and international honors and awards and has served on various advisory panels and committees.

Professor Sorooshian’s area of expertise is Hydrology, hydrometeorology and hydroclimate modeling, remote sensing, water resources management

Faculty Profile: Soroosh Sorrooshian

Christopher T. Stern, UCLA CE M.Sc.

Technology Executive and Entrepreneur,
VP and Managing Director
Trimble Inc. | Trimble Ventures | Trimble Foundation Fund

Chris is an accomplished technology executive and entrepreneur. He currently serves as VP and Managing Director for Trimble Inc., a Fortune 500 NASDAQ-listed worldwide leader in industrial technology solutions for the AEC, infrastructure, natural resources and utilities industries. In his role with Trimble, Chris leads strategy and development for emerging businesses, manages Trimble’s corporate venture capital program, and serves as a member of the Board for the Trimble Foundation Fund. Chris joined Trimble through the sale of his company in 2006, and has served as a founder, board director, advisor and investor to multiple startups through formation, financing, development and acquisition. Chris holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from UCLA and Loyola Marymount University respectively, is a licensed engineer in California, and is a member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.

Ken Susilo

Ken Susilo, MS ’91, PE (CA)

Vice President/ Senior Principal
Geosyntec Consultants 

Ken Susilo is the founder and managing Senior Principal for Geosyntec’s California Water Resources operations, and serves on the firm’s Leadership Committee and Diversity Council.  A former member of Geosyntec’s Board of Directors, he has over 30 years of experience as a practicing water resources engineer and his current focus includes alternative delivery (e.g., public-private partnerships) of water resources projects that deliver environmental, social, and economic benefits to the natural and built environment.  He has been twice named Outstanding Civil Engineer in Private Practice in the State of California by the American Society of Civil Engineers.  He also serves on the Board of the Asian American Architects and Engineers Association, Chairing the Committee on Public Policy and Government Affairs, and the Task Force on Diversity Equity and Inclusion.  Ken received his BS and MS in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Phillip Williams

Vice President
Webcor, LP

As a Vice President at Webcor, Phil is responsible for all sustainability and engineering efforts related to all building construction and institutional, private sector and industry innovation, research and development. He directs all work relating to reducing building related environmental footprints and collaboratively supports innovative, sustainable processes, systems and materials.

Webcor was a founding member of the Carbon Leadership Forum (CFL), formed with the University of Washington to advance Supply Chain Carbon Accounting and Phil currently serves on the Industry Advisory Board for CFL. In addition he serves on the Executive Board of the Strategic Development Council (SDC) under the ACI Foundation and he is Chair of the Industry Advisory Board for the Center for the Built Environment (CBE) through the University of California at Berkeley. In addition he serves on Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL) Working Group on Guaranteeing Building
Energy Usage.

Webcor is regularly acknowledge as one of the leading builders in California and is ranked in the top 40 largest specialty contractors in the United Sates. Webcor is a division of Obayashi Corporation, ranked in the top 25 of the world’s largest construction companies.

Jon Wren, Ph.D., P.E.

Principal Engineer and Practice Director
Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Inc.

Dr. Jon Wren is a Principal Engineer and Exponent’s Civil Engineering Practice Director. Dr. Wren has over 18 years of experience in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. His expertise includes analysis, design, and performance of retaining structures, foundations, embankments, natural and manmade slopes, dams, levees, and pipelines. Dr. Wren has experience with urban and infrastructure construction including site characterization, deep foundations such as drilled shafts and piles, and excavation analysis and design. His expertise includes deep foundation testing, excavation monitoring, groundwater monitoring and withdrawal effects, and the effects of deep excavations on nearby structures. He provides peer review services for design of complex structures and activities such as nuclear power plant structures, deep excavations, and dewatering programs. Dr. Wren has experience with evaluating the geotechnical properties of fly ash and analyzing the performance of fly ash amended structures such as embankments and levees.