CDM Smith Presents 2020 Awards in Technical Excellence, Mentorship and Innovation

BOSTON—An important element of CDM Smith’s culture is celebrating our successes and acknowl­edg­ing remarkable contri­bu­tions. Our annual Enterprise Awards spotlight extra­or­di­nary technical excellence, career development and client service. Being exceptional in these areas is central to who we are and our position as a choice firm in the industry. 

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tim Wall announced the award winners at CDM Smith’s annual meeting, broadcast live to all direct share­hold­ers of our privately held firm from our Boston head­quar­ters on April 13, 2021. Congrat­u­la­tions to the winners…

The Best Technical Paper Awards program recognizes individuals for delivering technical excellence, advancing the firm as an industry leader and showcasing our expertise. CDM Smith awards $10,000 to the primary author of the best paper in a peer reviewed journal and $10,000 to the primary author of the best paper in a non-peer reviewed publication.  

Principal Charles E. Schaefer, Jr., Ph.D., won the Best Peer-Reviewed Paper award for his paper Desorption of PFAS Substances from Soil Histor­i­cally Impacted with Aqueous Film-Forming Foam. Per- and poly­flu­o­roalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large and resilient family of chemicals that pose one of the greatest challenges in envi­ron­men­tal remediation and drinking water treatment. Along with his colleagues at CDM Smith and research partners, Charles is uncovering innovative ways to treat PFAS. Watch him in action in the documentary short Troubled Waters: The Fight Against PFAS. 

Senior vice president Mark Maimone, Ph.D., PE, DWRE, BCEE, won the Best Non-Peer-Reviewed Paper award for his paper A Practical Approach to Making Global Climate Model Precip­i­ta­tion Projections Useful for Urban Stormwater Appli­ca­tions. Break­throughs in downscaling global climate models to the local level will help coastal urban communities become more resilient in the face of climate change. Learn more about the thinking behind Mark’s award-winning paper.

The President’s Award program recognizes outstanding individuals in the areas of Innovation and Mentorship for the prior year. Recipients are nominated by their colleagues across the firm and winners are selected by President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Bouchard from a very competitive field in both areas of distinction. Each recipient of the President’s Awards receives a career development package of up to $5,000. 

Innovation

The 2020 President’s Award for Innovation was awarded to Anna Mehrotra Ph.D., PE, for her work leading CDM Smith’s wastewater-based epidemi­ol­ogy (WBE) initiative to track the COVID-19 disease. This public health tool serves as an early warning system and provides a timely and cost-effective way to assess the health of communities. 

Mentorship

The 2020 President’s Award for Mentorship was awarded to two individuals: 

• Vice president David Polcari, PE, BCEE, PMP—With more than 30 years at CDM Smith, Dave creates envi­ron­ments where everyone is empowered to reach their highest potential and uses a variety of mentoring styles to meet the needs of his mentees. A sought-after mentor, Dave wears many hats and continues to share his technical expertise while remaining an important part of CDM Smith’s senior technical review team for conveyance projects in New England.
• John Rogers—The CDM Smith family lost John Rogers earlier this year. However, his legacy lives on in his tremendous mentoring. With the President’s Award for Mentorship, we honor John’s nearly 35-year commitment to our firm, his passion for learning and for sharing with others. John’s award has been donated to the Karma Cat Zen Dog Rescue Society, a charity that was very important to him during his life.

The Thomas Camp Award—named for our founder—represents the essential integration of client service, technical excellence and exemplary business results. The Thomas Camp Award recognizes the project and project team that best achieves all three facets of excellence. 

The 2020 Thomas Camp Award goes to the Des Moines Biomethane Improve­ments project. This project allowed the Des Moines Metro­pol­i­tan Wastewater Reclamation Authority to recover value from excess biogas produced by its wastewater reclamation facility. CDM Smith designed a biogas condi­tion­ing and purifi­ca­tion system to prepare the biogas to the quality capable of being injected into a nearby utility pipeline. The renewable natural gas volume that the Authority now injects through the pipeline is equivalent to supplying 5,500 homes, daily, with natural gas! 

Your incredible contributions make CDM Smith the best, brightest and boldest in the industry! 

CDM Smith is a privately owned engineering and construction firm providing legendary client service and smart solutions in water, environment, transportation, energy and facilities. Passionate about our work and invested in each other, we are inspired to think and driven to solve the world's environmental and infrastructure challenges.