Cheng joins the firm after serving the City of Chicago as the Commissioner for the Department of Water Management (DWM). In that role, Cheng managed two of the world’s largest conventional water purification plants, 2,100 MGD combined, and was responsible for over 4,300 miles of water main and the faucets of 5.3 million people in Chicago. Cheng managed the development of Chicago’s extensive lead sampling program, the largest voluntary lead sampling program in the U.S. with 110,000 sampling kits mailed since 2016. Of the multiple lead service line replacement (LSLR) programs developed, the Equity LSLR program was Cheng’s proudest accomplishment. The program required extensive resident outreach, focused entirely on low-income homeowners with priority given to those with young children and used Community Development Block Grant funding, a relatively unusual funding source for LSLR work.
Cheng has a bachelor’s in civil (environmental) engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign and both a master’s and a PhD in civil (environmental) engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2022, Cheng was recognized by the University of Texas at Austin Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering by becoming a member of their Academy of Distinguished Alumni.