41st NUCEAO Alumni Dinner
On May 9th, 2019, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) celebrated its 41st annual alumni dinner. The event, organized by the Northeastern Civil Engineering Alumni Association (NUCEAO), was an opportunity for current and former students and faculty to celebrate the achievements of the department, university, and CEE alumni.
NUCEAO is the largest and most active departmental alumni organization at Northeastern. Each year, the event honors an outstanding alumnus, as well as announces a series of scholarships and awards for current students. This year’s outstanding alumna was Heather Mackey Ford, E’79, MS’87.
Ford holds more than 40 years of experience in civil and environmental engineering. She focused her career primarily on hazardous waste and water contamination in both the public and private sectors. In the early days of her career, she was instrumental in assisting the EPA with launching the nation’s first hazardous waste treatment and storage facility. She helped spin up two separate and successful startups, one of which was acquired by Westinghouse. The other launched several patents still in use around the country. During her speech at the alumni dinner, Ford reflected on her time at Northeastern, when she was often the only woman in her classes. Today, she said, she is happy to see the work the department has done to bring more women into the profession, many of whom were in the audience to accept awards. Ford is a proud Double Husky, a longtime member of NUCEAO and a member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Industrial Advisory Board.
The recipients of other awards and scholarships presented during the dinner are listed below. Many of the awards were presented by the alumnus who founded the gift.
NUCEAO Awards
- Reed Allen, E’20
- Peter Botticello, E’21
- Matthew Burmeister, E’21
- Erin Dillman, E’20
- Emily Malterre, E’21
Leo F. Peters Scholarship in Civil Engineering
- Madeline DuBois, E’20
- Linnaea Cahill, E’20
Donald and Holly Pottle Scholarship
- Kestral Johnston, E’19
- Zachary Pierce, E’20
- Michael Tormey, E’20
Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Edward B. Wenners Award
- Jude Arbogast, E’19
- Madeline Dubois, E’20
- Timmy Lewis, E’21
- Zach Lozon, E’19
- Arthur Segawa, E’22
Cochrane Fellowship Award
- Michael Knapp, PhD’23
- Cassandra Nickles, PhD’22
- Alanna Sparagna, PhD’23
- Katherine Vilardi, PhD’22