Reclamation's Fred Travers Receives American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado’s Highest Award

Travers honored for his work with the Colorado High School Bridge Building Competition

Written by: Peter Soeth

Fred Travers (l) being congratulated by American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado President Marvinetta Hartwig, PE, after receiving the Council's General Palmer Award. Photo courtesy of ACEC.Bureau of Reclamation employee Fred Travers was recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado with the 2015 General Palmer Award, for his work with the Colorado High School Bridge Building Competition.

The General Palmer Award recognizes engineers who have contributed to the state of Colorado, received recognition in a community, advanced the engineering profession, or made an impact on future generations.

"We thank Fred for the time and effort he has devoted to this program and are honored to recognize his many contributions,” Marvinetta Hartwig, PE, president of ACEC Colorado said. “Thanks to his commitment, thousands of high school students have learned firsthand about engineering,We are also pleased to support this competition with scholarship funding, which helps to cultivate future engineers and promote our profession.”

Travers joined Reclamation in 1975, as a design engineer in the Power System Technical Section, and then transferred to the Concrete and Structural Branch in the Division of Research. He is now an electronics engineer in the Concrete, Geotechnical, & Structural Laboratory at the Technical Service Center. Throughout his career he has been responsible for providing instrumentation, data acquisition and control systems, for the testing and research conducted in the field and lab. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1974. Travers became a registered Professional Engineer in 1980.

"This is a great honor for Fred who has had a long and successful career at Reclamation," said group manager Janet White, P.E., said. "The bridge building competition wouldn't be as successful as it is today without the work Fred has put into it."

The Colorado High School Bridge Building Competition was initiated by Reclamation in 1974. Travers began working with the competition in 1982 and has played a major part of every contest since then. Since Fred has been involved, it is estimated that nearly 4,000 students from throughout Colorado have competed. The competition helps high school students study the application of fundamental principles of physics and develop "hands-on" skills by constructing and testing model bridges. Students also experience what it is like to be an engineer by designing structures according to a set of specifications and testing the performance of their structures under controlled factors.

This year's competition will take place at Reclamation's Technical Service Center at the Denver Federal Center campus on February 27, 2016.

Published on January 13, 2016