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Erin Threet Receives High Hat Award from the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association

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News: Erin Threet Accepts High Hat AwardThe Pennsylvania Water Environment Association honored Erin Threet with the Ted Moses High Hat Award at its annual award ceremony Monday night. The award is given each year to individuals who have excelled at promoting the association and its programs.

Threet manages the Lewisburg office of Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., and serves the firm’s water and wastewater system clients as a project manager. She is also currently the president of the Central Pennsylvania Water Quality Association, a local chapter of the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association.

Threet has been an active member of the organization since 2006. Over the years, she has served on various committees as the local level, including the Young Professionals, Electric Communication, and Awards committees.

“Being involved with these organizations has given me the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most passionate professionals in the water quality industry,” Threet says. “I’m very humbled to be chosen for this honor from such an esteemed group of my peers.”

Each year, the names of the High Hat award winners are added to a hat, bearing the names of all the previous years’ winners. The original hat was purchased in a pawn shop in 1935, but a second hat was purchased for the addition of new names when there was no longer room for recipients to sign the original hat. The recipients of the award are officially initiated into the “Sludge Shovelers Society” as part of the ceremony.

The award is named after Ted Moses, the first secretary of the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association.

 

ABOUT THE PENNSYLVANIA WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION

The Pennsylvania Water Environment Association was founded in 1926 to advance the preservation, protection and improvement of water resources. It provides accredited training to industry professionals and publishes a quarterly magazine spotlighting industry news, noteworthy projects, and continuing education opportunities. For more information, visit the association’s website at pwea.org

ABOUT HRG

Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) is a nationally ranked design firm providing civil engineering, surveying, and environmental services. The firm was founded in Harrisburg in 1962 and has grown to employ more than 200 people in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.  For more information, please visit the website at https://hrg-inc.com/.

National Surveyors’ Week Spotlight: Robert Quetot

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QuetotIt’s National Surveyors’ Week, and we’re shining the spotlight on some of our surveyor team members.  Today’s spotlight: Robert Quetot.!

Robert is a survey specialist and team leader for HRG’s Western Region, which includes Pittsburgh, Ohio and West Virginia. He has nine years of experience in boundary and topographic surveying, ALTA surveys, and construction layout.  His projects have included natural gas well pads and pipelines, parks and recreational facilities, water lines, and a variety of real estate developments.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Youngstown State University but became interested in surveying during an internship with the Columbiana County Engineer’s office. He was assigned to a survey crew and enjoyed the work so much he turned his attention to the surveying profession instead of engineering.

“I LOVE the outdoors,” he says. “Second to that, I enjoy being the first and last boots on the ground for most projects, watching them come to life. Surveyors are involved throughout many project phases.”

His favorite project was in Okeechobee, Florida, gathering topographic data for the existing Herbert Hoover Dike. At the end of a long winter that doesn’t want to end here in Pennsylvania, an assignment in Florida sounds like paradise, but it included its fair share of danger.  Poisonous snakes, alligators, wild boar and even fire ants could have been lurking around the next palmetto.

“The adrenaline this brings made for an interesting experience,” Robert says.

Learn more about HRG’s surveying services and surveying experience.

Read Robert’s bio to learn more about his education and the types of projects he’s completed.

National Surveyors’ Week Spotlight: Mike Kreiger

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Mike Kreiger, PLSIt’s National Surveyors’ Week, and we’re shining the spotlight on some of our surveyor team members.  First up: Mike Kreiger, P.L.S.!

Mike is a senior project manager in our Harrisburg office and former president of the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field, conducting a wide variety of surveys for roadway and bridge construction, commercial and residential development, and water and sewer system design.  He also has extensive experience in rail line surveying.

His high school physics teacher encouraged him to consider a career as a surveyor. At the time, Mike said, “I had no idea what he was talking about, but it got the wheels spinning and set me in the right direction.”

As his responsibilities have changed, his love for surveying has evolved with them. In his early years, he enjoyed being outside.  As he became more involved in highway layout, he appreciated the integral contribution his work makes to our infrastructure and the ability of people and goods to get where they need to go.  As a senior surveyor, he enjoys developing land title surveys, helping real estate agents and attorneys secure millions of dollars in financing for their projects. (Mike authored an article for our Insights blog on changes to the ALTA Land Title Standards in January 2016.)

He has made many good memories over the years, but a career in the field is not without its risks. Mike keeps his sense of humor about the tougher assignments.

“There was once a time that I got sprayed by a skunk and returned to the office before going home for the day,” he recalls with a smile. “I loved the faces, but there were many office people that likely did not appreciate my humor.”

Of all the projects he’s completed over the years, he says his favorite is probably the coastal erosion prevention survey he performed for the Amy Corps of Engineers. “Sun, sand and surveying, who can ask for anything else?” he says of the project, which stretched 83 miles along the southern coast of Long Island from Jones Beach to Montauk Point.  “It wasn’t all that we expected; there were no warm breezes coming off the ocean.”  (Did we forget to mention the project started in March?)

Another favorite would be a construction layout survey for three miles of roadway approaching the PA Turnpike’s Susquehanna River Bridge.

But Mike will always hold a special place in his heart for another construction layout survey along a 5-mile stretch of Dauphin Relief Road. This $44 million construction project included 4-lane roadway, bridges, culverts, and retaining walls.  If you’re ever in the area, Mike encourages you to take a ride on the “Kreiger Dip:” eastbound lanes N 40°22’5.71″  W 76°58’19.96”.

Learn more about HRG’s surveying services and surveying experience.

Read Mike’s bio to learn more about his education and experience.