TENNESSEE SECTION
KNOXVILLE BRANCH
2020 Outstanding Student Chapter Club Member Award
John P. Newman, E.I., S.M. ASCE
John served as the 2019-2020 University of Tennessee ASCE Student Chapter President and Concrete Canoe Captain. We greatly appreciate John’s service and the positive influence that he had on his peers to close an adverse spring semester. John graduated this spring and is now working as a staff engineer for a firm in Franklin, TN.
2020 Outstanding Young Engineer Award
Melissa McKenzie, P.E., M. ASCE
Melissa obtained both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of TN Knoxville. She has been a licensed professional engineer since 2014 and currently serves as an Environmental Engineer for Jacobs, working on water distribution and wastewater collection projects. She is currently the Civil Site Lead for the design of a new 16 MGD Water Treatment Plant for the City of Oak Ridge. Melissa has been dedicated to ASCE throughout all phases of her career. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Knoxville Branch and will be installed as the Vice-President in October 2020.
Melissa went on to receive this award at the Tennessee Section Level.
2020 Outstanding Government Engineer Award
Darryl W. Smith, P.E., M. ASCE
Darryl is the Town Engineer for the Town of Farragut, a role that he has filled for 20 years. Prior to that, he worked for 13 years in the private sector providing design services for roadway projects in East Tennessee. Over his 20-year tenure, Darryl has been able to observe and play an active role in the growth of Farragut. One of the more important positions he fills is working with the Transportation Planning Organization to prioritize funding for roadway improvement projects across the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. In that role, he has successfully obtained more than $30 million in federal funding for road improvement projects in Farragut.
2020 Outstanding Engineering Educator Award
Chris Cox, Ph.D., P.E. M. ASCE
Dr. Cox is Department Head and the Robert M. Condra Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Under Dr. Cox’s leadership, since assuming this position five years ago, he has moved civil and environmental engineering in a positive direction toward meeting the University’s goal of being a top 25 university. Women enrollment and minority enrollment grew by 65% and 57%, respectively. The US News Graduate Ranking of public universities shows the UTK CEE graduate program’s ranking has moved from number 42 to number 35 among public universities. In addition to significantly influencing Civil Engineering education at the University of TN, Dr. Cox has been highly engaged with both the ASCE student chapter and Knoxville Branch.
Dr. Cox went on to receive this award at the Tennessee Section Level.
2020 Outstanding Engineering Project Award
Foothills Parkway Missing Link Project
The Foothills Parkway Missing Link project began 52 years ago and was completed in November of 2018. The final Missing Link consists of the five bridges within the 1.65 miles gap and the paving to make up the 16 mile section of the Parkway that connects Walland to Wears Valley, Tennessee. The project was funded through many sources including a Tennessee Department of Transportation Grant, the State of Tennessee, the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the National Park Service Federal Lands Transportation Program.
This project went on to receive this award at the Tennessee Section Level.
2020 Distinguished Service Award
Joshua D. Corum, P.E., LEED AP, M. ASCE
Josh is currently licensed as a Civil Engineer in Tennessee and seven other states as well as the District of Columbia. He presently works for Jacobs Engineering where he serves as the project lead on interesting and unique projects for the Department of Defense. As a civilian, Josh has led a focused career serving America’s military and other government agencies, and has contributed to the ASCE Knoxville Branch and ASCE Tennessee Section. Josh continues his service to ASCE by being involved in the local branch and serving as an EWRI Committee Member for the last two years.
Josh went on to receive this award at the Tennessee Section Level. This is the highest award that can be given by the Section.