A number of E&EM graduate students, faculty members and alumni played active roles in the 21st Annual American Society for Engineering Management Conference that was held in Washington, D.C. during the period October 4-7, 2000.  The conference, which was co-sponsored by the George Washington University, featured more than 150 speakers, including a number of top environmental management figures from companies, government agencies and universities from around the country.
 

The three-day conference attracted hundreds of participants.

One of the most interesting presentations was provided by Lieutenant General (ret) Vald Heiberg, former commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a two-time graduate of GW. During his luncheon speech on October 5, General Heiberg provided an insightful overview of several current controversies involving the environmental management programs of the U.S. Departments of Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.   In addition to his experience as Chief of the Corps of Engineers, General Heiberg has served as CEO of two major environmental engineering companies: JA Jones Environmental Services and Rollins Field Services, Inc.  He currently is president of Heiberg Associates in Washington, D.C., where he is involved in a number of major environmental projects.
 

Lieutenant General (ret) Vald Heiberg, former Chief, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and CEO of two major environmental corporations, delivered the luncheon address on October 5.  LTG Heiberg is a holder of two graduate degrees from GW.

Lewis D. Walker Principal with BAHR, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health, also played a major role at the conference, serving as the track coordinator for six sessions.

Charles Henry, President of the LFR Group, an environmental consulting company with offices in 18 cities across the United States, chaired a session at the event.  Mr. Henry is a retired U.S. Army Major General who formerly was responsible for all procurement activities of the U.S. Department of Defense.
 

An address by MCI-WorldCom President John Sidgmore was one of the highlights of the conference.

Another important GW-affiliated environmental figure playing a major role in the conference was Dr. J. Winston Porter, President of the Waste Policy Institute in Northern Virginia. Dr. Porter, who also is a former Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, coordinated a track of six sessions at the event.
 

Dr. Dan Sheer, President of Water Resources Management, Inc. of Columbia, Maryland, chaired a session on optimization of natural resources utilization.

The Science Applications International Company (SAIC), one of the world’s largest environmental and energy management consulting companies with more than 41,000 employees, was a co-sponsor of the conference.  The CEO of SAIC, J.R. (Bob) Beyster, addressed conference attendees with a story about the evolution of the company over the past 30 years.  Other top SAIC officers participating in the conference included Mark Hughes, General Manager of the Information Technology Sector (who served on the Executive Advisory Board for the conference); Michael Daniels, Sector General Manager (who provided a plenary session address);  Dennis Perry, Vice President (who coordinated a track of six sessions): and Vicki Spivey, Vice President (who chaired a session at the event).
 

Dr. Ari Patrinos, Director of the super high-profile Human Genome Project, was a bit hit at the conference.

Mark Hughes, General Manager, SAIC, played several key roles in the conference.

One of the highlights of the event was a plenary session address by the President and CEO of one of the world’s largest companies, John Sidgmore of MCI WorldCom.  John spoke to us about the explosive growth of WorldCom and its family of related Internet companies, such as UUNET.

In addition, the conference featured a remarkable array of additional top corporate and governmental offices from Washington, D.C and around the country.  Senior officials making presentations at the conference included: 
Robert Baker, Vice Chairman of  the Board, American Airlines
- Jack Fearnsides, former General Manager, Mitre Corporation
- Daniel Meehan, CIO, Federal Aviation Administration and former Vice President, ATT
- Daniel Sheer, CEO, WRMI, Inc., Columbia, MD
 

Lewis D. Walker, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and Health), chaired one of the six tracks of the conference.

- Michael Kerrigan, co-founder of the E-technology Companies
- Kathy Clark, CEO, Landmark Corporation
- Ari Patrinos, Director, Human Genome Project, U.S. Department of Energy
- Kyle Schilling, former Director, Water Resources Support Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Bruce Don, Director, RAND Critical Technologies Institute
- Saralyn Bunch, Program Manager, Office of Environmental Management, US Department of Energy
- Rosalie Ruegg, President, TIA Consulting, Inc.
 

Graduate students June Han and Cynthia Phillip assisted with conference administration and logistics.

- Robert Kahn, President and CEO, Corporation for National Research Initiatives
- Carl Kelly, Senior VP, Oracle Service Industries
- Edward Paradise, General Manager, Mobile Wireless, Cisco Systems
- Steve Walker, President, Steve walker & Associates
- Karen Brown, Deputy Director, NIST
- Jude Franklin, VP and Chief Technology Officer, PRC, Inc.
- Donald Upson, Secretary of Technology, Commonwealth of Virginia
- Howard Frank, Dean, RH Smith School of Business, UMD
- Mark Gilbertson, Director, Office of Basic and Applied Research, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy
- Mike Stankosky, former Senior VP of QuesTech, Inc. and now on the engineering management faculty at GW 
- David Rogers, Lead Systems Engineer, Mitre Corporation, and EMSE adjunct faculty member
- Frank Calabrese, President, Enterprise Knowledge Management Group, Inc. and EMSE adjunct faculty member
- Michael Goode, President, Telford Consulting, Inc. and EMSE adjunct faculty member
 
 

E&EM Lead Professor Jonathan Deason (left) served as Conference Program Chairman.  Dr. J. Winston Porter, former Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, coordinated a track of six technical sessions.

Also speaking at the event were Timothy Tong, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at GW, and EMSE Chairman Tom Mazzuchi.

Some of the E&EM-associated students and alumni, and EMSE faculty members who presented papers, chaired sessions, or otherwise assisted with the conference included Jerry Sherk, Eric Chukwu, Ed Hagarty, Cynthia Phillip, Vlad Kochura, Mark Goedde, Hui Huang, Hilton McDavid, Jack Harrald, Howard Eisner, Theresa Jefferson, Gideon Frieder, Richard Soland, and Shahram Sarkani.  E&EM Lead Professor Jonathan Deason served as the Conference Program Chairman for the event and Professor Robert Waters served as General Chairmen.  Published proceedings of the event, containing written versions of many of the more than 150 presentations made at the conference, are available from the American Society for Engineering Management.

Click this link to see other photos of conference speakers and events:  More ASEM Conference Photos