Corps employee in New Orleans honored by National Society of Professional Engineers

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Hurricane Protection Office (HPO) employee and New Orleans native Angela DeSoto-Duncan, P.E., was recognized yesterday in Washington, D.C. as the 2011 USACE Civil Works Federal Engineer of the Year Award winner and a top-ten finalist for the National Society of Professional Engineers’ (NSPE) Federal Engineer of the Year Award.

The Federal Engineer of the Year award program, now in its 32nd year, recognizes outstanding engineers who are employed by the government and stationed in outposts in the U.S. and around the world. Selection of an award recipient is primarily based on engineering achievements, civic and humanitarian activities, continuing education, professional and technical society activities, as well as awards and honors. An evaluation panel selected Vincent B. Sobash, an engineer with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Facilities Engineering Command, as the 2011 NSPE Federal Engineer of the Year.

DeSoto-Duncan joined the HPO in 2008 to serve as design lead for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, the largest design-build civil works project in the history of the USACE. In this role, DeSoto-Duncan leveraged technical support from other USACE Districts, USACE Divisions, and engineers from the Netherlands to design and construct the massive 1.8-mile-long barrier. She has also served as the HPO Deputy Chief and Chief of the Technical Support Branch and was recently promoted to the Deputy Chief of the HPO Execution Support Division, overseeing levee, floodwall, floodgate and pump station construction.

In addition to her day-to-day job duties, DeSoto-Duncan frequently represents the USACE at engineering conferences, workshops and trade shows to share lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and engineering best practices. She is also an active member and leader of several professional engineering and technical societies.