Peter A. Clark, Civil Engineer, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), has been awarded the 2023 Federal Engineer of the Year by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).
Clark served as the project manager to develop breach inundation zone models to use with Hazard Potential Classification (HPC) analysis for 830 watershed dams in Kansas. In 2016, he mastered a new version of hydraulic modeling software and developed a new reference table to help engineers select surface roughness for each National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) value.
Before Clark began this project in 2016, existing methods were slow and limited the previous engineer’s efforts to develop only 40 dam breach models per year. The new software allowed Clark to complete the modern breach inundation models for all 830 watershed dams in Kansas during 2020 and 2021, which is a 10-fold improvement. Clark shared these methods with other NRCS engineers across the Nation to promote technology transfer and improve the pace of data collection.
Clark earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Kansas State University. He has been an engineer for over 28 years and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Kansas. Outside of work, he enjoys being creative with metalworking, woodworking, building sculptures, as well as other unique and interesting art projects. Clark also enjoys volunteering in the Salina community. One of his favorite activities is serving as an Arts Ambassador Volunteer during the Smoky Hill River Festival and having the opportunity to meet and assist vendors during the event every year.
Source: usda.gov
Categories: Kansas, General