CDM Smith Presents 2024 Annual Awards in Technical Excellence, Innovation and Mentorship

BOSTON—An important element of CDM Smith’s culture is celebrating our successes and acknowl­edg­ing remarkable contri­bu­tions. Our annual Enterprise Awards spotlight extra­or­di­nary technical excellence, career development and client service. Being exceptional in these areas is central to who we are and our position as a choice firm in the industry.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tim Wall announced the award winners at CDM Smith’s annual shareholders meeting in front of a live and virtual audience of direct shareholders of our privately held firm. Congratulations to the all the 2024 winners! 

The Best Technical Paper Awards Program recognizes individuals for delivering technical excellence, advancing the firm as an industry leader and showcasing our expertise. CDM Smith awards $10,000 to the primary author of the best paper in a peer-reviewed journal and $10,000 to the primary author of the best paper in a non-peer reviewed publication.

John Stults won Best Peer-Reviewed Paper for his work, “Air-Water Interfacial Collapse and Rate-limited Solid Desorption Control Perfluoroalkyl Acid Leaching from the Vadose Zone." which was published in the Journal of Contaminant Hydrology. This study enhances our understanding of the dangerous release mechanisms of PFAS, a chemical family that poses one of the greatest challenges in water treatment and environmental remediation in decades. Meet our PFAS experts that are ready to fight this challenge with you.

Brendan Brown won Best Non-Peer-Reviewed Paper for his work, "Digital Data Collection, Automation, and Machine Learning for Environmental Compliance and Assessment," presented at the 2024 Florida Water Resources Conference. Despite the potential that advanced technologies like drones, high-resolution satellites and machine learning have to revolutionize environmental data collection, they are still underutilized in environmental assessment for a variety of reasons. Learn how Skywave at CDM Smith is transforming the way we collect environmental data digitally.

The President’s Awards Program recognizes outstanding individuals in innovation and mentorship for the prior year. Recipients are nominated by their colleagues across the firm and winners are selected by President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Bouchard from a very competitive field in both areas of distinction. Each recipient of the President’s Awards receives a career development package of up to $5,000.

Innovation
 
The 2024 President’s Award for Innovation has been awarded to Andrew Reicks. He is the innovator behind CDM Smith’s revolutionary deep learning model for solar site feasibility and development analysis. Drew recognized the need and developed a cutting-edge solution for a more efficient and accurate assessment approach during a project with tight deadlines and physically restricted sites. The unique model combines public and private data, interdisciplinary expert knowledge from colleagues, machine learning and programming. Its completion not only exceeded client expectations but also positioned CDM Smith as an industry leader in the client’s eyes, leading to additional contract work with them. Drew's development process for the model was innovative, as he deliberately considered its transformative and wide-reaching potential for future applications. He truly embodies CDM Smith’s innovative vision: to shape the future through cross-collaboration, simultaneously driving growth and gaining competitive advantages to establish our firm’s reputation of pure excellence. 

Mentorship 

The 2024 President’s Award for Mentorship has been awarded to Cody Lechleitner. His unwavering commitment to mentorship this year was instrumental in the critical development of the Kellogg office, creating an environment where each team member feels empowered to grow, collaborate and succeed. He seamlessly transitioned several staff to project management roles while fostering a culture of mutual respect and emphasizing work-life balance. He encourages others to take ownership of their roles and use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, providing a supportive safety net from a distance. This trust instills confidence in them to boldly approach challenges and ensures accountability and continuous learning. Furthermore, Cody’s genuine care for both employees’ professional and personal well-being is evident. He offers thoughtful guidance for each milestone unique to each employee, even outside of the Kellogg office, demonstrating his far-reaching impact. All these mentorship actions helped establish a strong and cohesive culture that excels at their work.

The Thomas Camp Award, named for one of our founders, represents the essential integration of client service, technical excellence and exemplary business results. Working closely with clients to understand their needs and build trust and confidence, we carefully assemble the right team to craft the most effective solutions, with the goal of continuing strong business growth and development. This award recognizes the project—and especially the project team—that best achieves all three facets of excellence.

The 2024 Thomas Camp Award winner is the GridStar Flow Battery Demonstration Plant. In this landmark project, CDM Smith procured and constructed a flow battery demonstration plant for a large defense contractor at an active military base. It represents the largest, first-of-its-kind chemical battery installed on site and will enable the critical-mission facility to maintain operation during power outages and provide electricity during peak energy demand, yielding significant cost savings.

This accomplishment is a testament to more than 25 years of successful client collaboration built on a strong foundation of environmental expertise. Our ongoing partnership has allowed us to expand our role within their business, driving growth and delivering innovative solutions.

Truly reflecting the spirit of the Thomas Camp Award, the GridStar Flow Battery Demonstration Plant is about shaping the future of energy storage globally, creating resiliency and ensuring preparedness by delivering exceptional solutions and client service that create outcomes with impact.

CDM Smith is a privately owned engineering and construction firm providing legendary client service and smart solutions in water, environment, transportation, energy, and facilities. Passionate about our work and invested in each other, we are inspired to think and driven to solve the world’s environmental and infrastructure challenges.