Eight professionals with ties to Missouri University of Science and Technology were inducted into the Missouri S&T Academy of Civil Engineers at a dinner and induction ceremony held at Hasselmann Alumni House in Rolla, Mo., on April 16.

The academy recognizes outstanding alumni for their professional achievement and success, and provides organized assistance to the civil engineering department at Missouri S&T.

New members are:

Randy Dreiling of St. Louis, vice president and senior structural engineer for Design Nine Inc., earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1981. During the last 20 years, Dreiling has been an active supporter of the St. Louis section of the Miner Alumni Association, serving in nearly all committee and officer positions, and organizing section activities and events, including the annual Section Scholarship Fundraising Golf Tourney, held every June, which routinely has 100 participants. In 2014, he received the association’s Frank H. Mackaman Volunteer Service Award. Dreiling has served as president of the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis, was a member of the Miner Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2000 through 2012, serving as director, assistant secretary and vice president, and is a member of the American Railway Engineering Association, serving on the committee for seismic design. He also has served with Missouri Society of Professional Engineers in many local chapter committee and officer positions, including chair of MSPE’s Professional Engineers in Private Practice board.

Diane Heckemeyer, chair of construction and civil technology at the State Technical College of Missouri in Linn, earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1986. After graduating, she worked for the Missouri Department of Transportation until 2005 as area engineer and senior estimating engineer before being named the state design engineer in 2001. Heckemeyer was named the Missouri Breaking Traditions Post-Secondary Educator of the Year for 2014 and in 2013 was named a Chapter Honor Member of Missouri S&T’s Chi Epsilon chapter. She was named the American Public Works Association Missouri Chapter’s professional engineer of the year in 2012, and was the 2009 recipient of the National Women in Construction’s Crystal Vision Award. Heckemeyer and her husband, Roger, live in St. Elizabeth, Missouri, with their two daughters. Their oldest daughter, Kelly, is a civil engineering student at Missouri S&T and plays catcher on the Lady Miner softball team.

Karin M. Jacoby, senior counsel at Husch Blackwell in Kansas City, earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1985. She earned a masters of public administration and a juris doctorate, both from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1999 and 2006, respectively. Jacoby has spent most of her career in water resources, waterways, flooding and levees. She founded SPICA Consulting in 2009 as an engineering firm focused on flood risk management. In 2013 she began practicing law and now provides legal services to clients in the Midwest and South.  She is involved in development of the nation’s policy on flood protection, serving as a member of the congressionally established National Committee on Levee Safety, and co-authoring with the National Academy of Sciences Levee Committee a report to FEMA with recommendations for the National Flood Insurance Program. Since 2001, she has been the executive director of the Missouri and Associated Rivers Coalition, a non-profit advocating for more beneficial use of water and related land resources. She received the Commander’s Award for Public Service from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Kansas City Industrial Council’s Progress Award for Improving Waterways. Jacoby has addressed students in Missouri S&T’s civil engineering department and in 2014 was the Chi Epsilon’s Chapter Honor Member.

Steve Meyer, director of environmental services for the city of Springfield, Missouri, earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1975. For Springfield, he has served as superintendent of streets and public grounds, assistant director of environmental services, and, since 2011, the director of environmental services. In that position, Meyer is responsible for leading and managing the city’s sanitary sewer collection system and its two wastewater treatment plants, stormwater management, solid waste collection and disposal, and maintaining compliance with the city’s MS4 permit. His department is also responsible for coordinating citywide sustainability practices. He is a member of the Water Environmental Foundation, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Public Works Association, Missouri Society of Professional Engineers and the Institute of Transportation Engineers and is on the board of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

Allen G. Minks, geotechnical department manager for Terracon Consultants Inc. in St. Louis, earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1981 and 1983, respectively. Minks has spent his career in the geotechnical field with firms such as McClelland Engineers, Shannon & Wilson and SCI Engineering. Active in the American Society of Civil Engineers since his days as a student, he has held every office in the St. Louis section and served as president in 2007-2008. Minks is a Fellow of ASCE, is the recipient of the St Louis Section’s Professional Recognition Award in 2012 and the ASCE National Edmund Friedman Recognition Award in 2013. He has taught a Missouri Society of Professional Engineer-sponsored geotechnical professional engineer refresher course for over 10 years, serves on the city of Florissant, Missouri, Planning and Zoning Commission and is a member of SAVE Coalition, which performed building inspections in Joplin, Missouri, after the 2011 tornado.

Charles E. Powell, owner of CEPCO LLC in Ozark, Missouri, earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1971. He worked for Brown & Root in Houston and London, then returned to the Springfield, Missouri, area where he worked for consulting engineering firms including Anderson Engineering, ET Archer and Scott Consulting Engineers. In 2006, Powell formed CEPCO LLC, a consulting firm that does forensic building investigations for insurance companies and attorneys. He also provides structural engineering services for governmental agencies. He has been active at the local and state level of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers, serving as state and chapter president of MSPE and section president of ASCE. He is a SAVE Coalition Structural Inspector 1 and a member of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency Task Force.

Dr. David Richardson, associate professor of civil engineering at Missouri S&T, earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1971 and 1973, respectively. After working in Texas and Arkansas, where he owned his own consulting firm before selling it after 22 years, he returned to Missouri S&T and earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1984. In 1984, Richardson became the area head for construction and construction materials and has taught those courses at Missouri S&T. He has received 17 teaching awards plus numerous advising and faculty awards, including Academy’s Faculty Achievement Award. He has published research papers, conducted 180 short courses and directed 60 asphalt and concrete conferences, providing continuing education to engineering professionals and technicians. Richardson is a Fellow in the American Concrete Institute, has chaired national ACI technical committees and has been president of the state ACI chapter.

Dave Wisch, a Fellow at Chevron Corp. in Houston, earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1975 and 1977, respectively. He started his career in offshore engineering with Texaco and today is Chevron’s global technical authority in civil, structural and marine engineering. Wisch is the engineer of record for the first U.S. offshore platform to undergo a certified verification agent (CVA) certification and provided engineering oversight for the world’s deepest self-standing structure. He has worked for more than 30 years in industry standards development for API and ISO. He chaired the API Committee on Offshore Structures and led the U.S. delegation to ISO’s Offshore Structures Standards Committee. After hurricanes Ivan, Katrina and Rita, he led an API task force to develop consensus interim industry standards for mooring of floating drilling vessels in less than 90 days. While a student at Missouri S&T, Wisch was the Miner’s placekicker and was an officer in the American Society of Civil Engineers Student Chapter.

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