ASCE OC Branch: Annual Awards Night 2026

The Annual Awards Night is the marquee event for the ASCE Orange County community. It is an event to honor and recognize the outstanding individuals and projects in Orange Country from the past 12 months. The 2026 Awards Night was held on Wednesday, May 6, at The Charleston in Downtown Fullerton. The hosting venue was a historical building from 1927, and it was fitting to have this year’s theme based on the Roaring 20s.

Younger Members at the 2027 ASCE Orange County Annual Awards Night

In total 14 individuals were honored for their service to the civil engineering profession, the community, and ASCE Orange County. One highlight individual award was the Outstanding Civil Engineer in the Private Sector Award presented to Jacqueline L. Patterson who is the CEO of Zephyr Rail. Another highlight individual award was the Outstanding Civil Engineer in the Public Sector Award presented to Yazdan Emrani who is the Director of Public Works for the City of Rialto. Finally, the Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Wei Koo who recently retired after a career recognized for his leadership in delivering some of Southern California’s most complex and high-impact transportation infrastructure projects.

Outstanding Civil Engineer in the Private Sector - Jacqueline L. Patterson, Ed.D., P.E., CCM

Outstanding Civil Engineer in the Public Sector - Yazdan Emrani, P.E., F.ASCE

In total 18 projects were honored, which were completed within Orange County during the last 12 months. The awarded projects highlighted several disciplines of civil engineering and several types of infrastructure. The Project of the Year was awarded to the City of Hope Orange County Project, owned by the City of Hope National Medical Center. The City of Hope Orange County academic cancer campus is a next-generation model of healthcare development consisting of a new six-story hospital with a basement level, a three-story parking structure, interior retrofit of a pre-existing four-story office building turned Cancer Center. The hospital is Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital.

These buildings were designed and built with the intention to optimize patient flow and campus efficiently while supporting lifesaving research, including clinical trials. These features required special engineering and construction components with regards to shoring systems to support the adjacent Cancer Center during basement construction of the Hospital Structure while care operations were ongoing. The design team focused on the performance of these structures through construction to provide safe and reliable engineered foundations and restraining systems used at the City of Hope project. By focusing on the strategy of integrating the existing building with new design, City of Hope has created a treatment model where the physical infrastructure supports new operational missions, allowing the organization to focus its resources on patient-centered outcomes rather than overly redundant medical suites and oversized utility footprints.

Project of the Year – City of Hope Orange County

If there is a standout project that you are a team member of slated to be completed in the next 12 months or an outstanding civil engineer in your company, please remember to send in your submission for the 2027 Awards Night!

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About the Author:

Nestor Godinez is a Senior Engineer at SLR International Corporation. He is currently the ASCE OC Branch President. Nestor can be contacted via email at ngodinez@slrconsulting.com.