F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- A member of the Mighty Ninety was named today as the Air Force nominee for the 2020 National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Federal Engineer of the Year Award.
Alice MacVey, from the 90th Civil Engineer Squadron, was one of four finalists from the Air Force who will compete against professional engineers across the federal government. While the number of submissions for the award is not known, MacVey likely was selected over more than 20 qualified engineers from across multiple major commands.
Rodney Trees, MacVey’s supervisor for four years, was not surprised by the nomination.
“In the short time she has worked for me, she has established herself as the go to person for technical issues, project management and leadership,” said Trees. “Her ability to sort out technical details, overcome obstructions and work through federal bureaucracy to support the mission’s success is why she warranted being nominated and making it to the Federal level.”
The squadron commander similarly praised her efforts while taking on the role of Chief of Project Management during 2020, which oversees all development and construction oversight for military construction projects on base.
“She is the lead on several key projects across the base, and recently led the development of both design and construction requirement packages to tackle our fire alarm and suppression issues,” said Lt. Col. Brian Low, 90 CES commander. “She is an outstanding engineer and leader, and I’m proud to have her in the squadron.”
As Chief of Project Management, MacVey led project engineers and oversaw Construction Management, and the simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements and Geobase offices within the flight to execute in-house design and construction projects, as well as military construction level project management and coordination. These responsibilities include supporting requests from other units on base for improvements around base while collaborating with the Programming section within 90 CES to identify deficient areas around base and in the missile fields to generate a master plan of needed repairs and replacement projects projecting out more than 5 years. The historic nature of the base, combined with the aging missile field complex, requires diligence to ensure mission readiness.
“With F.E Warren being a historic base, infrastructure both on base and in the missile fields requires a more watchful eye from 90 CES shops to maintain,” said MacVey. “When projects are executed out of this flight, it reduces the hours of maintenance that 90 CES has to put into that infrastructure and allows them to direct their efforts into additional facilities and maintenance, and through that consistent upkeep, we help ensure that our mission partners can conduct business as usual.”
Though her responsibilities through 2020 were numerous, MacVey says that she is proud to be considered for the award at all and humbled by the support from her squadron.
“I am absolutely humbled to be included in such an prestigious group of engineers, and I’m grateful for my leadership and their support in their nomination of me, let alone to be the Air Force-level nominee,” said MacVey. “I truly enjoy my job and the camaraderie that F.E. Warren provides makes this base an absolute joy to work for.”
NSPE will announce the top ten submissions around Dec. 15, and those ten will be judged for a finalist by Jan. 11. The national winner, as well as the Air Force nominees, will be recognized at the NSPE awards luncheon ceremony.