Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Special Venture Acquisition Director Robert Harris was awarded the prestigious Urbahn medal from the Society of Military Engineers (SAME) at the Joint Engineer Training Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, May 26.

The SAME Urbahn Medal is named in honor of Max O. Urbahn, former head of the American Institute of Architects. The medal is awarded to a SAME member for distinguished performance in the field of architecture.

"I am honored to have been selected for this medal," said Harris. "I'm grateful to both have served in the Navy as a Civil Engineer Corps officer and as a civilian at NAVFAC in a profession I truly love."

The SAME Urbahn medal was first awarded in 1997. Urbahn, who died in 1995, was instrumental in the design and construction of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. and the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, Florida, which was designed for the Apollo program's Saturn rockets that first took man to the moon.

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