Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Far East announced its 2016 engineers of the year Oct. 19.

Military Engineer of the Year Lt. Cmdr. Brandon Casperson, Civil Service Engineer of the Year Tim Bacon and Host Nation Engineer of the Year Hidetoshi Maga all work for Public Works Department (PWD) Yokosuka, Japan.

"Our awardees this year delivered infrastructure solutions to our many supported commands and epitomize the professionalism and Can-Do spirit that is the foundation of our workforce," said NAVFAC Far East Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Bartoe.

Military Engineer of the Year Lt. Cmdr. Brandon Casperson, Director, Yokosuka Public Works Department Facility Management Division, developed and prioritized more than $79 million of Facility Engineering projects across nine funding programs in Fiscal Year 2015. He led the execution of eight vital projects supporting port operations, ships repair, unaccompanied and family housing, and warehousing for the Pacific Rebalance. He created a 20-year, $6.8 billion Base Development Plan for 83 installation tenants, and two Master Plans for port operations and shore facilities.

"I'm really grateful to be nominated for the award and to be part of an organization that encourages its employees to perform at a high level within their profession," said Casperson. "I have had some great challenges and opportunities in Yokosuka and I am fortunate to work with some very talented engineers, architects, and facility planners who certainly deserve a large portion of any credit that I receive as an engineer or leader."

Civil Service Engineer of the Year Timothy Bacon, Deputy Public Works Officer, Fleet Activities Yokosuka has numerous facility engineering achievements are highlighted by construction project execution of more than $40 million per year. He showed strong leadership of multiple contract technical evaluation boards, the re-engineering and prioritization of installation requirements at Yokosuka, and a dramatic reduction of the civilian vacancy rate within the PWD. He also reshaped PWD business elements based on metrics within the maintenance workforce, reduced design backlog, and created a pilot program to streamline corporate work flow.

"It's a great honor to be acknowledged for anything such as engineer of the year among a workforce as talented as we have at NAVFAC," said Bacon. "If it wasn't for the great people I work with, all my documented achievements would have just been ideas. Their willingness to take innovative ideas and make them better represent not just an individual award, but it is shared with the people that I am lucky to interact with daily at Public Works Yokosuka."

Host Nation Engineer of the Year Hidetoshi Maga, Mechanical Design Engineer, Public Works Department Yokosuka, completed multiple large scale projects for U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and the Major Maintenance Repair Program worth approximately $1 million within stringent design timelines. He demonstrated great flexibility and talent meeting the customers' needs while designing for multiple projects simultaneously, inserting new, high-priority projects and maintaining critical deadlines.

"I am very honored to receive this award and most grateful to the command for recognizing my work," said Maga. "I have some difficult work, and could not do it this without the support of my boss and team members. It is important for us to stay up to date in skills and technology and that is my challenge going forward."

Mr. Bacon and Lt. Cmdr. Casperson will be considered for NAVFAC Pacific Engineer of the Year.


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