Wednesday, February
18, 2009
Heinz Field, East Club Lounge
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More than 500
engineers and professional luminaries crammed into the East Club
Lounge at Heinz Field February 18 to celebrate the awards and achievements
of a handful of companies and engineering executives.
The gala celebration marked the 125th anniversary of the swank banquet
hosted by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP).
Each year, the banquet brings together engineering leaders to meet
and celebrate a year of outstanding projects and a select group
of individuals who routinely turn dreams into useful projects. |
ESWP President Anthony DiGioia presents Steven
Tritch with the 2009 Metcalf Award |
This year’s
prestigious Metcalf Award was given to Stephen R. Tritch, chairman
of Westinghouse Electric Corp.
“This is a wonderful honor for me, and a great way for this
profession to showcase the importance of engineers and engineering,’’
said Tritch, who spent 37 years at Westinghouse. In fact, Tritch
told the ESWP audience that becoming an engineer was initially more
about great timing than desire. |
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During his junior
year of high school in Butler, Pa. , Tritch was on his way to discuss
career options when he asked another student what he was going to
tell the guidance counselor. “I’m going to be an engineer,’’
the young man said. “Sounds good to me,’’ Tritch
recalled.
Tritch’s father, a World War II vet working as a nurse’s
aide, had scant funds to send five children to college. But Tritch
was fortunate to receive scholarships to Pitt where he graduated
in 1971 with a mechanical engineering degree from Pitt.
From Pitt, he selected to work at Westinghouse. And the rest is
history. After receiving his MBA at Pitt in 1977, Tritch worked
at Westinghouse’s Chattanooga field office. Peers report that
his “user-friendly’’ demeanor, excellent communication
skills and commitment to values soon ensured his steady ascent to
management and eventually to the CEOs office.
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2009 Metcalf Recipient Steven Tritch talks
with Chriss Swaney |
During Tritch’s tenure,
Westinghouse grew from a $1 billion company to a $3 billion company.
He also was instrumental in keeping Westinghouse in the Pittsburgh
region.
At the ESWP dinner, Tritch admonished his audience to continue
enticing more young people to become engineers. He was extremely
proud of the Pitt students who received accolades at the annual
dinner. |
2009 George Washington Prize Winner Patrick
Vescovi (C) is congratulated by Tony DiGioia ( R) and Pitt’s
Dean of Engineering Gerald Holder (L) |
The 2009 George
Washington Prize Winners were Patrick Vescovi, a senior in chemical
engineering, bioengineering and chemistry at Pitt, and award finalists
Alexander Dale, a senior in mechanical and materials science engineering
at Pitt; Jennica Roche, a senior in bioengineering at Pitt; Kelly
McCormick, a semi-finalist and senior in industrial engineering
at Pitt and Derek Mitch, a semi-finalist and senior in civil and
environmental engineering at Pitt. |
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Female engineers
snapped up quite a few awards at this year’s banquet. In fact,
the 2008 Project of the Year Award was presented to Linda Figg,
president and CEO of Figg Bridge, a company started by her father.
“This is a wonderful honor and I know it will continue to
inspire me and my company to do great things,’’ said
Figg. |
Larry Lennon accepts the 2008 Engineer of
the Year Award |
Other awardees included Lawrence
J. Lennon of Lennon, Smith, Souleret Engineering. Inc.
“I am humbled by this award because engineering is such a
noble profession, said Lennon. He also admonished the ESWP membership
to encourage more high school students to get interested in engineering
and science. |
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Even keynote speaker
Howard Fineman challenged the region and both Pitt and Carnegie
Mellon to help create the worker of the future. Fineman, a senior
editor and national political writer for Newsweek and MSNBC, told
the audience that the region needs to move from touting “the
man of steel’’ image to “ the “ man of creativity
‘ image. |
Howard Fineman address the gathering at the
2009 ESWP Annual Banquet |
“It’s all about
‘meds’ and ‘eds’,’’ he said.
“This region is leading the world in medical and educational
advances, and that is our mantra for continued growth,’’
said Fineman, a Pittsburgh native and devout Steelers football fan.
In spite of the looming recession, Fineman predicted that western
Pennsylvania would play a pivotal role in getting the nation’s
economy growing again.
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“You could not ask for a better evening with all the great awards and
positive messages,’’ said T. Peter Ruane, president
and CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
Contributed by: Chriss Swaney
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2009
Silent Auction with a Special On-line
Preview
In addition to the Silent Auction at the February 18th Banquet,
we featured a special on-line version of our annual auction to help
with our continued commitment to support educational programs for
students in our area.
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