2022 HCES Award Honorees
Lifetime Achievement: James S. Kumagai
Engineer of the Year: Edmund Chang
Young Engineer of the Year: Brandon Uejo
Student Engineer of the Year: Penny Z. M. Loo
James S. Kumagai, Ph.D., PE, is the 2022 Hawaii Council of Engineering Societies (HCES) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Jimmy was selected for this prestigious honor for his engineering career of almost 50 years in Hawaii that was always directed to developing resources essential for our modern society, water resources and wastewater treatment.
Jimmy spent 6 years in the US Army after graduating from Lahainaluna High School on Maui, serving in Korea, Japan and Hawaii. He earned his Civil Engineering degree from University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1962 while working as a part-time land survey crew chief for Sunn, Low, Tom and Hara, Inc.(SLTH). He went on to pursue his Master of Science degree in Environmental and Sanitary Engineering at Washington University, St. Louis, in 1965. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, in 1969.
Jimmy returned to SLTH as Associate Engineer and Director for their Water Quality Laboratory from 1969-1975. He also became a NAUI certified scuba diver to examine underwater samples. He distinguished himself as Project Director and writer of the Water Quality Plan for Oahu (WQPO), a plan still in use almost 50 years later. The plan called for use of primary treatment in several ocean outfalls instead of secondary treatment called for in the federal Water Quality Act. He was able to justify the use of primary treatment and the plan is still in use today.
Jimmy then entered government service as the Deputy Director for Environmental Programs, Hawaii Department of Health, from 1975 to 1980. He was able to develop the Water Quality Standards called for in the WQPO in this position.
Jimmy returned to SLTH, now named M&E Pacific, Inc.(M&E), as Vice President and Project Director. He also served as the Chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii from 1980-1986. He became Senior Vice President of M&E from 1992-1993. Jimmy became a sole proprietor Consultant Engineer from 1993-1998.
Jimmy worked for the Queen’s Medical Center as Vice President for Facilities Planning and Management from 1998 to 2006. The medical center was in need of major repairs and modernization. He was asked to step down from the Board of Directors so he could work on the project. He started the project by getting buy-in from the medical, operational and administrative staffs so that project ownership was shared top to bottom. Such inclusive decision making is the key to successful projects, and the hospital modernization project was completed before deadline and below budget.
Jimmy completed his professional career by serving as a consultant to AECOM (renamed from M&E) from 2006 to 2012.
Seven (7) distinguished local engineers/scientists in the practice submitted letters of nomination. They noted some of Jimmy’s outstanding characteristics:
1) Jimmy possessed exceptional technical knowledge and engineering aptitude. He was able to match technical solutions to problems and get results.
2) Jimmy had success mentoring good engineers and leadership in those working for him. Many of Hawaii’s top engineers in these fields were mentored by him.
3) Jimmy was a visionary in providing innovative solutions to problems. Many of his solutions are still in use today.
Jimmy was also active in community service, being affiliated with many professional and community service organizations. Professional affiliations include American Society of Civil Engineers, Water Environment Federation (Past President of Hawaii Association), American Water Works Association (past Chairman of Hawaii Chapter), and American Society for Healthcare Engineering.
Jimmy’s community service links included The Queen’s Health Systems, Hawaii Health Foundation (Chair of the Board), Ke Ola O Hawaii, Inc. (Director and Treasurer), University Health Care Associates, and Democratic Party of Hawaii (Chairman).
We wish Jimmy a healthy and prosperous retirement life for all he has done for Hawaii.
When Edmund Chang, fresh out of Iolani School, decided to pursue mechanical engineering at the University of Hawaii, he saw himself as “just an average guy who was following what other students around me were doing.”
But soon after graduating from the Manoa campus, Mr. Chang showed a propensity for independent action that pushed him way beyond the “just average” bracket.
He became a design engineer for the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Fighter in St. Louis, Missouri. Returning to Hawaii a year later, Ed became a project engineer for a Chicago company doing pipeline construction at one of the refineries in Campbell Industrial Park (CIP). He parlayed the job into a 15-year construction assignment with his wife and daughter in 11 different cities on the Mainland and in the Middle East. They returned to Hawaii where Mr. Chang help build the H-Power plant in CIP before making his final move to Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (HECO).
Mr. Chang describes his approach to his work as hands-on where he sees a need of doing the job besides reading and studying about it. His 30- plus years at Hawaiian Electric is where his hands-on approach came out with the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors (NB) related programs. In 1998 he initiated, developed, organized and refined (IDOR) the NB “R” Certificate program which permits HECO to perform its own welded repairs to its pressure retaining components. A year later he IDOR the NB “OUIO” Certificate program which permits HECO to inspect its pressure retaining components and welded repairs using its own NB Commissioned Inspectors. In 2003, Mr. Chang IDOR the NB “VR” Certificate program which permits HECO to repair its own pressure relief valves (PRV).
With the “R” program came the need for ASME, NBIC, and Hawaii Boiler Law codes training, upgrading the welding program, initiating an NDE program and postweld heat treatment program. Mr. Chang created and conducts the training courses for all these programs, followed with nondestructive examination (NDE) and PRV training.
During the above initiating, developing, organizing and refining period he was still able to earn his NB “OUIO” Commission to perform inspections, the American Welding Society (AWS) Certified Welding Inspector Certificate, and the AWS Certified Radiographic Interpreter Certificate. He was also able to author and present several technical papers.
Mr. Chang is as active a volunteer as he was on the job. He is a Life Member of ASME having joined soon after graduating. He has been active in the Hawaii Section since returning to the islands in 1988. He served as section chair 1993-1994. Unlike many other section members after serving their term as Section Chair, Ed continued being active in the Hawaii Section to this day.
As an ASME-HI member he has been active in HSPE’s MATHCOUNTS Steering Committee since 1989. He is proud to say he is the second longest participating Steering Committee member. He served for many years on the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DME) at UHM Industry Advisory Board under Dr. Mehrdad N. G Nejhad.
Ed currently is the ASME-HI webmaster having started the website many years ago and is the ASME-HI Wiliki article contributor with the personal goal of always having an ASME-HI article each month in the Wiliki O Hawaii. He continues to be involved with the Francis R. Montgomery Design Competition to keep close ties with the DME, including professors and students. After 30-plus years with ASME-HI the list of activities goes on and on.
Ed also had time for Hawaii Council of Engineering Societies (HCES) activities serving as Secretary (1994), Vice Chair (1995) and Chair (1996). These were the days when the banquet program was mainly entertainment featuring ghost stories, Barbershop Quartets, etc.
Outside of ASME-HI, Ed is one of the founders of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing-Hawaii Section. He currently serves as Section Secretary. He remains active in the Oo Syak Gee Lu Society, an ancestral social organization, having been president and now an honorary director, an honor given to special contributing members only.
In 2010, Mr. Chang was given the title Consulting Engineer-Boilers, Piping, Welding and NDE, at Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
Brandon Uejo, P.E. was raised in Pearl City on the island of Oahu and is a proud alumnus of Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama Campus. In 2012, he earned his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Engineering. Following graduation, he immediately began his engineering career at ParEn, Inc. dba Park Engineering. Brandon obtained his professional engineer’s license (PE) in the State of Hawaii in 2017 and is currently a Senior Project Engineer at Park Engineering. He has over 9 years of design experience in the industry working with clients such as the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Design & Construction and Department of Facilities Maintenance, as well as private sector clients such as Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii, Inc. Brandon’s project experience is diverse ranging from the technical design of storm water quality and drainage facilities to site development and utilities to erosion control, as well as roadway design.
Brandon remains active in professional organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Younger Member Forum (YMF) and the Hawaii Water Environment Association (HWEA). He currently serves as Vice President and Wiliki chair for ASCE-YMF while also serving as the Conference Co-Chair for the annual Pacific Water Conference, held jointly by AWWA-HI Section and HWEA. Brandon previously served as the ASCE-YMF Job Shadow Co-Chair, has chaired the 2019 Western Regional Younger Member Council Awards Committee for ASCE Regions 8 & 9, and has served as the registration committee chairperson for the Pacific Water Conference. In addition to his involvement in professional organizations, Brandon has been active in the community. He served as a Junior Varsity soccer coach for his alma mater, Kamehameha Schools, and has volunteered for numerous community service activities for organizations such as the Hawaii Food Bank, Girl Scouts, MATHCOUNTS, and AYSO.
The 2022 HCES SEOY is Ms. Penny Z.M. Loo! With a cumulative GPA of 3.98 and a major GPA of 3.97, Penny just graduated with her BS in Mechanical Engineering this past Fall 2021 semester. She has recently accepted a position and currently working at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & IMF in the mechanical and fluid engineering division. She was the past President of Pi Tau Sigma (for three semesters) and has also served as the VicePresident, Treasurer, and the ECUH representative. She is a member of the Golden Key, ASHRAE, ASME, SWE, and NSCS (National Society of Collegiate Scholars). She is an extremely proud graduate of Aiea High, Aiea Intermediate, and Pearl Ridge Elementary Schools.
Penny stated that her passion for science and mathematics did NOT occur until well into high school where her interests were with the math & science clubs and wood working, along with playing and competing on the tennis team. Maybe her quick mathematic (geometry) skills played a role in leading her team to the State Championships. With all her interests, she still graduated as the valedictorian and Aiea High School’s Most Outstanding Senior. Guess her experiences and lessons-learned in high school paid off as she was also the Outstanding Graduating Senior for Mechanical Engineering in Fall 2021!
Getting to UHM CoE was another adventure… Penny had decided that she would attend UHM if she received a full scholarship. Well, she was given the Chancellor’s Scholarship during her university visits in Colorado. It must have been a fantastic trip as she has never regretted all the opportunities and experiences through her involvement in academic and professional clubs, jobs and internships, and all the networking necessary to thrive in the Hawaii absolutely proud to be a UHM CoE alum!!!
Even with all the academic, sports, and society accolades, Penny is humble and recognizes the importance of ‘giving back’. She has consistently and continuously been involved with tutoring through her involvement with student chapters of the professional and honor societies and working as a grader for fundamental engineering courses. She is always excited to discuss her involvement in research 1) with the Diamond Bakery Manufacturing Innovations in enhancing the automation process lines to reduce product and material wastes; 2) as a microfluid research assistant at UH to determine surface tension of various concentrations of surfactants and analyzing the interaction between different surfactants to view the dynamical effects under the UHM Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; and 3) as Coalition and Tactical Awareness intern at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington DC, and operated, programmed, and collected data from the ground station and antenna while ruggedizing the ground station for deployment. Penny was most satisfied with her contribution to the US Marine Corps during her internship at NRL; thus, contributing to her employment decision as PHNSY & IMP.
This humble, dedicated, disciplined, and patriotic student, and now a mechanical engineer, is the type of graduate necessary to promote and inspire engineering to the youth of Hawaii!