Thirty-four employees have been named recipients of the inaugural TTI STAR Awards, designed to honor staff that go above and beyond their regular duties. The nomination process began in September, an anonymous committee (appointed by Agency Director Dennis Christiansen) reviewed the nominations, and winners were notified in November and December.
There are three levels of awards.
Super STAR recognition is for individuals who have been with TTI for more than five years, go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make a significant contribution to their program and to the agency, and have also engaged in an innovation (i.e., streamlining processes to be more efficient or accurate, implementing a new program, developing a database system for tracking program performance measures, etc.). Recipients received a trophy and will be honored during a celebratory luncheon.
The Super Star winners, and reasons for their award, are:
Jerry Le: Working as a software applications developer in the San Antonio office, Le began his TTI career as a student worker in 2005. He is detail oriented and makes sure the software products he develops are efficient and meets user requirements.His development of the Utility Installation Review (UIR) system for TxDOT has led to national attention from agencies needing to improve the management of utility installations on highway right-of-way. He is also being recognized for his innovative work in processing millions of oversize/overweight (OS/OW) records in a GIS environment, which contributed to the success of a TxDOT research project focusing on the determination of commonly used OS/OW routes. His work on the data processing protocol is the subject of a peer-reviewed manuscript that was recently submitted to TRB for presentation and publication.
Barb Lorenz: A 35-year employee, Lorenz has been the chief administrator of the SWUTC for almost 25 years, earning the respect of all the consortium’s partners and the sponsors in Washington, D.C. Her duties are to administer the programs of the five-member consortium and its combined current annual budget of $7 million. Some of these include the creation and maintenance of the SWUTC website; development of newsletters and annual reports; and establishment and maintenance of financial and technical databases. Lorenz also devised a system for compiling and tracking SWUTC program performance data in its research, educational, and technology transfer functions. She developed and implemented procedures for processing its research and educational proposals, projects, budgets, and final technical reports.
Rising STAR recognition is for individuals who have been with TTI for five years or less, go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make a significant contribution to their program and to the agency, and have also engaged in an innovation (i.e., streamlining processes to be more efficient or accurate, implementing a new program, developing a database system for tracking program performance measures, etc.). Recipients received a trophy and will be honored during a celebratory luncheon.
The Rising Star winners, and reasons for their award, are:
Timothy Lai: Working as a Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) regional representative out of the San Antonio office, Lai was nominated for his work ethic and friendly and outgoing personality. Over the last 18 months, Lai has developed numerous ideas to improve the TDS outreach, including YouTube videos that he writes, films and edits. The videos have become very popular with teens visiting the TDS website. He promotes upcoming events, contests and safety messages. Lai puts in extra hours for conferences and workshops, with many of them occurring on the weekends.
Swapnil Samant:Working as a software applications developer in the El Paso Office, Samant was lead developer on the Program Management Financial Tool that tracks and forecasts expenditures of all projects within a program. The tool has been a success and may soon be available Institute wide. He also provides technical support for other urban offices, and has significant roles in numerous research projects.
STAR recognition is available to all employees and is the first-level award, recognizing individuals who go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make significant contributions to their program and to the agency. Recipients received a certificate and a coaster.
Star Award winners are:
Michele Benoit, Jordan Bertling, Stuart Denner, Bonnie Duke, Joe Dunn, Linda Edge, Kerry Fillip, Christy Harris, Rebecca Haug, Christie Havemann, Michelle Hoelscher, Jason Holstead, Tobey Lindsey, Kristen Maldonado, Justin Malnar, Beatrice Martinez, Nora Martinez, Maria Medrano, Lisa Patke, Nancy Pippin, Marla Richardson, Beth Roach, Vanessa Schatz, Cody Stewart, Nancy Stratta, Wally Simpson, Elizabeth Tworek, Duane Wagner, Orlando Winkfield and Michelle Young.