NAVFAC Congratulates 2022 Engineers of the Year in the Pacific

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) congratulates the 2022 civilian and military engineers of the year in the Pacific area of operations.

The 15 winners representing NAVFAC Pacific, Far East, Hawaii, Marianas, Northwest, Southwest, Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) Marine Corps Marianas (MCM), and OICC China Lake (CL) include: Layne Hazama, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Pacific; John Braaten, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Far East; Lt. Raymond Bendt, military engineer of the year from NAVFAC Far East; Toshihide Kakiuchi, host-nation engineer of the year from NAVFAC Far East; Wyatt Hue, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Hawaii; Lt. Cmdr. John Daly, military engineer of the year from NAVFAC Hawaii; Amor Alves, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Marianas; Trevor Lunceford, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Northwest; Lt. Craig Mauss, military engineer of the year from NAVFAC Northwest; Jacqueline Oravitz, civilian engineer of the year from NAVFAC Southwest; Lt. Cmdr. Carl Chase, military engineer of the year from NAVFAC Southwest; Suzanne Duffy, designer of the year from NAVFAC Southwest; Peter Ridilla, civilian engineer from OICC MCM; Lt. Cmdr. Joshua Lewis, military engineer from OICC MCM; and Cmdr. Kyle Krass from OICC CL.

“Please join me in congratulating the NAVFAC Pacific area of operations awardees for their continued contributions to the NAVFAC engineering community," said NAVFAC Pacific Commander Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey. "Each year we receive an impressive selection of nominees and this year was no exception. I would like to extend my personal job well done to each awardee for this impressive recognition."

These employees were selected based on education, professional registration, continuing education, professional and technical society activities, National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) involvement, awards and honors, civic and humanitarian activities and engineering achievements.

“Our NAVFAC military and civilian engineers of the year were instrumental in advancing engineering innovation and improving our Department of Defense facilities capabilities in the Pacific,” said NAVFAC Pacific Design and Construction Business Line Manager and Chief Engineer Marc Wong. “Congratulations to all our outstanding engineer of the year winners and thank you for your engineering contributions!”

NAVFAC participates in the NSPE Federal Engineer of the Year Award program to recognize exceptional contributions our federal engineers make to the engineering profession, to our Supported Commanders, and to the communities they serve. From the award winners from each field command, NAVFAC selects a civilian and military engineer of the year. These two individuals are each then nominated as the NAVFAC candidates for the prestigious NSPE Federal Engineer of the Year award.

The awards ceremony will be held on February 24, 2022 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., at which time NSPE will announce the 2022 Federal Engineer of the Year.