Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Atlantic announced its 2026 Chief Engineer Award selectees, recognizing four professionals whose leadership, technical expertise and sustained performance have contributed significantly to Navy shore infrastructure and Fleet readiness.
The annual Chief Engineer Awards honor military and civilian professionals who demonstrate excellence in engineering, architecture and project management while advancing the Navy’s mission through innovation, operational excellence and responsible stewardship of complex infrastructure portfolios.
Selected as NAVFAC Atlantic’s 2026 award recipients are Lt. Cmdr. Caroline Mastrangelo, CEC, USN, Military Engineer of the Year; Ross J. Lambert, PE, Civilian Engineer of the Year; C. Andrew Herr, PE, Project Manager of the Year; and Ahmed H. Hassan, AIA, Architect/Landscape Architect/Interior Designer of the Year.
“These selectees represent the very best of NAVFAC Atlantic—professionals whose technical expertise, leadership and commitment to mission directly support Fleet readiness,” said Rear Adm. Jorge Cuadros, commander of NAVFAC Atlantic. “Their work strengthens the Navy’s shore infrastructure and ensures the command remains postured to meet today’s operational demands.”
Lt. Cmdr. Caroline Mastrangelo, an assistant operations officer at NAVFAC Atlantic, was recognized as Military Engineer of the Year for sustained excellence across a diverse portfolio of high-impact projects supporting Special Operations Forces, Seabees, the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy shipyards and multiple tenant commands. Over the past three years, she has played a central role in advancing some of the Navy’s most complex and consequential infrastructure efforts.
“I appreciate the selection and would like to continue serving, leading, and growing as a military officer and engineer,” Mastrangelo said.
Mastrangelo established new planning processes and oversaw approximately $2 billion in project planning in support of the Navy’s $6.3 billion Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program at NAVFAC Atlantic. She also served as project manager for a $12 million emergent special project delivering critical electrical upgrades, leading her team to award the project in a record two months. In parallel, she oversaw construction of $25 million in SIOP projects, balancing urgent operational needs with long-term infrastructure investment.
From 2022 to 2025, Mastrangelo led a 90-person division at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, executing an annual workload that included $60 million in design, $90 million in construction and $76 million in service contracts. That portfolio included more than 40 emergency contracts supporting critical shipyard operations, as well as projects spanning dry dock certification, hospital repairs, utilities and other high-visibility efforts supporting Chief of Naval Operations availabilities, SIOP, Commander, Navy Installations Command and other customers at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads.
In her current role, Mastrangelo supports performance assessment of key NAVFAC Atlantic systems command products and services across the command’s area of responsibility in support of Fleet and Marine Corps readiness.
Delivering results at that scale, Mastrangelo said, required navigating emergent requirements, funding and resourcing challenges, and complex technical problems—obstacles overcome through teamwork and dedication to mission-focused outcomes. Collaboration across organizations proved essential, with her teams working closely with Naval Sea Systems Command, installation tenants, contractors, consultants and multiple NAVFAC commands to understand challenges and solve problems collectively.
Her experience as a military engineer has shaped how she leads diverse teams operating in complex environments.
“As a military engineer, I have had the gift and opportunity to work with different people and militaries from different countries and from a wide variety of people in the U.S. – private sector, academic, military, and civil service,” Mastrangelo said. “When working with a new team, it is important to understand the unique situation and perspectives and then to develop a strategy or approach to execute goals.”
Balancing operational urgency with long-term infrastructure planning remains a persistent challenge in shipyard environments.
“This is a consistent challenge.” she said. “From an engineering perspective, our goal is to find solutions to minimize impacts to the mission to the greatest extent possible while executing facility infrastructure goals; we also must accurately communicate the trade-off decisions where there are impacts to the mission owner to help inform their decision.”
She encouraged junior professionals to actively seek growth and learning opportunities.
“Ask questions and learn from the different perspectives from those around you,” Mastrangelo said. “Outside of regular day-to-day work responsibilities, read professional publications, articles, and journals to broaden your perspective and experiences. Challenge yourself to critically think about problems. For those in leadership positions, understand your mission, communicate it to your team, and support your team wholistically throughout your time with them. Whether you are in a leadership position or not, take care of your team.”
Ross Lambert, a senior electrical engineer with NAVFAC Atlantic Planning, Design and Construction, was selected as Civilian Engineer of the Year for his leadership modernizing critical electrical infrastructure that underpins shipyard operations and the maintenance of nuclear-powered Navy vessels.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized amongst such a talented group of professionals,” Lambert said.
Lambert led a multidisciplinary design team responsible for a $1.1 billion electrical distribution system upgrade at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, a cornerstone effort supporting the maintenance and modernization of nuclear-powered ships. He guided the team to keep the complex design effort on schedule while managing competing priorities, diverse personalities and extensive technical coordination.
“Our work on projects supporting the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program directly translate to increased Shipyard capabilities, allowing the Fleet to execute its ship maintenance quicker and more efficiently,” Lambert said. “This means more ships available to the Fleet to deploy in increasingly complex theaters across the globe.”
Lambert said his team faced significant challenges when the project was split into two parallel efforts midway through design to accommodate a utility privatization initiative.
“The most critical consideration in my eyes was designing how to keep the lights on at NNSY while a 5-year construction project upgrades upstream electrical infrastructure,” Lambert said.
That effort depended on close coordination across organizations.
“Successful completion of design for P732 would not have been remotely possible without the literal hundreds of years of expertise and dedication of the NAVFAC Atlantic/Mid-Atlantic, NNSY Public Works, NNSY ROICC, NNSY PMO555, NAVSEA, and Moffatt & Nichol/Burns & McDonnel-JV teams,” Lambert said. “The combined teams’ professionalism and dedication to the mission overcame the contentious debates and frustrations present on any project and ultimately resulted in a quality product delivered on a compressed timeline.”
He added that coordination with Public Works and external utilities was essential.
“This project required weekly coordination over the last 3 years with both NNSY Public Works and Dominion Energy to ensure all design parameters requiring coordination between the Navy and the Utility were captured,” Lambert said.
Beyond Norfolk, Lambert provided critical electrical design review and feedback supporting the $80 million Dry Dock 2 Reactor Servicing Complex at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, delivered on an aggressive schedule to support the Navy’s nuclear submarine refueling mission. As a subject matter expert in electrical grounding and cathodic protection, he also provided consultation on new ordnance magazine designs and routinely resolved construction conflicts across NAVFAC’s global area of responsibility, ensuring safety and reliability of critical infrastructure worldwide.
Lambert emphasized that enterprise-scale projects demand strong communication skills in addition to technical expertise.
“While technical competency is important, leading an enterprise-scale project with a team of a half-dozen organizations with competing priorities demands quick, effective, and confident communication,” he said. “We’re engineers/architects, effectively communicating is hard! It is also a two-way street; you have to be open to hearing and acting on things you may not like to save yourself headaches down the road.”
C. Andrew Herr, a senior project manager with NAVFAC Atlantic Planning, Design and Construction, was recognized as Project Manager of the Year for more than 15 years of effective leadership delivering complex military construction and SIOP projects around the world.
“Being recognized for an award like this means a lot,” Herr said. “It means that your hard work is appreciated and that you have earned the respect of the team. Contributing to the team and making a difference is as rewarding as it gets.”
While managing a construction portfolio exceeding $3 billion, Herr led critical initiatives at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, including Dry Dock 8 projects, Triplex Fire and Life Safety repairs, and the award of the Dry Dock 3 renovation. He also completed a special assignment conducting a third-party review of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Area Development Plan for the SIOP Project Management Office, providing analytical insight to support program optimization.
“One of the great things about being part of the SIOP team is that you can see how projects directly support the Fleet and can impact ship availability positively or negatively,” Herr said. “When you take into account the importance of our fleet in the great power competition, it’s not hard to see how you can make a difference.”
Herr has also demonstrated adaptability and innovation by navigating nontraditional solicitation methods for large-scale SIOP projects, including Economic Price Adjustment clauses, Award Fee incentives, and emerging processes such as Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation and Reports to Congress.
Managing such complexity, Herr said, requires a deliberate focus on communication and trust.
“I think so much of what we do comes down to communication and trust,” he said. “I personally work hard to mitigate the risk associated with those things falling short. I’ve been fortunate to work with teammates that are of like mind and work hard to facilitate both communication and trust.”
Teamwork across stakeholders is central to success in the SIOP environment.
“Teamwork is critical in the SIOP program,” he said. “There are many stakeholders and ensuring that the right people are involved is of paramount importance. Within SIOP, the PMO plays a critical role in this effort, and they are pivotal to making sure that our communications are top priority.”
Herr said managing risk across evolving requirements benefits from a cautious mindset.
“As a project manager, I think it helps to have a somewhat pessimistic view of things,” he said. “This may sound counterintuitive, but when it comes to project execution, thinking in terms of ‘Murphy’s Law’ will help identify risks and potential mitigations early.”
Mentorship also plays a key role in sustaining NAVFAC’s project management workforce.
“I currently am mentoring a junior PM and its very rewarding,” Herr said. “I think it’s critical to NAVFAC’s success to pass along lessons learned and sharing frustrations and how to cope with them.”
Ahmed Hassan, a senior architect with NAVFAC Atlantic Public Works, was honored as Architect/Landscape Architect/Interior Designer of the Year for design excellence, innovation and professional leadership in advancing the Navy’s roof and building envelope programs.
“Personally, I’m grateful, humbled and honored for the selection of the Chief Engineer Award for Architect of the Year,” Hassan said. “Receiving this award underscores our organization’s commitment to NAVFAC's mission to support the Navy and its global operations and the awareness of leadership for work being accomplished by the NAVFAC family. But I want to emphasize that this is never an individual endeavor, but an endeavor undertaken by the great team I have the privilege of working with each day.”
Recognized as the Navy’s foremost authority in roof and building envelope construction, Hassan has provided expert consultation on more than 100 design projects, often involving complex diagnostic investigations and research. He serves as the Navy’s roofing criteria lead and played a central role in the 2024–25 Department of Defense-wide revision of more than 20 Unified Facilities Guide Specifications related to roofing, as well as the Roofing Unified Facilities Criteria.
“The ultimate goal of every NAVFAC program, including facility maintenance, is to support the warfighter,” Hassan said. “A reliable roof program contributes to this by enhancing quality of life, providing stable platforms for operations, maximizing Resource allocation and ensuring we are stewards of sustaining our facilities.”
Hassan identified data validation as a primary challenge in sustaining the Navy’s facility portfolio.
“The biggest challenge aside from funding is validating data to ensure up to date information so that funding decisions can be made properly, and resources can be extended to enable asset sustainment,” he said. “We track the collection of data, ensure that it is updated properly and only then make the proper funding decisions which ultimately extend our resources and funding and the lifecycle of our assets.”
Hassan pioneered the use of unmanned aerial systems to modernize roof inspections across the Navy’s vast building inventory, improving safety, efficiency and data quality.
“The adoption of UAS, or drones, has introduced a paradigm shift in facility management, addressing many of the shortcomings of traditional methods by enhancing safety, increasing efficiency and cost-effectiveness and improves data quality and advanced analytics,” Hassan said. “Ultimately my hope is to have a ‘Drone-in-a-Box Solution’ which automates, dock-based drone systems which can be permanently installed at a facility to conduct routine, pre-programmed inspections without human intervention, ensuring consistent and repeatable data collection. In addition, AI- Powered Data Analysis which we are currently implementing at the Naval Academy.”
He also established the Roofing Community of Practice, bringing together more than 80 members and industry partners to foster collaboration, innovation and continuous professional education through regular training engagements.
“Our ‘Roofing Community of Practice’ represents a collaborative ecosystem that delivers significant value to both the U.S. Navy and the roofing industry,” Hassan said. “This collaboration fosters innovation, ensures quality, and ultimately enhances Fleet readiness.”
Together, the award recipients reflect the depth of technical expertise, leadership and stewardship required to sustain the Navy’s shore infrastructure—work that underpins Fleet readiness today and positions the force to meet future operational demands.