Brent D'Angelo, Transportation Branch Chief, NPS Denver Service Center

Brent D'Angelo. NPS photo.

For Engineers Week, the National Park Service talked with Brent D'Angelo, Transportation Branch Chief at the NPS Denver Service Center (DSC), whose answers are summarised here.

Getting into engineering

D'Angelo's father and brother both worked in the construction trades, so building was familiar early on, and by high school a career in construction or engineering seemed certain. College brought a deeper interest in protecting the environment and resources, and D'Angelo studied both environmental and civil engineering, then settled into civil engineering practice — roads, bridges, buildings, military and residential work, and environmental and historic-structure restoration.

Like most civil engineers, D'Angelo enjoys solving new problems that help people and public works. The NPS makes it possible to follow those interests while helping make some of the country's greatest historic, cultural and natural places more resilient, sustainable and enjoyable.

"Welcome to the Future" means building for resilience

That year's Engineers Week theme was "Welcome to the Future". For D'Angelo it means building with resiliency, which has run through most of the projects of the past decade — designing for the conditions engineers expect. Examples:

• rebuilding buildings and roads after wildfire with more fire-resistant materials and methods;
• repairing and protecting slopes against landslides with more durable geo-stabilisation;
• guarding against floods with more rigorous drainage design and hydrologic and hydraulic modelling;
• preventing structural failure under heavier snow loads;
• building waterfront infrastructure for stronger storms and rising seas.

Engineering for conservation and heritage

NPS engineers work across disciplines — with environmental, historic and cultural resource specialists, among others — to find new ways to preserve park assets. Combining conservation principles with advanced engineering gives lasting results. Historic monuments, for example, often become structurally unstable with age and exposure; NPS engineers use sophisticated tools to assess them, then draw on advances in materials and construction science to reinforce foundations, repair damage and prevent further decay, with attention to both form and function.

Advice for future engineers

• The NPS manages an immense variety of assets, so solutions are almost always new — they must fit their setting and last — and collaboration across disciplines is almost always essential.
• Get real-world experience on as many kinds of project as possible, ideally covering every stage of a project's or asset's life.
• Anyone who wants to work for the NPS should practise coordinating, cooperating and communicating with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders.

Sources

• National Park Service, "Brent D'Angelo, Transportation Branch Chief, Denver Service Center (DSC)." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/brent-d-angelo-transportation-branch-chief-denver-service-center-dsc.htm
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.