Kansas State University

Don Allison

Don Allison retired from Burns & McDonnell’s Water Global Practice as Engineering Manager and Quality Control Manager in 2015. His 30-year career encompassed the structural design and project management of municipal and industrial water/wastewater treatment facilities, light and heavy industrial facilities, and transportation infrastructure.

Gregory H. Canales

Gregory is a Professional Civil Engineer (PE) with 5+ years of experience in the engineering-construction industry. He received bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Kansas State University (2015). While at t K-State, he was involved in Tau Beta Pi, Chi Epsilon, and CE101 Mentoring. His professional experience includes site design & development, site master planning, and construction management. He practiced site design & facility planning for the following industries: Manufacturing, Commercial, Food & Consumer Products, Oil & Gas, Water & Waste Water, Federal & Military, Aviation/Airfield, and Public/Community Improvement. His design & planning experience includes the following: geometric site layout, site earthwork design/modeling, stormwater design/modeling, roadway/pavement design, utility design, project/construction estimating, project permitting, site surveying & survey data processing.

Brady Crites

Brady has been in the EPC construction business for 6 years, mainly doing site development work for power plants and industrial facilities dealing with grading and drainage. He spent 3 years doing design work in the office on numerous projects before spending 2 years estimating work. In spring of 2020 he started a project as the engineer of record in Illinois doing the design work and since November has been on site helping build the site and manage a large subcontractor.  

Brian Foster

Brian was born and raised in Great Bend, Kan., and graduated from Kansas State University in 2003. After graduation, he began his professional career as an estimator/construction engineer for Kiewit Corporation in Arkansas. In 2005, I moved back to Kansas and began working for BG Consultants, Inc., where he has worked his way from design engineer to Stockholder in 2012, Board of Directors member in 2017, Corporate Treasurer in 2018, and finally to Manhattan office manager in 2020. He specializes in design and project management of water/wastewater projects. He has also taken on the role of City Engineer for a couple local communities where he gets exposure to all aspects of Civil Engineering.  

Christopher Gabel

Christopher attended KSU from 2010 to 2016. He studied architecture in Seton hall for 3 years before coming across the way to Fiedler to study Civil Engineering. He worked a few different jobs while in Manhattan including as an SAS tutor. Christopher had to be persistent to get BMcD to notice him for an internship because his experience wasn’t at all impressive at the time. He spent a lot of time and got feedback from a number of people working on that undergrad resume and finally secured an internship 2015 at BMcD and was brought on full-time the following spring. Since then he has worked as a structural engineer, a project manager, and now a business development manager (i.e. sales). 

Tommy Hunter

Tommy Hunter graduated from Kansas State University in December 2020 with a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering along with a dual-degree in Physics from Washburn University. Following graduation, he began working full-time at HNTB in Overland Park, KS as a roadway engineer in their Municipal Transportation group, the same group he interned with the previous summer. He also gained field experience with an internship at Austin Bridge & Road in Dallas, TX prior to working at HNTB. Both internships along with his full-time position at HNTB have provided him a well-rounded experience in roadway design. 

Lauren Jundt

Lauren graduated from KSU in 2017 with a Civil Engineering degree. She has worked for HNTB for 4 years in the Aviation Group at the downtown Kansas City office. Lauren’s work experience has been design-based, for both small and large airports throughout the Midwest. Her experience includes taxiway and runway geometric design, erosion control, airfield marking layouts, terminal apron layouts, utility design and coordination, project phasing, subcontractor coordination, airline coordination, 3D utility modeling, and plan production. 

Jeff Keller

Jeff serves as a Senior Project Manager for the Water Global Practice at Burns & McDonnell’s global headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.  With 23 years of experience, he is responsible for project execution and delivery for some of the companies’ most significant water resource recovery facilities.  His technical areas of focus include biological nutrient removal, asset management, and collaborative delivery.  Jeff is also leading the Water Technology and Leadership initiative at Burns & McDonnell, supporting thought leadership and promoting technical career path advancement.

Ben Lewis

Ben graduated from KSU in April 2017 with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering. Following graduation, he began working full-time at HNTB in Overland Park, KS as a roadway engineer in their Highway Transportation Group - the same group he interned with the previous summer. His primary responsibilities include assisting in the design and engineering for a variety of state DOT’s highway projects. He has been heavily involved in many aspects of design, including roadway geometrics, 3D modeling, cross-discipline coordination, maintenance of traffic, and plan production.

Ben Mabry

Ben Mabry is a licensed professional engineer and graduate of Kansas State University (2005, BS is Civil Engineering) with 15+ years of experience in the engineering consultant industry.  With a technical background in roadway design, he has worked with dozens of municipalities across Kansas and Oklahoma in his career, including serving as City Engineer for several communities.  Ben is a Principal owner and Vice President at Professional Engineering Consultants (PEC).  Ben also serves as a member of the Kansas State University Civil Engineering Advisory Council.

Blake N. Morris

Blake is an Assistant Civil Engineer with the Transportation Global Practice at Burns & McDonnell. He graduated from K-State with a bachelors in Civil Engineering in Dec. 2017, and a masters in Transportation Engineering in May 2019. Blake’s work experience ranges from highway geometric design to utility coordination to stormwater management – with a bit of everything else in between. His primary responsibilities include assisting in the completion of roadway design projects for a range of different State DOT’s and private clients.

Dalton Savage

Dalton graduated from Kansas State with a Civil Engineering degree in 2016. Since then, he has been working as a structural engineer in the Transmission and Distribution global practice for Burns and McDonnell. In his role, he is responsible for the structural aspects of projects involving new and existing substations for utilities along the east coast. This includes designing foundations (slabs, spread footers, drilled shafts, etc.) and steel for substation structures and equipment. He is also involved with designing oil containment systems, obtaining geotechnical studies, site plans/permitting, and construction coordination. He looks forward to speaking with you - Go Cats!

Vicki J. Scharnhorst

Vicki Scharnhorst serves as the Operations Manager for Tetra Tech in Denver, Colorado. Tetra Tech, a leading provider of consulting and engineering services, has 20,000 employees globally.  Scharnhorst graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Kansas State University and received a master’s degree in Public Administration and Policy from American University.  She attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and is a registered engineer in four states. 

Vicki has managed operations in excess of 175 personnel, and managed large water resources projects and programs valued at over $2.7B.  She’s performed work in federal, state and municipal-government sectors and performed private-sector projects and program management.

Tim Wilkerson

Tim graduated from Kansas State University in December 2020 with a bachelors in Civil Engineering and a minor in Business. He began working at Burns & McDonnell in February 2021 as an Assistant Civil Engineer with the Transportation Global Practice, following three summer internships within the same group. Tim’s work experience primarily focuses on roadway design - including geometric design, erosion control, and roadside design. Additionally, Tim has experience as a resident representative inspecting roadway construction.

Ian Wright

Ian graduated from Kansas State University in December 2015 with a degree in Civil Engineering.  He has spent the majority of his professional career with Lochner’s Aviation Team in Lenexa, Kansas.  Ian began his role at Lochner as a construction services administrator where he oversaw construction operations on airports, completed construction material reviews, and finalized project closeout documentation.  Ian then transitioned to a design engineer role gaining experience in runway, taxiway, and apron construction/reconstruction; airfield electrical and navigational aid design; hangar and fuel system design; airfield drainage analysis; and airport planning; Currently, Ian serves as a Project Manager and specializes in complex project phasing, federal and state grant management, and client/contractor coordination.