2021 Young Professional of the Year Award

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Brittni Yates, a professional engineer with Olsson, has been named the 2021 Young Professional of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nebraska.

Yates, a technical leader on Olsson’s Nebraska Water/Wastewater team, earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from South Dakota State University. She has been with Olsson since 2018 and has extensive experience providing project management, planning, engineering design, and construction management services for water quality and water treatment projects. At Olsson, she is responsible for managing and leading key client accounts, organizing technical resources for projects, directing team members on design approaches, and promoting efficiencies in producing quality work.

“I believe in living life with purpose, passion, and inquisitiveness,” she said. “I value travel and global awareness, and I’m committed to learning as much as I can about water quality and treatment. These passions came together when I traveled to several countries as part of nonprofit organizations. Experiences like these helped me see how I could use my talents—my technical expertise and my ability to connect with people—to help others.”

Yates’s industry involvement includes serving as president, past president, vice president, and board member of the Engineers Club of Omaha; serving on public communication and outreach committees with the Water Environment Federation; and leading committees for the Nebraska Water Environment Association. She is also actively involved with the Nebraska chapter of the American Water Works Association, Engineers Without Borders, and the Alpha Omega Epsilon Engineering Sorority at South Dakota State.

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Aaron Buettner

State Director

Aaron Buettner, PE, CVS leads Benesch’s Nebraska structural group, bringing more than 27 years of experience in structural engineering, project management and value engineering to every project he touches. His work spans highway, railroad and pedestrian bridges, and he has delivered public and private projects across the country involving a wide variety of materials and structure types.

Aaron’s technical depth covers the full project lifecycle, from structural design and in-service inspection to forensic evaluation and construction administration. He is proficient in multiple structural design and analysis software platforms and has a keen understanding of load paths and constructability. As a Certified Value Specialist (CVS), Aaron’s Value Engineering work has generated tens of millions of dollars in potential construction cost avoidance for clients ranging from state DOTs to transit agencies.

Notable projects include the Lincoln South Beltway, where his team designed 10 of 21 bridges on the freeway corridor; the N-12 Emergency Bridge Repairs in northeast Nebraska, where biddable plans for three flood-damaged structures were delivered in just three weeks; and the Penny Bridges Replacement in Lincoln, where value planning produced a context-sensitive solution that earned broad community support.

Aaron also serves as a Structures Specialist on Nebraska Task Force 1 (NE-TF1), which is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) teams located throughout the United States. In this role, he supports the search and rescue mission by assessing damaged structures, recommending structural hazard mitigation within those structures, and monitoring the structure for condition changes during rescue and victim recovery operations. During his tenure with NE-TF1, he has deployed ​on numerous missions within the state of Nebraska and around the nation to assist communities that have been impacted by emergencies or disasters.

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