2022 Young Professional of the Year Award

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Erica (Sunny) Mullen, PE of Alfred Benesch & Company (Benesch), has been named the 2022 Young Professional of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Nebraska.

Mullen, a professional engineer and project manager on Benesch’s engineering team, started as a student intern in 2010. She earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rutgers University and, after practicing on the east coast, rejoined Benesch in 2019. Her skills include transportation and water/wastewater engineering, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, MS4 compliance, construction engineering, and funding assistance. She leads project teams, develops solutions, and is a role model to those in or aspiring to be in the industry.

Mullen’s goal throughout her career has been to make a difference in communities by providing meaningful solutions. In less than a year, she contracted over $1 million in project work and grew Benesch’s Omaha civil infrastructure engineering group, including storm and sanitary sewer, water, hydraulics, and hydrology work.

She volunteers her time with Special Olympics, Alzheimer’s Association, and the Future City Competition program where she engages with females interested in engineering and planning. Mullen says, “I’m passionate about Future City. To see the wonderment in the faces of future engineers is very fulfilling and humbling.”

She is involved in industry associations and her excellence has been recognized by client nomination and election to the American Public Works Association (APWA) Nebraska Chapter Executive Board in 2021 and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 10 New Faces of Civil Engineering in 2017.

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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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