2025 Young Professional of the Year Award

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Jacob Weiss, P.E., PTOE, a senior traffic engineer/transportation planner at HDR, has been selected as the 2025 Young Professional of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nebraska. The award recognizes accomplishments of Nebraska engineers under age 35 who have contributed to the engineering profession in the state and made a positive community impact.

During his more than 10 years at HDR, Weiss has improved user mobility and safety on complex projects throughout the region through his transportation solutions and strategies. He has focused on transportation planning, travel demand modeling, traffic simulation, and bicycle and pedestrian system planning and design. He was recently appointed deputy practice group leader for HDR’s Multimodal Corridor Planning Practice Group, helping coordinate resources and personnel to advance HDR’s multimodal practice and align the firm’s expertise with clients.

“Jake brings a truly unique combination of the human and technical aspects to consulting,” said HDR NE/IA Transportation Business Group Manager Craig Hunter. “He is driven to deliver quality projects that are considerate of users and the surrounding environment.”

Weiss volunteers his time outside of work to both community and industry organizations. He serves on the Omaha mayor’s Active Living Advisory Committee, providing community input and recommendations to the mayor and other city leaders on projects, plans and policies that would benefit the local active living community. He’s also a member of various industry groups, including the Missouri Valley District and Nebraska Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He served as the coordinator of NITE’s DriveSmart safety program for seven years, educating high school students on safe driving practices.

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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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