The Swanson School presents alumnus Marcy Johnson with 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award for Civil and Environmental Engineering

PITTSBURGH (March 16, 2016) … More than 300 faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the Swanson School of Engineering gathered last night to recognize this year's Distinguished Alumni Award recipients at the School's annual banquet in the University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Hall. Gerald D. Holder, US Steel Dean of Engineering, presented awards honoring alumni from each of the School's six departments, as well as for the Swanson School overall. This year's recipient for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was Marcella (Marcy) Johnson, BSCE '77, MSCE '01, President of RHEA Engineers and Consultants, Inc.

"Marcy's accomplishments as a civil engineer and businesswoman are well recognized by her peers, and so she is well deserving of this department award," Dean Holder said. "Her firm's emphasis on sustainable engineering practices exemplify how the field of engineering can help to protect the earth and its resources."

About Marcy Johnson
In 1977 Marcy Johnson graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering. She offers more than 35 years of civil, geotechnical, water resources, and environmental experience in investigation, design, operations and construction management.

She says she chose to study engineering after her sophomore year when her brother, a Pitt engineering student, convinced her to attend an outreach program the college was conducting in order to attract talented women into the program.

Shortly after her return to her alma mater for a master’s in civil & environmental engineering in 2011, Ms. Johnson launched Rhea Engineers & Consultants, headquartered in Gibsonia, PA. As President, she is responsible for Program and Project Management, Financial Oversight, Marketing & Business Development and Quality Assurance for this 30-person firm with offices in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. One of her initial projects was to work with the University of Pittsburgh personnel and Mascaro Construction to monitor the selection of materials and methods of construction for a high-tech computer classroom at the University of Pittsburgh, utilizing the draft Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines for building interior renovations. The classroom’s “green” features include a flexible flooring system, low volatile organic compound building materials, a construction waste management plan that included recycling, and the use of sustainable forestry products.

Prior to launching Rhea in 2001, Ms. Johnson honed her engineering and managerial skills at diverse private and public organizations including the West Virginia Department of Highways, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Paul Rizzo Associates, and J. A. Jones Environmental. 

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Pictured above from left: Dean Holder, Marcy Johnson and Kent Harries, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering