2013 Engineer of the year nominees.

• Author: Hendee, Mikal
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Engineering

Osama Abaza Nominated by Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

Osama Abaza is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is currently serving as the chair of the civil engineering department at UAA School of Engineering. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University for his doctoral degree and University of Toledo/Ohio for his master's and undergraduate degrees. He worked in the academic circles and industry for the last 26 years in the field of civil/transportation engineering as it relates to pavement structures, pavement management, highway engineering and materials, and traffic engineering. He has published more than 52 refereed publications in transportation engineering. His current research is focused on cold region transportation issues like pedestrian walking speed under icy conditions, developing rubberized Portland cement concrete pavements for intersection rutting mitigation and calibration of the National Highway Safety Manual for cold regions applications. He has been a member of Institute of Traffic Engineers since 1985 and other national and international professional organizations.

Mark Ayers, PE Nominated by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Mark Ayers, PE is manager of RF Engineering at GCI Communications Corp. headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. Mark has a broad range of telecommunications experience including work in fiber optics, microwave radio and satellite network design. Significantly, in 2012 Mark published a textbook through Wiley/IEEE press entitled Telecommunications System Reliability Engineering, Theory and Practice. His primary interests are system engineering, design, modeling, and optimization.

In 2012 Mark received the IEEE Alaska Section "Outstanding Engineer of the Year" award and was elevated to the status of Senior Member within the IEEE. In 2011 he was the recipient of the Alaska Journal of Commerce Top Forty Under 40 award.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from UAA and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the UAF. He is a registered Professional Electrical Engineer in the State of Alaska an adjunct faculty member in the UAA engineering department. Mark also serves as a member of the UAA EE program advisory board. Mark's community service contributions include local elementary school science fair judging, presentation to high school students as part of the community's Engineering Explorers program and presentation...