Major Scott Stanford is an Air Force civil engineering officer with 13 years of professional engineering, project management and leadership experience. He currently serves as an assistant professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he has taught, advised and mentored more than 500 cadets in civil and environmental engineering since 2011. Stanford has developed and taught courses in construction management, computer applications for civil engineers, statics and mechanics of materials, expeditionary facility design, and the civil and environmental engineering capstone course program. He previously served as a project engineer in the Air Force's elite Red Horse squadrons, focusing on international contingency design and construction. The work included a seven-month deployment to Africa, leading 40 airmen in constructing seven projects for humanitarian aid. Those included building a 30-km road into a remote village, a medical clinic for refugees and a new primary school. He also worked as an airfield pavements expert, evaluating four airfields as potential logistics resupply stations across East Africa. "It requires humility and patience to lead others with greater knowledge and experience than you, whether that's a craftsman on the jobsite, a designer in the office or even a student in the classroom," Stanford says.

Shoots Veis, 39

VEIS

Engineering critical infrastructure
Senior Project Engineer
Interstate Engineering
Billings, Mont.

Shoots Veis began his career working for the Montana Dept. of Transportation on a road construction crew. After shifting his focus to consulting engineering, he worked on transportation projects until two senior engineers sparked his interest in water-supply systems. He became a water and wastewater engineer, reviewing, designing and overseeing the construction of public water and wastewater systems. At Interstate Engineering, he is responsible for all phases of projects in eastern Montana. His team built several pipelines to gather oil from wells and deliver it to a gas plant and rail facility. Veis has made technical presentations at the Montana Joint Engineers Conference and done workshops for water-system operators. He has worked with the Montana section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, holding several officer positions and serving as the local president in 2008. He was elected to the Billings City Council in November 2005 after being appointed to fill a one-year vacancy. He served on the council through 2009, guiding the town through several large infrastructure projects. "The toughest part of my job is helping our public clients secure the funding they need to replace aging infrastructure," Veis says. "We are usually scrambling to find enough capital to provide them with quality projects."

Brooks Williams, 31

WILLIAMS

Overcoming personal obstacles and designing major public projects
Project Manager
Heating & Plumbing Engineers Inc.
Colorado Springs

Brooks Williams began working as a plumber shortly after high-school graduation. Within five years he had earned his journeyman's and master's plumbing licenses and added computer-aided design and BIM training to his skills. He was promoted to project engineer and worked on large U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' and data center projects. Williams has been a project manager at Heating & Plumbing Engineers Inc. since 2011, managing projects from $500,000 to $2.5 million, including a large barracks project at Fort Carson, Colo. Williams was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant and in 2009 became the first CF patient ever to finish a 100-mile ultramarathon when he completed the Leadville Trail 100. He has since run dozens of marathons and ultramarathons and become a volunteer and frequent speaker for the CF cause. "Often, there is a preconceived notion that age goes hand in hand with ability and business savvy," Williams says. "To achieve credibility, I have had to be confident and quickly prove subject knowledge and competence that exceeds people's expectations."