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Gidti is an outstanding and vibrant young engineer who has consistently exhibited intensive work ethic and a deep commitment to the engineering profession and to the local community with his leadership in the Younger Member Forum of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
ASCE Leadership
As my direct mentor, Gidti has a comprehensive vision on leadership, operations, and marketing of ASCE. His successive contributions during his tenures as Community Service Chair, Secretary, Vice-President, President, and now both OC YMF Past-President and LA Section YMF Liaison are unmatched. Gidti has been making a point to effectively transfer his knowledge by developing and implementing the OC YMF University Program since his Presidency.
Gidti’s leadership consistently leads members and colleagues to stand up and be part of his team. His outstanding communication and teambuilding skills are the greatest source of motivation. Gidti managed to meet individually with each board officer twice a year during his presidency to ensure that each progresses in their professional careers, but also develops soft skills while being involved with YMF. His vision to enhance the legacy of ASCE and OC YMF is unmatched: Gidti was involved in coordination of nearly 200 events, 72 he oversaw as President. Some of the more prominent events/programs during his presidency include; a local Industry Leaders Speaker Series, 2 Corazon home builds, a meal cooked for Ronald McDonald House, a PSBC, a Jog-A-Thon fundraiser for 3 local Universities, and inauguration of a mentorship program in Orange County.
During his involvement he led the redesign of the communication and technical resources of the group and collaborated with his fellow board members to restructure and modify the goals and procedures of Orange County YMF. These changes allowed the board to accomplish so much more.
- The number of YMF events tripled in the first year after restructuring. The next year it was still more than double, with more emphasis on higher quality events.
- The board grew from 10 members to almost 30 members today.
- The University Outreach committee has grown substantially: (1) Initiatives and programs to help students transition into YMF and the profession have drawn more students and new members into YMF after graduation. (2) University Students are now nearly half the attendees at social events. (3) Students are eager to take on YMF positions after their graduation.
- K-12 Outreach expanded their network of schools, increased their visits, expanded to speaking at non-profit organizations for underprivileged children, trained new members, and started to incorporate University students into their visits as well.
- The annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (PSBC), hosted to inspire High School students to seek a STEM career, has grown substantially in the last 2 years and now allows 3 local YMFs to collaborate together.
- Community Outreach sought bigger and more impactful events such as the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Cook-A-Meal for Families and Corazon House Builds. Gidti was Head chef for 2 years for the now annual RMH events and has helped build 2 Corazon Homes in Mexico this last year.
- The new programs committee hosts speaking events and technical tours
Advanced Technical Skills in the Water/Wastewater Industry
Being recognized as advanced for his technical skills, Gidti has made significant contributions to advance the engineering techniques in the water/wastewater industry. His recent modelling efforts to model total dissolved solids for the wide Irvine Ranch Water District are a state-of-the-art achievement. Gidti also attends the local meetings of the EWRI OC Chapter. Gidti has made several technical presentations on his advanced work, notably at the Design-Build Institute of America, and the WateReuse Annual Symposium.
Orange County Sanitation District – Santa Ana River Interceptor Relocation (2011-2014)
Gidti led the coordination of construction support services for the $100M Santa Ana River Interceptor Relocation. This pipeline transports brine from the Inland Empire to Orange County Sanitation District’s (OCSD). Unfortunately, due to erosion of the soil above the original pipeline, the pipe was in danger of being exposed and potentially damaged. A break in the line would spill millions of gallons of high strength sewage and industrial waste into the Santa Ana River and potentially allow large debris to damage the treatment plants downstream. This project relocated part of the pipeline out of the riverbed protecting the local environment, public health, and stake holder facilities. TetraTech and HDR were the design consultants for the mainline, siphon structure, and metering station on the project. This project included multiple stakeholders including; Orange County Flood Control District, OCSD, Orange County Public Works, City of Anaheim, City of Yorba Linda, and OC Parks. Gidti led the coordination between the Construction Management team and various specialty disciplines. As HDR’s point of contact for the SARI construction management team he assigned technical submittals and Requests for Information (RFI) to a team of 10 engineers and ensured the necessary information for reviews were made available. He responded to process related RFIs and Submittals while reviewing the other disciplines to ensure responses met the needs of the client, avoided negative impacts to schedule, avoided discipline conflicts, and adherence to the project procedures. Between mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, and instrumentation disciplines, the team answered over 400 Submittals and RFIs. He also led the preparation of over 10 Design Clarification Memos.
Cucamonga Valley Water District’s Arthur H. Bridge Water Treatment Plant (2013-2014)
In 2013-2014 Gidti led the design of a surface water treatment plant upgrade. The Upgrades to the Arthur H. Bridge Water Treatment Plant intends to diversify the water portfolio of the Cucamonga Valley Water District. The project was a Design-Build (DB) project where HDR was the Design-Builder responsible for design and construction of the upgrades to the facility. The primary upgrade was the installation of a pressure filtration process with backwash and backwash treatment. In addition to the pressure filters, demolition of the existing process, installation of a new canyon intake structure, and an automated/remote control system were also major components of the unmanned treatment plant. Gidti was the lead mechanical/process engineer and oversaw the civil, environmental, structural, electrical, and instrumentation disciplines. Gidti led a team of 5 engineers, 2 planners, and a BIM designer under the design manager and DB Project Manager to complete the preliminary design ahead of schedule. During construction, Gidti provided design support to the construction team through RFI responses, and submittal reviews. In addition, he also worked with the construction team to modify the design for client requested changes or unexpected changes that occurred during construction. The team came up with several innovative solutions throughout the pre-design, design, and construction phases of the project.
Gidti co-presented the success of this project at the 2014 Design Build Institute of America’s Annual Water Wastewater Conference in San Jose. The topic of the presentation was “Using Design-Build to Identify Innovative Solutions for the Arthur H. Bridge Water Treatment Plant”. The perspective of the client side was presented by CVWD Project Manager Eduardo Espinoza; Gidti presented the consultant (design) perspective and innovative technical solutions of the project.
Irvine Ranch Water District’s Recycled Water Salt Management Plan (2013-Present)
Currently Gidti is designing a Salt Model for Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD). The model is a mass balance which tracks the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS or Salt) load in the IRWD service area. IRWD required a model that could determine the impacts of various changes to the final treatment plant effluent and in the distribution system; this model is the primary tool developed for IRWD’s Recycled Water Salt Management Plan (RWSMP). Following the collection of water supply and quality data the design uses historical data to calibrate a model which tracks salt load as they change from source water (local and imported), to its users (Residential, Commercial, Institutional, and Industrial), through its treatment plants, and to the recycled water use locations (irrigation, dual-plumbed buildings, reservoirs). This tool models the impacts caused by human contributions (waste and household chemicals), biological processes in wastewater treatment, chemical addition at treatment plants, and return cycles from the recycled water distribution system. This calibrated model was then used to predict future salt concentration based upon select future alternative scenarios over a 20-year period that includes a greater population, changing sources of water, new facilities, shifts in operational strategies, and specific changes in regulation. Gidti co-authored a presentation on the development of the RWSMP for the WateReuse Annual Conference in Dallas Texas in September 2014. |
| Contribution to the Profession: |
ASCE LA Section YMF Liaison (2014 – Present) - Representative for the 6 LA Section Younger Member Groups.
ASCE OC YMF – Past-President (2014 – Present) – Advisory to the current Executive Board and lead of Awards/Recognition Program
ASCE OC YMF – President (2013-2014) - Oversight of coordination of 72 events including; 22 Outreach events, 11 Technical Events, 22 Social Events, and 17 Joint Events. Some events/programs required special planning committees: 2014 Speaker Series Planning Committee, 2014 Jog-A-Thon Planning Committee, 2014 Joint Branch & YMF Golf Tournament, Founding member of Orange County Mentorship Committee. Gidti also actively helped form new joint OC Branch K-12 and University Outreach Committees. Gidti also served as the ASCE OC Branch YMF Representative.
ASCE OC YMF – Vice-President (2012-2013) – Gidti collaborated with experienced and new members to restructure/modify the YMF board positions, goals, and initiatives. He re-designed YMF event planning procedures, and was involved in coordination of over 90 events during the Branch 60th Anniversary and Section Centennial year.
ASCE OC YMF – Secretary (2011-2012) – Gidti led the re-design of the YMF website and the development of automated upcoming events newsletter
ASCE OC YMF – Community Service Co-Chair (2010-2011) – Gidti planned 4 Community Outreach events for the year
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| Civic: |
Gidti started his YMF involvement as Community Service Co-Chair, and naturally strives for helping our communities at any available opportunity. He is passionate about assisting our future generations in succeeding in civil engineering careers through K-12 and University Outreach. Gidti’s achievements to support disadvantaged communities are quite impressive. His notable achievements include:
- Ronald McDonald House Cook-A-Meal for families (9/6/2014): Chef – Led a group of volunteers to prepare and serve 2 dishes to families staying at the Ronald McDonald House next to Children’s Hospital of Orange County
- Canstruction Event Evening Volunteer (8/29/2014): Support Volunteer – Directed
- Corazon Home Build (8/9/2014): Builder – Helped construct a simple home in a single day for a needy family in Mexico.
- Cerritos Wetlands Restoration (06/07/2014): Event Day Volunteer – Picked up trash from wetlands
- Santiago Middle School (6/6/2014): Event Day Speaker – Presented to Middle School Students
- Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (2/15/2014): Event Day Volunteer (Historian) – Took photos and updating live social media presence on the day of the event.
- Resume Workshop (2/8/2014): Interviewer/Reviewer - Reviewed and provided feed back on resumes and mock interviews for 3 local universities.
- Corazon Home Build (11/23/2013): Builder – Helped construct a simple home in a single day for a needy family in Mexico.
- ASCE OC YMF K-12 Outreach (10/1/2012 – Present): Committee Member. Gidti visited several K-12 schools, helped with the re-development program for 2013, and helped create the joint committee with Branch in 2014, notably by re-defining responsibilities for Chairs and sub-committees
- ASCE OC YMF University Outreach (10/1/2012 – Present): Committee Member. Gidti helped with the re-development program for 2013, including the development of new annual events, resume workshop, park day, and plan reading workshop. Gidti also helped create Student Chapter Liaison positions for each University. Gidti actively participated to the merging of the University Outreach Committee with the Branch, and re-defined responsibilities for chairs, liaisons, and advisors.
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| Suggested Award Summary: |
Gidti Ludesirishoti is a Project Engineer for the HDR Water Business Group in Southern California. His projects include traditional design, Engineering Services During Construction (ESDC), Design-Build and other alternative delivery projects in water and wastewater treatment. Gidti’s experience includes: design of water and wastewater treatment facilities, chemical facilities, pump stations, potable and recycled water pipeline, alternative design analyses, and water/wastewater system planning. Gidti holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, with an Emphasis in Environmental Engineering, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. Gidti recently served as the President for the American Society of Civil Engineer’s (ASCE) Orange County (OC) Younger Member Forum (YMF) and is currently the YMF Liaison to the Los Angeles Section for its 6 younger member groups.
Gidti is recognized by his peers for his advanced technical skills, having made significant contributions to advance the engineering techniques in the water/wastewater industry. Gidti was essential in leading the successful completion of the coordination of construction services for the $100M Santa Ana River Inland Empire Brine Line (IEBL) – Orange County Sanitation District (2011-2014) for which effective collaboration with several entities has been essential. Gidti is currently leading the design of a Salt Model, as part of the Recycled Water Salt Management Plan – Irvine Ranch Water District (2013 – Present).
Gidti has a comprehensive vision on leadership, operations, and marketing of ASCE. His successive contributions during his tenures as Community Service Chair, Secretary, Vice-President, President, and now both OC YMF Past-President and LA Section YMF Liaison are unmatched. Gidti has been making a point to effectively transfer his knowledge by developing and implementing the OC YMF University Program since his Presidency. During his Presidency, Gidti was involved in overseeing 72 events, notably for: a local Industry Leaders Speaker Series, 2 Corazon home builds, a meal cooked for Ronald McDonald House, a PSBC, a Jog-A-Thon fundraiser for 3 local Universities, and inauguration of a mentorship program in Orange County.
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