| Experience: |
Remi is recognized by his peers as a technical expert, for his significant contributions to advance the engineering techniques in the storm water and water quality industry. He has authored more than a dozen publications and conference proceedings, and has already served as an engineering trainer for public agencies and private-sector engineers on a wide range of topics, including in water harvest and reuse, watershed restoration, and strategic implementation of low impact development within urbanized watersheds. The efforts to become an established technical expert promoting innovative engineering approaches in surface water were recognized in the 2015 WRYMC Outstanding Advancement of the Profession by a Younger Member award, notably for the integrated Watershed Assessment Tool for Restoration (iWATR®). At his previous firm at his previous firm, Remi progressed rapidly to the position of Project Manager/Associate between 2008 and 2015.
The three following contributions to the profession reflect his technical expertise:
1. Remi served as the technical lead and project manager to integrate the integrated Watershed Assessment Tool for Restoration (iWATR®) concept into a first of its kind mobile application and website (www.iwatr.com), available nationwide, to allow municipalities, developers and others interested in watershed restoration and water quality improvement to perform a comprehensive water quality assessment at identified locations, for a variety of land uses. The project included coordinating a team of 17 engineers and marketing experts, and addressed direct requests from Kurt Bergman, CEO of Michael Baker Intl., and Anna Lantin, National Practice Lead for Surface Water (2012-2015).
2. Pioneer in the development of Hydromodification Management Plans (HMP) for Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer Systems (MS4) Permittees in Southern California. Co-author of four HMPs: South Orange County HMP - Orange County Public Works (2011-2015); Santa Margarita Region HMP & Santa Ana Region HMP - Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District (2012-2015); and San Bernardino County HMP - San Bernardino County Public Works (2012-2013), along with adequate LID guidelines, modeling tools, and other programmatic documents.
3. In his new role, Remi serves as the lead water resources engineer overseeing storm water and water quality aspects on all infrastructure projects at California offices. His expertise is particularly needed in both infill and transportation projects where limited right-of-way and utility conflict challenge the implementation of storm water controls, or in the vicinity of natural streams where sediment scour and transport influence the design of the infrastructure (August 2015- Present).
A description of each of the projects is provided in the Comments Section.
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| Comments: |
Remi 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, Remi has a comprehensive vision on leadership, operations, and marketing of ASCE. His successive contributions during his tenures as Programs Chair, Vice-President, President, and now both OC YMF Past-President and LA Section YMF Liaison are unmatched. Remi has been making a point to effectively mentor and recognize OC YMF members since his Presidency. Remi’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. Remi managed to meet individually with over 30 board officers 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. Remi does not simply direct others; he provides them with the resources and motivation they need to succeed on their own. As a result of Remi’s leadership style, board officers are now self-sufficient and do not rely on the President’s instructions to accomplish their goals in YMF. His vision to enhance the legacy of ASCE and OC YMF is unmatched: Remi was involved in coordination of nearly 200 events, 101 he oversaw as President. Some of the more prominent events/programs during his presidency include; a local Industry Leaders Speaker Series, a Women in Engineering Panel, a Mentorship Program, a meal cooked for Ronald McDonald House, a PSBC, a Jog-A-Thon fundraiser for 3 local Universities, and the promotion of diversity.
During his involvement he led the programmatic reorganization of the board to streamline communication and facilitate the delivery of quality events of Orange County YMF. Under his leadership and in addition to the events described above, OC YMF also accomplished the following:
- Largest younger member presence at WRYMC (14), global convention (7), joint LA Section meetings (10 and 7), and legislative fly-ins (4).
- Led the planning of major LA Section YMF events, including annual ski trip, camping trip, sporting events, and hosted the July joint LA Section YMF meeting.
- 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 and Branch members 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.
Technical Expertise in the Storm Water Industry
Technical lead for the integrated Watershed Assessment Tool for Restoration (iWATR®) concept
As the lead engineer, Remi has been successfully implementing watershed principles in numerous watershed planning studies, watershed restoration projects, regional BMP retrofits, and stormwater harvesting studies in multiple watersheds in California, as well as for several land development and transportation projects. In 2011, Remi formalized the several engineering, economic, programmatic, and environmental approaches into a holistic process, entitled integrated Watershed Assessment Tool for Restoration (iWATR®). The comprehensive approach implements watershed restoration, harvest-and-reuse and/or water quality improvement through the identification of optimal BMP retrofit locations that are the most cost effective, constructible, maintainable, and have the highest water quality benefits addressing existing receiving water impairments. This approach is iWATR™ (integrated Watershed Assessment Tool for Restoration), which includes a GIS watershed analysis tool for the identification of potential BMP retrofit locations; a BMP prioritization and assessment tool which integrates water quality modeling, a constructability analysis, and conceptual designs; and a design techniques and implementation assistance process that includes optimized BMP designs, construction assistance, and operations and maintenance schemas. Starting in 2013, Mr. Candaele has taken the lead in integrating the iWATR® concept into a first of its kind mobile application and website (www.iwatr.com), available nationwide, to allow municipalities, developers and others interested in watershed restoration and water quality improvement to perform a comprehensive water quality assessment at identified locations, for a variety of land uses. A team of 12 engineers has been involved over the duration of the project and provides instantaneous engineering concepts at any location within the United States territories.
The history of iWATR is made of technical prowess:
- It highlights correlation between the results from highly technical water quality models (HSPF, SWMM, similar) at any locations in the Nation and probabilistic decision-making tools.
- Several statistical approaches were developed and approved by regulatory agencies to compute pollutant loadings and both assessing the feasibility and sizing harvest-and-reuse systems at any single location in the Nation.
- The holistic approach to restore the water quality in urbanized watersheds takes into account 2.0 Terabytes of variables (rainfall, temperature, soils, pollution, pollutants, land use, costs, etc.) and though a series of complex algorithms provides a simple but instantaneous response for consideration of the public and/or private entity.
- The framework is built in an open-source NoSQL database (mongoDB) and revealed to the end-user through a series of Application Programming Interface (API) on a Google Map interface. iWATR is a first-of-a-kind engineering web-based application that provides instantaneous results.
Remi envisions the future of civil engineering design as automated systems that are built upon a wealth of engineering data. Similar to BIM technology, iWATR is a first step in this direction. Potential future versions of iWATR may provide instantaneous 2D/3D BMP schematics over map for developers, planners to create conceptual exhibits. iWATR represents an efficient educational tool to the communities on water quality issues and helps communicate on the outstanding goals and achievements that we, civil engineers, strive for.
Pioneer in Hydromodification and Sediment Transport in California (2011-Present)
Starting in 2009, MS4 Permits in Southern California included the requirement for public and private development projects to mitigate potential hydromodification impacts. Remi co-authored four HMPs in three Counties: South Orange County HMP - Orange County Public Works (2011-2015); Santa Margarita Region HMP - Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District (2012-2015); Santa Ana Region HMP - Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District (2013-2015); and San Bernardino County HMP - San Bernardino County Public Works (2012-2013). The standards and guideline documents are now utilized by engineers and public agencies on every development or redevelopment project in the three Counties. Development of HMPs included the following tasks:
- Establishing a state of the science in hydromodification based on literature and numeric mitigation criteria in consistency with adopted MS4 permits.
- Editing local LID BMP Manuals, water quality management plan (WQMP) templates, and model WQMPs to reflect the contents of HMPs.
- Creating HMP monitoring plans to evaluate the HMP effectiveness.
- Providing technical assistance for the negotiations with Regional Boards.
- Quantification of benefits provided by LID BMPs towards mitigating hydrologic conditions of concern
- Creating tools to assist developers with sizing LIDs and HMP BMPs
- Worked with Clear Creek Solutions to develop the South Orange County Hydrology Model (SOHM) and the Santa Margarita Region Hydrology Model (SMRHM). Evaluation of flow-frequency analysis methods.
- Evaluation of single-event methods to compute volumetric, peak discharge, and time of concentration for consistency with local flood control manuals.
- Co-led three full-day trainings to stormwater program managers, implementation staff, consulting engineers on how to implement the HMPs (three full-day trainings).
Lead Water Quality Engineer
Remi’s expertise is materialized by more than a dozen conference proceedings and technical publications. A few notable publications are listed below:
Candaele R., Lantin A., Friedman G. (2015). iWATR: A Planning Tool to Improve Water Quality in Watersheds. American Water Resources Association Conference, Illinois Association of Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Conference
Candaele R. and Mercier D. (2014).Unintended Impacts of the CGP – Sediment Starved Streams. Construction General Permit Track. California Stormwater Quality Association. 2014 CASQA Conference.
Candaele R. and Villarreal G. (2013). Optimizing Stormwater Green Infrastructure in the Municipal Roadway Environment: Lessons from Southern California. – ASCE TD&I Green Streets, Highways, and Development Conference in Austin
Taylor S., Apt D., and Candaele R. (2011). Potential Maximum Use of Harvested Stormwater Volume at a Site Level – 2011 World Environmental & Water Resources Congress, Environmental & Water Resources Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, Urban Watersheds Management Symposium
Candaele R., Apt D., and Hohnbaum J. (2011). Watershed Restoration Plan for Nitrogen and Selenium Impairments – 12thInternational Conference on Urban Drainage, International Water Association, Porto Alegre/Brazil
Candaele R., Barrett M., and Charbeneau R. (2008). Porous Friction Course: A Laboratory Evaluation of Hydraulic Properties – Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas at Austin, Online Report 08-06.
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| Contribution to the Profession: |
ASCE LA Section YMF Director (2015 – Present) - Representative for the six Los Angeles
Section Younger Member Groups and its 3,500 younger members (Los Angeles, Orange
County, Riverside, Santa Barbara/Ventura, Southern San Joaquin and San Luis Obispo).
Serves as a voting member on the Los Angeles Section Board and ensures all YMFs are well represented at the section. Additionally, the liaison organizes and facilitates bimonthly conference calls and bi-yearly meetings with all of the LA Section Younger Member group’s leaders to coordinate joint funds, necessities and concerns, budgets, and joint YMF events. During his term, Remi’s objectives include streamlining the coordination of joint events, specifically University and K-12 outreach events, expanding the mentorship program to other YMFs, and revitalizing the format of the YM Newsletter.
ASCE OC YMF – Past-President (2015 – Present) – Advisory to the current Executive Board and lead of Awards/Recognition Program recognizing YMF members for their outstanding contributions. Active committee member of Mentorship and PSBC committees.
ASCE OC YMF – President (2014-2015) – Strategized and led the successful implementation of the following objectives:
Programmatic reorganization:
Because the OC YMF board has grown from 10 board officers in 2012 to 32 board officers today, a new programmatic, decentralized, organization was developed and implemented to streamline internal communication, and facilitate the deliver of more than 101 diverse, quality, large-scale events during fiscal year 2014-15;
Development of future leaders:
Our board members dedicate their time to the organization. Remi envisioned and implemented a member development plan to ensure that all remain motivated by the tasks and witness their soft skills progress. Remi and the executive board met twice with each board member to identify what soft skills and motivations each member strives for, and ensure that future initiatives are rewarding to them. For our general membership, OC YMF hosted unique soft skills seminars year-around to help younger engineers develop a skillset that will make them the future leaders of our profession. ASCE OC YMF hosted a 5-week Speaker Series entitled “Engineering: Behind the Scenes”. The 2015
Speaker Series brought a series of presentations by five prominent and well-respected leaders in the civil engineering field that highlighted the valuable, desirable, nontechnical abilities and skills of successful engineers.
Emphasis on diversity:
Promoting the presence and leadership of women in civil engineering by hosting a highly-praised Women in Engineering Panel with three prominent speakers. Joint events were hosted with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), including a Wine Trip in Temecula, a general meeting, and a social networking event in Santa Ana. About 10 people from SWE were in attendance at each event.
The unique opportunity to host the Holocaust Memorial Presentation, with guest speaker and Holocaust survivor Henry Oster, followed by a visit of the Museum of Tolerance on in June 2015. The presentation was described by a member as “a big departure from the usual ASCE presentation … but the best ASCE presentation attended in 40 years”;
Four younger professionals attended the National Convention of Society of Black Engineers in Anaheim in March 2015 as guest speakers for ASCE. Volunteers were asked to mentor a large group of students with a bright future ahead.
In addition to all K-12 outreach activities, participating as mentors to the Mentoring Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) in Pomona, inspiring younger students to become civil engineers. One YMF liaison for each technical institute, and hosting joint events. For instance, YMF volunteered with the Geotechnical Institute (Port of Los Angeles Tech Tour), and the Construction Institute (Student Days Competition).
Extensive investment in outreach:
Our K-12 Committee has significantly grown by partnering with OC Branch, school districts in Orange County, and developing effective methods to reach out to potential future civil engineers. These efforts of K-12 Committee are being recognized by other organizations and teachers in Orange County. Aside from 18 K-12 Outreach events, our K-12 chairs were selected as note speakers at the Girls Engineering Day by Women in Transportation Society, State Leadership Conference by the Anaheim Unified School District, and the California STEM Symposium by State teachers.
In addition to the dozen events hosted with Universities, Remi and the Student Chapter Liaisons spoke twice as guest speakers at each University (CSUF, CSULB, and UCI), but also led the resume workshops.
Extensive coordination with Branch and other YMFs of the Los Angeles Section:
Remi worked closely with the Branch President to incentivize younger members to participate and coordinate with OC Branch throughout the year, and bridge the inherent gap in outreach committees. The efforts led to the recreation of effective and streamlined joint committees including for K-12, University, Mentorship, Social, and Government Affairs. In each of the committees, Branch and Younger Members are today equally involved and take decisions in unison. Remi also served as the ASCE OC Branch YMF Representative. By hosting and planning 15 joint events with other younger member groups, we contributed to establishing a network of the future LA Section leaders.
Website redesign:
Through close coordination with OC Branch, YMF redesigned its website to a mobile friendly form, which will serve as our communication platform to both existing and future membership.
Younger Member Group Award:
OC YMF was awarded the 2016 Younger Member Group Award for the efforts of the group during Remi’s presidency. The award recognizes OC YMF as the most outstanding Large YMG by ASCE (its highest honor for a YMG). Remi authored the nomination that led to this award.
ASCE OC YMF – Vice-President (2013-2014) – Supervised seven planning committees for the organization of 72 events including community outreach, social, programs, P.E. exam review, and large fundraising events. Other responsibilities include also assisting the President with management and outreach tasks to high schools and universities.
Highlights included the 4-week Speaker Series which was recognized as the 2015 WRYMC YMG Best Project, a Corazon Home Build project that included the actual construction of a house for an underprivileged family in Tecate, Mexico, and the Jog-A-Thon that raised more than $5,000 for our 3 University Student Chapters.
ASCE OC YMF – Programs Chair (2012-2013) – Created and implemented a comprehensive and living strategic plan that revived the YMF Programs & Professional Development Committee. The plan was updated based on lessons learned (Stop. Start.Continue approach). Organized 4 seminars and 3 technical tours, attended by more than 250 attendees. A highlight is the Legal Side of Engineering workshop with attorneys from Collins Collins Muir+Stewart LLP on June 25, 2013, which was featured on the front page of the ASCE National website.
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| Civic: |
Remi 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. Remi’s notable achievements to support disadvantaged communities include:
- Ronald McDonald House Cook-A-Meal for families (2013, 2014, 2015): Sous-Chef –
Volunteered to prepare and serve a full dinner to families staying at the Ronald
McDonald House next to Children’s Hospital of Orange County
- Resume Workshop (2013, 2014, 2015): Interviewer/Reviewer - Reviewed and provided feedback on resumes and mock interviews for 3 local universities. In 2015, guest speaker on best practices to create a resume and interviewing.
- Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (2013, 2014): Committee Chair (Attendee giveaways and Awards) and Event Day Volunteer (Registration)
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) Mentoring Power Hour (11/14/2014) in
Pomona – Guest mentor to 16 high school students
- Newport Back Bay (Womens Environmental Council) & Orange County Public Works
Beach & Park Cleanup (2009 – 2015). Volunteer at County beaches and parks at least once a year
- Isiah House Meal Preparation in Santa Ana (2013). Volunteer preparing breakfast and discussing with homeless families.
- RBF Good Works Program (2008-2012). Active member participating to park cleanups, gift collects for disadvantaged families,
- ASCE OC YMF K-12 Outreach (10/1/2013 – Present): Committee Member. Remi visited several K-12 schools, helped with the re-development program for 2013, and contributed to the development of the joint committee with Branch, notably by re-defining responsibilities for Chairs and sub-committees, and incentivizing coordination. Redevelopment of the program included developing a database of materials and activities that local volunteers can readily use, reaching out to ASCE members having children, and hosting meet-and-greet events to strengthen relationships with parents, school teachers, volunteers, and the K-12 committee. Finally, the strategy focused on build long-term relationships with strategic school districts and teachers, whose referrals opened the door to other districts and created the opportunity to our K-12 chairs to present at several State education symposiums (see above).
- ASCE OC YMF University Outreach (10/1/2013 – Present): Committee Member. Remi helped with the re-development program for 2013, including the development of new annual events, resume workshop, park day, Jog-A-Thon, and plan reading workshop.
Remi also helped create Student Chapter Liaison positions for each University. Remi actively participated to the merging of the University Outreach Committee with the Branch, and re-defined responsibilities for chairs, liaisons, and advisors, and incentivizing coordination.
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| Suggested Award Summary: |
Remi Candaele serves as the lead water quality engineer for Southern California offices of Huitt-Zollars. He is recognized for his technical expertise in numerous aspects of surface water management, responsiveness, leadership, and strategic initiatives. His domains of expertise include hydrology, hydromodification, water quality and sediment transport modeling, BMP design, harvest-and-use, statistical analyses and comprehensive watershed strategic plans. Remi is a graduate Ingenieur in France, and holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. When time allows, he loves mountain biking and hiking with his wife, Jessica.
Remi 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 six younger member groups.
Remi is recognized by his peers as a technical expert, for his significant contributions to advance the engineering techniques in the storm water and water quality industry. He has authored more than a dozen publications and conference proceedings, and has already served as an engineering trainer for public agencies and private-sector engineers on a wide range of topics, including in water harvest and reuse, watershed restoration, and strategic implementation of low impact development within urbanized watersheds. The efforts to become an established technical expert promoting innovative engineering approaches in surface water were recognized in the 2015 WRYMC Outstanding Advancement of the Profession by a Younger Member award.
ASCE OC YMF received the 2016 Younger Member Group Award for large groups from ASCE. Remi’s strong leadership and key objectives during his term as ASCE OC YMF President had a vital role in the recent award ASCE OC YMF received.
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