County Commission marks National Engineers Week
Paula Wiggins, manager of the Sarasota County Transportation Planning Division, has been named Government Engineer of the Year for 2020, County Commissioner Alan Maio announced during his board’s regular meeting on Feb. 25.
Another Transportation Planning staff member, Marquis Bing, was named Young Government Engineer of the Year, Maio noted.
They were recognized during the E-Week Awards Banquet of the SunCoast Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which was held at Mote Marine Aquarium on Feb. 21.
Maio announced the honors during his board’s celebration of National Engineers Week, which was Feb. 16-22.
The proclamation the County Commission issued for National Engineers Week noted that the theme was Engineers Invent Amazing.
The Government Engineer of the Year Award recognizes an individual for “[a]chievements and distinction in a technical field and mode of practice,” who also has an “established reputation for service to ASCE and the engineering profession” and who has an “established reputation for civic, community, and public activities and responsibilities,” according to the nomination form.
Wiggins has been with the county since August 2006, her LinkedIn profile says. She earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Florida State University and then earned her MBA from Webster University.
In 2008, the ASCE SunCoast Branch also named her Government Engineer of the Year.
The February 2018 newsletter of the ASCE SunCoast Branch said Bing is a Bradenton native who joined the county staff in 2014. His bachelor’s degree in civil engineering is from Florida A&M University, the newsletter continued; he received his master’s degree from Florida State.
The newsletter also noted that he passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in October 2017.
At the time the newsletter was published, he was vice president of the SunCoast Branch of the ASCE.
“It’s impossible to build anything in this world without engineers,” Maio said during the Feb. 25 County Commission celebration.