Eight Quad Cities area STEM professionals and one technical organization were recognized by the Quad City Engineering & Science Council (QCESC) at its 61st annual STEM Celebration on Feb. 23.
The event, held at The Bend in East Moline, showcased the exceptional Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professionals, educators and the next generation of STEM professionals in the Quad Cities regions. The event is held annually during National Engineers Week (E-week).
The awards pay tribute and recognize engineering and science professionals and educators whose outstanding achievements and contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society and their profession. This includes helping to promote and raise the awareness of STEM education and careers in the Quad Cities region and its schools.
The following professionals were recognized for outstanding achievements in their field by the QCESC in 2023:
Junior Engineer of the Year: Trenton Humphrey
Mr. Humphrey is an environmental engineer for Stanley Consultants, Coralville, Iowa. Since joining the firm in 2018, he has done much to distinguish himself. He achieved his professional engineer license and was promoted to project manager overseeing $500,000 in projects that include hazardous waste and polyfluorinated substances sampling, radon testing at Army facilities, managing multiple stormwater programs and decommissioning an aging coal-fired power plant with three boilers.
Mr. Humphrey has performed asbestos inspections at over 30 corn and wheat processing plants. He has completed a 40-hour Site Safety and Health Officer certification for the United States Navy; one of just three in the company with this level of certification, and he has written multiple safety plans for site studies throughout the U.S. and abroad.
He is an active member of the ASCE Eastern Iowa Young Member Group and has served as chair for the golf outing which raises funds for things like Derecho cleanup efforts. He has participated several times in his office’s bi-annual Adopt-A-Highway trash pickup along Highway 95, judged concrete canoe competitions and organized an office-wide food raiser for HAACP.
Mr. Humphrey has a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Senior Engineer of the Year: Kara Mitvalsky
Ms. Mitvalsky is the acting assistant chief of the Design Branch at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, previously serving as a senior environmental engineer with 29 years of public sector experience at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She is also the owner of Dragonfly Environmental, LLC.
Ms. Mitvalsky has been involved in ecosystem restoration planning, design, construction, and monitoring within the Upper Mississippi River Basin under multiple program authorities and serves as a technical reviewer for these types of projects across the United States. She also works on dredged material management and disposal projects, flood control projects, recreational projects, and hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste projects.
Ms. Mitvalsky co-authored and served as technical editor on two versions of the Environmental Design Handbook which provides guidance and lessons learned on multiple habitat design elements within a large riverine system. She has also been published in the SAME Military Engineer and the ASCE Leadership and Management in Engineering publications about the importance of mentoring in technical fields. Ms. Mitvalsky is a professional engineer licensed in Iowa and Illinois.
Ms. Mitvalsky is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), once serving as junior secretary, and is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She spends time volunteering with the Bettendorf Conservation Committee, the Bettendorf High School swim team, and Bettendorf Aquatics swim team, and helps with flag routes for the Optimist Club.
She was vice president of the Paul Norton Parent Teacher Association and served as a charter member representative for Boys Scouts of America Illinois Council (Pack 54), and on the Bettendorf Community School District Improvement Advisory Committee. Ms. Mitvalsky volunteers for her Bettendorf church, and has served as deacon and on the nursery school committee and with a church in Morrison, volunteering for community meals.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Senior Scientist of the Year: Steve Gustafson
Steve Gustafson is an geological/environmental protection specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. He is responsible for addressing environmental concerns for Corps projects across five states. In addition to dealing with contamination issues, he is heavily involved with the Corps Upper Mississippi River Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Program, and is the technical lead for the Red Rock Dam Foundation Geotechnical Investigation.
Outside of the Corps, Mr. Gustafson works as the Quad Cities project manager for the Mobile, Alabama Osprey Initiative and as an Environmental Geologist for Riverside Global. He is also a water quality subject matter expert for the Eastern Iowa Community College EARTh Center.
Mr. Gustafson is vice chair of Partners of Scott County Watersheds, a member of the Scott County Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) committee, Bi-state Conservation Action Network (BiCAN), Nahant Marsh Education Center Board, Iowa DNR State Preserves Board and the Scott County Waste Commission Xstream Cleanup committee, and a volunteer for the Bettendorf Schools Mobile Food Pantry.
He shares his expertise with the Rock Island Soil and Water Conservation District, Bettendorf and Rock Island Community School Districts, Augustana College, St. Ambrose University and Lourdes Catholic School. Mr. Gustafson is founder of the Bettendorf Natural Resources Committee, cofounder of the Quad Cities Miracle Field (honored to throw out the first pitch at the grand opening) and founder/coordinator of the Jefferson Neighborhood Christmas Project helping over 200 penurious families and 100 seniors for the past 16 years by organizing a network of donors.
Mr. Gustafson states his most significant accomplishment is, “Being able to help solve environmental-related problems, and make the world a little better in the way God designed me to do.”
He earned a bachelor of science in geography and geology from Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.
Computing Professional of the Year: Binto George
Binto George is a professor at the Western Illinois University (WIU) School of Computer Science, Macomb, Illinois. He serves as acting director of their Cybersecurity Center, coordinator for the Cybersecurity/Networking Lab and point of contact for the National Security Agency Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD).
Prior to joining WIU, Mr. George worked as an assistant research professor at Rutgers University. He is a Certified Ethical Hacker and CipherTrace Certified Cryptocurrency Examiner. Binto is also a partner for CSTRENDS LLP.
Mr. George volunteers for cybersecurity conferences like CornCon, is a coordinator and trainer for LeatherHack, and a presenter for Kids Science Saturday. He is a member of many committees and advisor for the Cybersecurity Enthusiast Club.
His research included developing secure concurrency control and buffer management protocols for multilevel secure database systems. Binto has authored numerous journal articles and books in the area of computer security and artificial intelligence. He is a senior member of IEEE, and volunteered in various capacities at IEEE including the Chair of IEEE Iowa-Illinois section in 2022.
Mr. George has a bachelor of technology in electrical and electronics engineering from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India, a master of technology in computer and information sciences from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India, and a doctor of philosophy degree from the Supercomputer Education and Research Center, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
STEM Teacher of the Year: Kim McMaster
Kim McMaster is the library media specialist at Bicentennial Elementary School, Coal Valley. With a passion for STEM education, she moved from teaching fourth grade to become the library media specialist in 2014.
Since then she has made a major impact on how the district views the library media specialist position, and completely changed her school’s vision for the library and its programming. She implemented in-school and after-school makerspace and 3D printing clubs, LEGO education, multiple coding opportunities, monthly STEM challenges and more. She hosts a parent night for school makers with over 50 student participants, yearly. Ms. McMaster even takes additional summer courses to learn more about STEM education on her own dime.
Ms. McMaster is a member of AISLE, ISTE, NEA, IEA and IDEA.
She led teachers in a yearlong STEM professional development, resulting in teachers implementing STEM education in their classrooms.
Ms. McMaster earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, and her master’s degree in reading from Western Illinois University, Moline.
Volunteer of the Year: Paul Yaklin
Mr. Yaklin is a committed volunteer in the Quad Cities with more than ten years dedicated to the advancement of STEM on both sides of the Mississippi River. He has supported STEM events, volunteered at the QCESC Putnam summer engineering camps and participated in many STEM-based community presentations.
Since 2017 Paul has consistently volunteered more than 1,000 hours per year to FIRST Robotics. He is currently the lead coach and design mentor for FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) 8813, The Winter Soldiers – a five-time Iowa Regional Championship Inspire Award winning team.
In addition, Mr. Yaklin has mentored FTC team 14832 at Rock Island High School. He supported his FTC team’s efforts to coach two FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge teams at the Martin Luther King Center; one of which qualified for the 2019 State Championship. Paul also supported his FTC team’s FLL Explore program at the Rock Island Skip-A-Long Daycare along with summer STEM camps for youth in Rock Island. Currently he supports after school STEM programs at Rock Island Academy.
Mr. Yaklin is a staff engineer at John Deere Global Crop Harvesting Product Development Center in Silvil. He holds a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and completed courses toward a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University, Kansas.
Lifetime Achievement Award: George Oelschlaeger
George Oelschlaeger worked as a Quality Manager for John Deere Seeding, Moline, before his retirement in 2002.
Following retirement until 2014, he worked at the same location as a contract employee developing new assembly methods, executing new computer processes, and implementing the powder coat paint system. His career at John Deere spanned 49 years and included roles such as Design Engineer, Project Engineer, Manager of Testing, Manager of Reliability, and Manufacturing Engineer. Mr. Oelschlaeger is a member of ASAE and ASABE.
His career highlights include:
- Adding hydraulic cylinders to the TWA disk harrow which carried forward to the new line of disk harrows introduced in 1974.
- Developing an assembly line and shipping method for factory assembled planters.
- Taking a green field site and helping to design and implement the manufacture of new John Deere Air Seeders and Tools.
A devoted volunteer, Mr. Oelschlaeger has decades of community involvement with the YMCA, Boy Scouts of America, Junior Achievement, Nova Singers, and many other organizations. He is the set builder for the Rockridge High School Drama Department, a 9½ gallon Mississippi Valley Blood Bank donor and an active member at his church.
He has patents for things like a lift assist mechanism, safety lock for hydraulics cylinders and narrow transport disk harrow, and written a technical paper for the semi-integral moldboard plow.
Mr. Oelschlaeger earned a bachelor of science in agricultural engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, and took graduate courses at the Quad City Graduate Center, Augustana, Rock Island.
President’s Award of Merit: Jeff Melvin
Jeff Melvin, P.E., is a senior corporate strategic engineer with Constellation Energy.
Jeff’s real passion is giving back. He has been a part of QCESC since 2007 when he attended his first banquet and attended his first meeting. He has worked with his employer to support a scholarship in the community ever since.
He’s been a part of a lot of “firsts”: he has been a head referee and judge for both FIRST Lego League and FIRST Tech Challenge. He worked on some of the first STEM Teacher nights out. He was a part of the first attempts at the QC Tech Challenge, most especially the Battle of the Bridges where he has served as director since 2013. He was in the first group that founded the Link #271 of the Order of the Engineer. He first got QCESC into the Chamber of Commerce in 2014. He was the first Professional Development Director. He also served as president from 2011-2012. If the QCESC needed something done, Jeff Melvin has been the one to get it done.
When he’s not helping with STEM, he is an off-ice Official/Statistician for the Quad City Storm, is an annual ShotLink/Scoring Team Leader for the John Deere Classic, and is the Davenport Course Chairman for the QC Marathon. This superman has given over 3300 volunteer hours in the Quad Cities since 2010. We are honored to have his contributions help the QCESC and are proud to call him a friend.
Mr. Melvin earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Arkansas Tech University.
Society of the Year Award: IEEE Iowa – Illinois Section
The Quad City Engineering and Science Council is pleased to present its 2023 Society of the Year Award to the IEEE Iowa-Illinois Section.
IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Its mission is to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.
The IEEE Iowa-Illinois Section is very active, holding many meetings and conferences throughout the year. In 2022, IEEE held five Tech Talks, monthly “Cybersocials” networking sessions, and quarterly planning meetings.
One of the most noteworthy events that the Section hosts is the two-day event called CornCon Cybersecurity Conference, held last Fall at the RiverCenter in Davenport. This conference included presentations and discussions from over 50 speakers and experts in cybersecurity.
In addition to the Conference seminars and speeches, the Conference also held two days of events for youth. At the Children of the CornCon “H. S. Cyber Careers & Competition”, high school students explored becoming the next generation of possible cybersecurity experts and possible career opportunities. And, on the last day there was a “Children of the CornCon Kids’ Hacker Camp”, where students K-12 attended sessions on ethical hacking, coding, electronics, and games. More information about CornCon can be found at https://corncon.net/
More information about the IEEE Iowa-Illinois Section can be found at their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Iowa.Illinois.IEEE/
Nominations are now being accepted for the following awards to be honored at our 62nd STEM Celebration in February 2024.
- Computing Professional of the Year
- Junior Scientist of the Year (Under age 36 on Dec. 31, 2023)
- Junior Engineer of the Year (Under age 36 on Dec. 31, 2023)
- Senior Scientist of the Year (age 36 or older on Dec.31, 2023)
- Senior Engineer of the Year (age 36 or older on Dec. 31, 2023)
- STEM Teacher of the Year
- STEM Volunteer of the Year
- Lifetime Achievement Award
Access the nomination form here.
