Orlando’s Mandee E. Brandt Named Florida Engineer of the Year

Florida Engineering Society Announces Top Engineering Award Winners

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Orlando’s Mandee E. Brandt, PE has been named Florida’s 2025 Engineer of the Year, and Fort Lauderdale’s Vincent Locigno, PE has been named Florida’s 2025 Young Engineer of the Year by the Florida Engineering Society (FES).

These, and six additional top engineering professional recognitions, were awarded to Florida’s top professional engineers during a ceremony held recently in Marco Island.

“Florida is fortunate to have highly talented engineers that are designing and shaping Florida’s future, and we’re pleased to honor their excellence and achievement in this industry,” said David Keough, PE, President of the Florida Engineering Society.

2025 ENGINEER OF THE YEAR:

Mandee E. Brandt, PE of Orlando

With 25 years of transportation industry experience, Mandee specializes in roadway and drainage design. She has delivered projects for a wide range of clients, including the Florida Department of Transportation, South Carolina Department of Transportation, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, and multiple county governments across Florida. She is a 2002 graduate from the University of Central Florida with a degree in environmental engineering.

YOUNG ENGINEER OF THE YEAR:

Vincent Locigno, PE of Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale’s Vincent Locigno, PE is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a degree in civil engineering. He is a project manager at Chen Moore and Associates specializing in the design, permitting and construction engineering inspection of largescale utility infrastructure projects, including water, wastewater and stormwater drainage systems. 

Additional awards were presented to the following individuals:

Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (2):

Ana Carolina Coelho Maran, PhD., PE

South Florida Water Management District Director of Flood Control and Water Supply Planning Carolina Maran, Ph.D., PE, has been leading one of the nation’s most robust resilience efforts and advancing the implementation of the District’s critical flood infrastructure projects which are essential to South Florida’s economy, environment and quality of life. Under her leadership, the District has advanced comprehensive resilience planning and infrastructure adaptation to protecting South Florida’s communities from flooding, ensuring long-term water supply, and safeguarding critical environmental resources

Anand “Sunny” Narayanan, PhD. of Tallahassee

Tallahassee’s Dr. Anand “Sunny” Narayanan is a Research Faculty at Florida State University. He holds a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in Medical and Space Physiology and a B.S. degree from West Virginia University in Mechanical Engineering and Biology. As a research faculty member, he continues to support NASA’s space program, leading and supporting multiple biomedical studies that investigate the physiological effects of deep space radiation, Lunar, and Martian gravity, all relevant to our human space exploration program.

Outstanding Service to the Engineering Profession Award (2):

Lisa K. Spainhour, PhD., PE  of Tallahassee

Tallahassee’s Lisa Spainhour is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. With more than 30 years of teaching, Dr. Spainhour has served as the principal investigator on over $20 million in federal- and state-funded research projects. Her primary research area involves the development and support of traffic records software. She was a founding member of the FAMU-FSU Center for Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response in 2019 and has served as its Executive Director since then.

Wendy Conforme, PE of Miami

Wendy Conforme is the CEO of the Port Miami Tunnel, and the first woman to lead a North American asset for Meridiam Infrastructure. She is a highly experienced professional in transportation infrastructure, including designing, building and managing major tunnel, bridge and highway projects, and specializing in alternative delivery contracting methods, including Public Private Partnerships (P3), Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain, and Design-Build contracts. 

Two individuals were named as 2025 Fellows:

Kevin Crump, PE, LEED AP of Jacksonville

Jacksonville’s Kevin J. Crump has been practicing civil engineering for 25 years, and serves as the Chief Civil Engineer at Haskell Architects & Engineers, P.A. He has been a member of the Florida Engineering Society for 19 years. He holds numerous registrations across the United States, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and 19 other states. He has endeavored in design-build projects in Connecticut, Oregon, California, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and Colombia, South America. 

Matthew McLeer, PE of Palm Coast

A Senior Subject Matter Expert at The Haskell Company, Matthew McLeer brings more than 25 years of experience to the construction and engineering industry. He has provided geotechnical oversight on a wide range of projects across the United States and internationally, including projects in Malaysia, the Philippines, Mexico and the Ivory Coast. He earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been an active member of the FES for 20 years, including serving as Past President and State Director of the Daytona Beach Chapter.

Faculty Member of the Year Award:

Charles W. Davis, Jr., Ph.D., CSSGB, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Dr. Charles Winfred Davis, Jr. is Associate Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University teaching various courses to first- and second-year aerospace/mechanical engineering students. Dr. Davis has also taught various courses in pre-engineering, mathematics courses, mathematics for engineering technology, quality assurance and test methods, engineering management, communications, and ethics and probability and statistics for engineering at Valencia College since 2003. He has 27 years of experience in the public and private sector consisting of project management, leadership and quality assurance. He earned his bachelor’s in design engineering, and master’s in industrial engineering with a concentration in engineering management, and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Central Florida. 

Florida Professional Engineers in Industry (FPEI) Engineer of the Year Award:

Javier Manso, PE, of Miami

Javier is a South Florida leader in the design and management of transportation facilities. He has served as the Engineer of Record (EOR) or Roadway Lead for numerous major South Florida projects, including the Turnpike Mainline Widening in Palm Beach County, implementation of the Express Lanes network with the I-75 Express in Broward County, I-95 Express Phase 3 in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, Palmetto Express Lanes in Miami-Dade County, and the SW 10^th St. Connector Lanes in Broward County. A major technical achievement in his career is being part of the I-395 Signature Bridge project as the Roadway Task Lead and EOR. He’s a Florida Engineering Leadership Institute (FELI) Class of 2021 graduate, is involved with the ASCE Miami-Dade Branch Bridge Competition for middle- and high-school students, participates in the Florida International University (FIU) Career Fairs, and is heavily involved with the FES Miami Chapter MATHCOUNTS® competition.

Student and Student Chapter Awards:

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in the Alpha/Beta Chapter Category

The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering was named the Alpha/Beta Chapter of the Year. Alpha/Beta Student Chapters meet certain educational curricula and accreditation and are a four-year duration program leading to an engineering degree. Honorable mention goes to Florida International University.

Valencia College in the Delta Chapter Category

Valencia College was named the Delta Chapter of the Year. Delta Student Chapters are schools, colleges or junior colleges that have a curriculum of at least two years duration and are designated as being preparatory for entrance into an accredited engineering technology program. Honorable Mention goes to the Miami Dade College – Wolfson Campus.