Kathy Caldwell, P.E. - EngineeringLicense.com

"Think of your engineering degree as a toolbox. You're going to learn how to think, how to structure thought, how to solve problems. When you graduate and are practicing your profession, you will gain the experience that will provide you with the tools to fill that toolbox. Your license will be one of your most important tools."

Kathy Caldwell, P.E.
President
JEA Construction Engineering Services
Degree: Civil Engineering

Projects

The first position out of college that Kathy Caldwell held was with a structural engineering group in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She was involved in basic structural design for primarily industrial facilities. The largest project was a 400,000 square foot facility at the Indianapolis Airport for Purolator Courier.

She left Tennessee and went to Texas for three years where she worked for a firm called Parkhill, Smith, and Cooper. There she was a "jack of all trades"—responsible for planning and finishing projects from design to construction for transportation-related and utility facilities work.

"The work that I did with Parkhill, Smith, and Cooper really sold me on wanting to be more involved in construction engineering, one aspect of civil engineering," says Caldwell.

When she left Texas, she went to Florida and has worked with Jones, Edmunds & Associates for the past 13 years. She started in design and moved into construction with Jones, Edmunds, and now is president of a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jones, Edmunds called JEA Construction Engineering Services, Inc.

A sampling of projects she handled while working at Jones, Edmunds included the following:

•	Senior project engineer for the I-75 Paynes Prairie Rest Area, Gainesville, Florida at a construction cost of $5.7 million
•	Senior project engineer for the Hart, Buckman, Forsyth and Haines Street Bridges painting and rehabilitation project in Jacksonville, Florida, as leader and quality assurance responsibility for the construction engineering and management of 4-lead abatement and coating systems applications
•	Senior project engineer for a districtwide bridge painting and rehabilitation project in Jacksonville, Florida
•	Project manager of a $5 million removal and reconstruction of 8 bridges for U.S. 301 in Florida, including responsibility for inspection services and performance
•	Senior structural engineer for a wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation for the Florida Department of Corrections. This project included evaluation and development of rehabilitation specifications for reinforced concrete wastewater treatment structures at three correctional institutions.

Then, when the JEA Construction Engineering Services group began, she served as senior project engineer for several projects, including:

•	The I-95 St. Johns County Rest Area, St. Johns County, Florida, as project manager and CEI team leader for construction contract administration of an $8.8 million rest area construction project, including two 5,800 sq. ft. buildings, site development, drainage structures, stormwater facilities, pavilions, maintenance structures, 48,000 sq. yd. of parking facility construction, and interstate ramp and shoulder work.
•	The S.R. 26 Widening and Resurfacing, Newberry, Florida, as project engineer, manager, and contract administrator for five separate construction contracts consisting of three turn lane projects and two widening and resurfacing projects. Work consisted of superpave roadway construction including drainage structures, curb and gutter, utility relocation, signalization, sidewalks and landscaping. Total construction cost was $12 million.
•	The U.S. 19 Widening and Resurfacing, Old Town, Florida, as project engineer and manager for a $14 million series of five widening and resurfacing projects from Cross City to Old Town, and one bridge widening project in Cedar Key (S.R. 24). The project also included leadership of a 9-member CEI team for quality assurance of superpave construction, drainage structure modifications, intersection improvements and signalization, sinkhole remediation, sidewalk and curb, and gutter construction.

Perspective

"I took my FE exam late in my junior year of college. My strategy was to use the experience as a study tool and to really launch my preparation for taking the exam in my senior year. Fortunately, I passed it the first time. Nevertheless, I think the message is 'take the FE exam just as soon as you possibly can before you leave the college environment.' It's very difficult to go back and take the fundamentals exam once you have been practicing in your major area of practice. A lot of fundamentals slip away from you and it becomes much more difficult to go back and re-learn the fundamentals later."

"Licensure to me means credibility, responsibility, authority and it's a signal that you have bought into the ethics that are related to the practice of engineering. It is our ultimate responsibility to protect the health and safety of the society that we serve, and, to me, the professional engineering license says that we are here to protect that society."

"Having the P.E. license has opened up doors for me. It has allowed me to explore opportunities and grow in my profession where I feel like I would have run into some stumbling blocks without it."

Career Path

•	President, JEA Construction Engineering Services, Inc., Gainesville, Florida, 7/99–Present
•	Senior Project Engineer, Project Manager and Structural Engineer for various projects, Jones, Edmunds & Associates, Inc., Gainesville, Florida, 10/89–7/99
•	Project Manager, Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, Inc., Austin, Texas, 10/86–6/89
•	Structural Engineer, Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc., Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 7/85–7/86
•	Engineering Field Technician, Gilbert Associates, Inc., Knoxville, Tennessee, 11/81–3/82
•	Engineering Technician/Drafter, United Engineers and Constructors, Inc., Knoxville, Tennessee, 1/80–11/81
•	Engineering Technician/Drafter, Dow Chemical Company, Knoxville, Tennessee and Houston, Texas, 10/75–12/79
•	Registered Professional Engineer: Florida

Education

•	B.S. with High Honors, Structural and Construction Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1985

Affiliations and Honors

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Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers

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American Society of Civil Engineers:

•	Past President–Florida Section
•	Engineer of the Year–Florida Section, 1995
•	Student Chapter Contact Member–University of Florida

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Florida Engineering Society

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Tau Beta Pi

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Chi Epsilon


	N. Catherine Bazan-Arias, Ph.D.
	Kathy Caldwell, P.E.
	Patricia L. Eng, P.E.
	Charles Casey, P.E..
	Joe Fowler, Ph.D., P.E.
	Lori Hasselbring, Ph.D., P.E.
	Brett Pielstick, P.E.
	Robert Rupert, P.E.
	Jonna M. Tarpoff, P.E.
	Dwight L. Williams, Ph.D., P.E.