10 FAMOUS CIVIL ENGINEERS: LOCALLY

AND ABROAD

Jezreel S. Bartolome, BSCE 4-1

Objectives:
 to choose top ten Civil Engineers who became president or
general manager in a construction company. Three local
engineers and 7 foreign engineers must be selected;
 to know the qualifications of a construction manager in their
company they are connected;
 to discuss the criteria of choosing the top ten engineers;
 to observe the gender issues among the selected engineers;
and
 to rank the company where the selected engineers work
according to the researcher’s criteria.
 Arnel Baquero
 Arnel's successful result was achieved on May 15th,
2008 when he was employed as a Structural Drafter
by AEROTEK at a starting salary of $40,000 per year
Jon Magnusson
 Nora Stanton Blatch Barney
 Nora Staton Blatch Barney made history. She's
America's first female civil engineer and one of the
first in the country to earn a civil engineering degree
 Angelina Jay
 Angelina Jay started out studying aerospace
engineering but soon switched paths to develop a
successful civil engineering career. Jay earned her
Ph.D. in civil engineering from the Northeastern
University and works for an engineering consulting
firm in New York as an associate.
Engr. Michael Cosiquien and Engr. Edgar Saavedra

 Engr. Michael Cosiquien and Engr. Edgar Saavedra

have gone through difficult times before they got
their success. Behind some of the biggest
construction projects in the Philippines is a company
that initially struggled to find itself in the
engineering industry. Megawide Construction was
created in 1997 at the height of the Asian financial
crisis. Its founders,
 John Smeaton
 Known as the “Father of Civil Engineering”, John Smeaton
was born in Leeds in 1724 and after a short career in law,
became a maker of mathematical tools. Through his
pioneering work on the mechanics of watermills and
windmills, Smeaton applied both his theoretical and
practical knowledge in order to greatly increase the
efficiency of watermills, thereby accelerating the early
Industrial Revolution. Responsible for an array projects
including canals, bridges, mills, and harbours Smeaton’s
work is still studied by engineering students today.
 John August Roebling
 Born in 1806 in Prussia, John August Roebling
attended the Royal Building Academy in Berlin
where he studied engineering and architecture and
where he first became interested in the challenges of
the suspension bridge.
 Frenchman Alexander Gustave
 Born in 1832 in Dijon approximately 200 years after
bets for horse racing became popular, Frenchman
Alexander Gustave Eiffel is certainly most well-
known for the 300m tower in Paris which bears his
name. While the now iconic Eiffel Tower was only
ever meant to be a temporary structure,
 Isambard Kingdom Brunel
 Considered to be one of the most ingenious and
prolific figures in the history of engineering,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in 1806 in
Portsmouth, England and became one of the greatest
contributors to the Industrial Revolution.
 Civil Engineers Age Status Company Revenue Company age

1 Jon Magnusson Alive Magnusson Klemencic Associates $73 billion 25 years

Engr. Edgar Saavedra 44 Alive Megawide Construction Corp. $409 million 23 years

Dante Obando 66 Alive Makati Development Corp. $35 million

Arnel Baquero AEROTEK

Claire Gott 27 Alive WSP Global Inc. $69 million 51

Guiomar Obregon Alive Precision 2000 Inc. (P2K)

Zhuang Shangbiao Alive China Railway Construction

Corp.
Carlos Slim 80 Alive Promotora del Desarrollo de $2.34 million
America Latina
Sungan Choi Samsung Engineering

Rick Lanoha Kiewet Corporation

Gender Frequency
Male 8
Female 2
 Analysis

 The figure 1 shows that only two out of ten engineers that have been selected
were female. It only constitute as 20 percent from the selected civil engineers
that has managerial position in the company.
 Megawide owned by Engr. Michael Cosiquien and Engr. Edgar Saavedra is
also currently involved in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework
projects like the Southwest Integrated Transport System in Paranaque City,
the newest phase of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, and the
modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center. All of these are on top of
the existing structures Megawide already built. That includes the City of
Dreams Manila, the Bellevue Executive Tower in Muntilupa City, the
Kimberly Hotel Tagaytay, the Almanza Metropolis in Las Pinas, the SMDC
Grand Showroom in Pasay City, and the Tomas Morato Plaza in Quezon
City.
 Synthesis

 The researcher would love to work for Megawide owned by Engr.

Michael Cosiquien and Engr. Edgar. This was also on top one for the
ranking as per the researcher. Megawide is one of the country’s
leading engineering and infrastructure developers, with a decisive
portfolio in Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC), Airport
Infrastructure, Progressive Property Development, and Renewable
Energy. Its revolutionary construction and engineering solutions
continue to shape the industry by integrating its comprehensive EPC
capabilities with innovative construction support technologies such as
precast, formwork systems, and concrete batching.
 The researcher also agreed that working locally pleases his heart and
for the love of country.
 Summary
 The researcher listed 10 engineers,three (3) local
engineers and seven (7) foreign engineers together with
their respective companies and rank them from 1 to 10.
 The researcher chosen Engr. Michael Cosiquien and
Engr. Edgar of Megawide as top one for their hard work
and dedication to their chosen field.
 The researcher also added that Megawide Construction
Corporation is his preferred company to be deployed in
the future.
 REFERECES

 Civil Engineering Success Stories. Retrieved from https://ecs.osu.edu/alumni/civil-

engineering-success-stories
 Success Stories by Civil Engineers. Retrieved from
https://interestingengineering.com/success-stories-by-civil-engineers
 TCEP 017: Interviews with Some of the Most Successful Civil Engineers in the World from the
ASCE 2015 Annual Conference. Retrieved from
https://engineeringmanagementinstitute.org/tcep-017-interviews-with-some-of-the-
most-successful-civil-engineers-in-the-world-from-the-asce-2015-annual-conference/
 Manchester to Vancouver: a Consulting Engineer Rises to the Top Career Story by Chris
Newcomb, P.Eng. Retrieved from http://engineering-and-
technology.blogspot.com/2013/09/civil-engineer-success-stories.html
 2 Civil Engineers Became Philippines’ Youngest Millionaires: Megawide Bosses Story. Retrieved
from https://gineersnow.com/industries/property-development/megawides-big-
bosses-story-2-civil-engineers-became-philippines-youngest-millionaires