Insights
Watch a Recap of GZA’s 2024 Technical Conference
At a Glance
One of the most important–and unique–parts of GZA’s company culture and professional development is our annual Technical Conference, held each year at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.
Typically bringing together more than 300 of our 700 company professionals from all 32 of our offices nationwide, the Technical Conference comprises two days of presentations by GZA engineers and professionals at all levels in our organization, showcasing the most innovative solutions GZA teams have been developing to address clients’ most complex challenges. Senior GZA executives vote on awards for the very best presentations offered at the event. We also we make sure to have time for warm and fun social gatherings and chances for far-flung colleagues to reconnect for conversation.
At our 2024 conference, examples of the GZA projects winning top honors included a multi-location biodiversity inventory for a major consumer products manufacturer, geotechnical instrumentation peer review on a hydroelectric dam renovation, and remediation of sediment at a Superfund cleanup site. We also presented a special data visualization award for a project supporting a municipal client conducting a community-wide assessment of areas that could potentially host solar energy facilities and a special award for application of evolving science in connection with environmental litigation. These were just a few of the 30-plus innovative projects honored that demonstrate the extraordinary range of expertise and experience across GZA’s industry-leading staff in serving clients across many diverse industries and markets.
GZA President and CEO Patrick Sheehan says: “When I was starting out at GZA as a junior engineer 28 years ago, the Technical Conference was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn from and network with our company’s most accomplished leaders and innovators and gain insights into all kinds of engineering disciplines and challenges. I’m thrilled to see today’s newest GZA colleagues and our rising leaders getting the same chance I did then. It is also a very enjoyable chance to get to know and reconnect with GZA colleagues from all over the country.”
The Technical Conference has been known since 2018 as the Walter E. Jaworski Technical Conference, in honor of the 50-year GZA employee, a highly accomplished geotechnical engineer who passed away in 2016. In addition to working on major projects, including the MBTA Southwest Corridor and Central Artery-Tunnel project, Walter taught for 25 years as a Professor of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University and received the Boston Society of Civil Engineering Section’s highest award for lifetime achievement in 2014.
According to GZA Chief Operating Officer John Murphy, “GZA’s commitment to excellence and solving clients’ most demanding challenges, which Walter and so many other engineers here have epitomized, has been at the very heart of our identity as a firm since we were founded in 1964. The Technical Conference is one of the most important ways we impart our professional values, knowledge, and culture to everyone throughout our company, year after year.’’