GALVESTON, Texas (Feb. 27, 2015) – Fascinated by construction at an early age, Vicksburg, Mississippi, native Dawn Ramsey knew a career in math and science would be an obvious fit. Little did Ramsey know her love for numbers and hypotheses would lead her to a career serving the nation as part of the world’s largest public engineering, design and construction management agency.
As a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ramsey has traveled the globe from her native Mississippi to the Republic of Korea, serving as a project engineer with the Corps’ Far East District. Her most recent position as an office engineer in Texas with the Galveston District affords her the opportunity to apply her expertise to the organization’s civil works mission.
“Managing construction projects is a detail-oriented task with a lot of moving parts,” said Ramsey. “My work assists project engineers with the management of their projects and helps them achieve satisfactory results. Each project completed on time and within budget is a win for the district, Army and nation.”
While Ramsey’s nearly four years of experience with the Corps comes from the horizontal and vertical construction arenas, she has quickly adapted to the Galveston District’s navigation mission and applied her expertise in engineering to help maintain more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 250 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft.
“I’ve enjoyed learning a different aspect of construction and look forward to increasing my knowledge and skill set in this area of civil engineering,” said Ramsey. “The most interesting thing I’ve encountered in my year at the district was riding on a dredge boat and learning how our work helps play a key role in America’s well-being by keeping waterways open for navigation and commerce.”
She credits coworkers Michael Bledsoe and Billy Barham, quality assurance representatives with the Galveston District, for showing her the ropes.
“My coworkers have fun personalities and are also very knowledgable,” said Ramsey. “If I have any questions about dredging, I ask them.”
As part of her position in the Galveston District, Ramsey can be seen managing a full spectrum of contract administration operations for her office including project budgeting and monitoring, modification processes, project closeouts and turnover and contractor evaluations.
“My most memorable moment with the Corps was my first groundbreaking ceremony,” said Ramsey. “It was for an elementary school project I was managing in Korea. The ceremony helped me understand how important our work is for the communities we serve.”
Her work in the Galveston District includes both new construction and operation and maintenance projects, which provide a tremendous value to multiple communities along the vast Texas coast.
“I enjoy processing contract modifications, a method that allows additional work to be added to an existing contract,” said Ramsey. “ They are not always easy to process; however, I enjoy the challenge of figuring it out. My goal is to perfect the process so there isn’t a modification that I can’t figure out.”
Ramsey was awarded an Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service in 2014 and is currently working to achieve her Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act certification, which recognizes Department of Defense employees in the acquisition workforce for having achieved professional status.
While Ramsey noted she’s still fairly new to the Galveston District, she loves it and hopes to be a part of Team Galveston for a very long time.
Ramsey earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University in May 2004 and a master’s degree in Project Management from Devry University in February 2011.
In her spare time, Ramsey enjoys spending time with her family, working out, swimming, reading and performance art. She is married to husband, Cary, has two stepchildren, Landen and Lillian, and one daughter, Leila.
For more news and information, visit www.swg.usace.army.mil. Find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/GalvestonDistrict or follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/USACEgalveston.