Meeting Minutes of the



Engineer Professional Advisory Committee (EPAC)

General Meeting

I. Meeting Information

|Date: December 13, 2018 |

|Time: 3:00 pm to 4:30 PM |

|Location: IHS Headquarters, Rockville, MD |

| |

|Zoom Meeting Link: |

II. Attendees

LCDR Julia Kane

CDR Deborah Hirst

LCDR Theresa Grant

LCDR Matthew Hunt

CDR Leo Gumapas

CDR Sam Russell

Timothy Martin (LCDR Diana Wong – Alternate)

CAPT David Harvey

LT Derrick Buck

CDR John Kathol

LCDR Abbas Bandukwala

CDR Bradley Cunningham

LCDR Matthew Palo

CDR Joshua Simms

LT Michael Simpson (CDR Samantha Spindel – Alternate)

LCDR Jitendra Virani

III. Minutes

1. Welcome & Introductions – CAPT Harvey

• Needs accomplishments among Executive Committee and Subcommittee Chairs for letters of appreciations by 12/21

• Acknowledged notable accomplishments in 2018 for EPAC Subcommittees and Executive Committee

• Inform CAPT Harvey (david.harvey@) through email if you require letter sooner for promotion.

• Discussed the importance of getting a feedback mechanism on EPAC work products to ensure the value of work EPAC is producing for USPHS Engineers

2. Chief Professional Officer Remarks – RADM Dieser

• Commended CAPT Harvey and CDR Russell for the behind the scenes work they both accomplished for EPAC

• Commissioned Corps is being restructured

o Deputy Surgeon General promoted to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health

o There is a Director of Commissioned Corps advertisement

o Call to Active Duties will be clinically driven

• New EPAC member introductions

3. Career Development

• Developed a list of policy issuance summary

o Document is not intended to replace any policy or understanding

o Document was provided to EPAC on 12/13/2018 from CDR Cunningham through email

o Voting member review is due by 12/31/2018

o CAPT Harvey has no issues with document

o Impetus for quick turn around is to provide the document to USPHS Engineers as soon as possible so that they can review the document and get apprised of USPHS policies

o Vote on document will be performed by email

o If there is no vote from email, then it is assumed that the vote is that there are no comments and that you are okay with the document

• Developing a survey for gathering USPHS Engineer attributes to identify credentials, experiences, and participation on mentoring to help facilitate mentoring activity

o LCDR Eddie Hall developed the survey

o Survey will need to be voted on

o If data is accidentally entered, then use an effective date of when survey data is considered to avoid analyzing accidentally entered in survey data that is potentially inaccurate.

4. Information

• Developed anonymous Q&A website to capture questions and/or concerns PHS engineers may be hesitant to ask. (Answering questions posed to this website could become part of regular EPAC meeting agenda.) (Lead: Kohler)

• Added a contact us option for requests to update the website.

• Developed a picture presentation and storage website in conjunction with DC COA.

• Reviewed all attachments on the website for PII and republished them all.

• Further developed the All Partners Access Network for use in data backup or sharing for the EPAC.

• Develop, publish, and distribute EPAC Newsletter (Leads: Petersen)

• Update and maintain EPAC Website, (Leads: Kohler, Munikoti)

• Respond to requests sent to “Contact Us” website form                

• Monitor and update website to ensure content is accurate, current and relevant to a public audience (Leads: All Subcommittee Chairs, Kohler, Munikoti)

• Facilitate the exchange of newsletter articles and information across categories and in coordination with the PAC Chairs Group.  (Leads: Vaught)

• Research trends, technologies, resources and guidelines associated with the use of social media in governmental and professional settings. Advise the category on the use of social media as appropriate (Leads: Natour, Grant)

• Pictures are hosted on the following website:

• For Reference, Information Subcommittee Initiatives from EPAC Strategic Plan:

o Review the Engineer Web-Site to ensure information is relevant to the audience / Information

o Develop and evaluate methods to facilitate information exchange to Engineer Category members / Information

o Maintain EPAC website until no longer necessary to ensure all Engineers have access to posted information / Information

o Development/Dissemination of Newsletter/ Information

o Need to develop a workflow document for how website is updated

5. Public Health Engineering Practice

• Sustainable Pipe Materials Workgroup published an article in the July-August 2018 edition of The Military Engineer entitled, “Selecting Sustainable Pipe Materials,” which presented the results of having reviewed years of life cycle analyses from around the world on the global warming potential of different pipe materials used in installations of buried water and wastewater pressure piping systems. There were a number of unexpected conclusions. The most pertinent was that a best practice that has been in use for years, of minimizing operational costs in water and wastewater systems by minimizing energy use, is the same best practice that the workgroup concluded will have the greatest impact in reducing global warming potential. This is because the energy required to convey water and wastewater through piping systems over the life of the pipe material, particularly for systems in use for a couple decades or more, is responsible for approximately the same amount of global warming gases as that involved in all the other phases of the pipe’s lifecycle combined. By upsizing pipe by approximately one size, the reduction in energy required for the use phase will provide the greatest impact in minimizing global warming potential associated with the pipe materials for these types of projects. For CY 2019 the workgroup will submit an article on this to the Machinatores Vitae newsletter.

• Engineering Standards Workgroup investigated the costs, user friendliness, and access features, of three companies offering online subscription services to a variety of engineering standards. The group viewed demonstrations by PHS engineers using two of these services and heard firsthand their critiques. The workgroup created a list of standards commonly referenced by engineers in a variety of PHS agencies and provided the list to Techstreet, MADCAD, and IHS Global along with a description of the number of engineers and the number of locations and asked them for prices for two different scenarios so we could compare the three companies. One scenario was for a single subscription for all the engineers in the agency. The other scenario was for all the engineers in a regional office and its satellite offices. In addition, the group asked for prices for single user versus multiple simultaneous users. We are 95% done with our research and have begun the analysis. Comparing them has turned out to be more challenging than we expected because several key criteria for the comparison vary between the three companies due to differences in how each service is structured and which standards they do and do not offer. The group plans to submit a complete report with recommendations after the start of the new calendar year.

• Healthy Communities Workgroup In keeping with the SG’s priorities on Health & the Economy and Health & National Security, the workgroup brainstormed ways to engage engineers in healthy communities activities like impacting the built environment to provide improved access to physical fitness opportunities and create features that increase mental health; conferred with the Information Subcommittee on the possibility of adding a webpage to the EPAC website for sharing links to resources on healthy communities concepts and encouraging a competitive spirit to spur engineers to include these concepts in their work or their communities. For CY19 the group will focus on more actionable goals.

• Resource Sharing Workgroup ensured the new PHEP webpage on the EPAC website was fully functional with active links, up-to-date information about subcommittee workgroups, and links to articles by engineers in various publications. The workgroup developed a draft list of core competencies of engineers assigned to different agencies. As engineers could be considered a "resource" the intent is to develop a baseline that can be used to communicate with others what skill sets are available in the body of engineering practice within PHS. In CY19 the group will put out a request for published articles that engineers would like linked on the PHEP webpage and decide on the means of sharing the core competencies information.

• Lead in Drinking Water Discussion Group was started at the suggestion of the Engineer CPO to have PHEP look at possibly creating a best practices type of document, which was undoubtedly spurred by increasing news of the widespread nature of the problem in communities across the country. The discussion group’s goal is to better understand the complexities of the issues involved and to consider what kind of guidance might be appropriate for engineers to consult in their daily jobs or possibly deploying to this type of response. Discussion is ongoing for now but in CY19 the subcommittee will consider forming a workgroup and identify goals.

6. Recruitment

• Continuing to submit vacancy list and hiring managers are continuing to reach out to cohort of applicants

• Best Kept Secrets document is going through updates

7. Readiness

o Combined engineer factsheet and summary sheet into a single document.

o Draft combined document circulated to subcommittee and Chair for comments.

• Engineer Readiness and Deployment Outreach – Led by LCDR Shane Deckert

o Engineer training curriculum in testing phase.

o Select RDS members are taking the trainings for feedback.

• ODU Shortage Investigation

o White paper submitted to EPAC chair and CPO for distribution.

• Events Committee is working with CDR Janis McCarroll to develop FEMA training for Engineering Category Day

8. Events

• Highest attendance in Dallas COA at 74 attendees

• Category Day 2019

o Abstract submission deadline was 10/26/18

o Received 13 abstracts

o Goal of 5-6 presentations

o Selecting Alternate Presentations

o Team Leads are LCDR Rolando Frank and LCDR Fred Kelly

o LCDR Matthew Palo is Chair on Deck

• E-Week Awards Ceremony 2019

o Lead by LCDR KC Praveen and will be hosted at EPA

o Venue will be reserved over the next week

o Promotion and logistic will be more clearly defined after venue reservation

• SAME JETC 2019

o Led by LT Jessica Sharpe (jessica_sharpe@)

o If you have ideas for presentations, then reach out to her on Events Subcommittee.

o It is still early, but now is the time to start thinking about what you would like to share with the greater military engineering community. We will be reaching out to the pool of presenters who submitted for Cat Day as potential presenters for JETC.

9. COA

• COA will provide CDR Leo Gumapas feedback on number of article submissions and when they were submitted so EPAC is more aware of how many articles have been submitted for COA Frontline

• There are only two articles submitted since 4/12/2018 when task has been generated

• COA Frontline article guidelines:

10. JOAG

• JOAG is soliciting volunteers! JOAG provides opportunities for all junior officers including networking, volunteer opportunities, skillset enhancement, and leadership development. The theme for this operational year is- “Increasing Reach, Greater Connection, a Stronger Voice”! Attached, you will find a list of committees that are looking for volunteers. If you would like to volunteer for a position, please reach out to the point of contact directly.

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11. SAME

• SAME JETC 2019

o Led by LT Jessica Sharpe (jessica_sharpe@)

o If you have ideas for presentations, then reach out to her on Events Subcommittee.

• Local Post events can be found on the following site

12. DCCOA Broadcasting Subcommittee

• The new DC COA Broadcasting Subcommittee is looking for volunteers.

• The Team will provide filming and broadcasting services for Officers in the DC Metropolitan area.

• Every year, there are dozens of special events such as Music Ensemble performances, Keynote speeches, Promotion Ceremonies, Retirement Ceremonies, and Officer Basic Courses (OBC).

• These are momentous occasions that deserve to be shared with the Public, which raises awareness for the USPHS and provides a viewing platform for all to witness these special events.

• You need not have any experience to volunteer.

• Initially, you will be trained on the basic operation and care for the equipment.

• As you learn and demonstrate aptitude, you will be certified and graduate up to Operator, Equipment Custodian, and Program Director.

• As you advance through the various positions, you’ll master skills in resource management, logistics planning, and problem-solving which are practical skills for deployments.

• Investing time into the new Broadcasting team is investing time into your career.

• Reach out to CDR Yang at andrew.yang3@ if interested

• Announcement has to be shortened

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