Bowman Consulting announced today Ted Cassera, P.E.was last November’s New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Edward F.Weston Medal for Professional Achievement recipient at the annual fundraising gala, “Celebration 2016”.
The medal, named after a nearly 40-year member of the Board of Trustees, is given “in recognition of alumnus with outstanding personal, professional and civic accomplishments, and exceptional financial and volunteer support of the university through individual gifts and/or leveraging corporate/foundation contributions.” It was one of five honors given out at the black tie event, held at the Pleasantdale Chateau on November 11, 2016 bolstering attendance of typically about 300.
Cassera’s first introduction to surveying and its related field, civil engineering, occurred in high school when his father volunteered him for a job for a local surveyor. While attending NJIT, he went on to become a survey chief and recruit many of his Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers to work on his survey crew. This experience led him and a fraternity brother, Steve DePalma, to switch from mechanical to civil engineering at the Newark College of Engineering (NCE) in their sophomore year.Cassera would go on to serve as the Senior Executive Vice President of Schoor DePalma, for which his old fraternity brother was CEO.His retirement in 2008 did not last long, going on to be hired by Bowman Consulting, as the former Omland Engineering, in 2010.
Cassera has continued to give back to his alma mater.He serves on the Civil and Environmental Department Advisory Board, which he chaired from 2004 until his 2014 appointment to the NCE Board of Visitors.Still involved with Pi Kappa Phi, for which he was president as an undergraduate, he recently served as the chairman of the funding campaign to raise $1 million for a new fraternity house within the on-campus Greek Village established in 2013. Cassera managed the Site Design and Permitting through the Bowman Consulting’s Cedar Knolls office.
In 2006, the Cassera family established a scholarship fund to be given to one individual annually. The current amount of the scholarship is $5,000. In order to qualify, candidates for scholarship must be Civil and Environmental Engineering students interested in a career in Site Design.
Caring about students’ career prospect after college, Cassera helped initiate a Career seminar program to introduce first-year Civil and Environmental Engineering students to the range of specialties and opportunities available. He also advocates for the importance of licensure, which prompted a program to encourage students to take steps toward certification before graduation.
Ted is currently a licensed Professional Engineer and Professional Planner in the state of New Jersey.He is a retired licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and New York. He is currently a member of the American Water Works Association and a volunteer Engineer for the Fairfield Passaic River Flood Study Committee.Former memberships include the National and New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers and the New Jersey Board of Professional Engineers and Licensed Land Surveyors.
The NJIT Edward F. Weston Medal for Professional Achievement complements his other NJIT recognitions: the NJIT Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in 2005 and the NCE Salute to Engineering Excellence Award in 2015.