Tour of American Spiral Weld Pipe Plant in Paris, Texas

Last week, David A. Vilbig, PE, RPLS and Barbara J. Vilbig, PE toured the American Spiral Weld Pipe plant in Paris, Texas with the Northeast Texas Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. Below is a gallery of pictures from the tour.

Video of steel pipe moving at the American Spiral Weld Pipe Plant in Paris, Texas

About TSPE

The Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is a state society of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

The Texas Society of Professional Engineers, one of the largest state societies in the United States, was founded in 1936 to serve the interests of the individual engineer in Texas across all branches of engineering. Composed of 24 local chapters and eight student chapters, TSPE is the only active, established organization devoting its entire effort to the professional, ethical, economic, social and political aspects of engineering in Texas.

Our mission is to promote and enhance the profession and licensed practice of engineering.

About Northeast Texas Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers

The Northeast Texas – Texas Society of Professional Engineers is a local chapter of the state society, see more below. The NE Texas TSPE Chapter meets monthly in various locations the the Grayson County area. The meetings are typically held on the second Thursday of the month. For more information and to be added to the chapter’s e-mail list, please send and e-mail to  NE.TEXAS.TSPE@gmail.com.

About AMERICAN PLANT

American Spiral Weld Pipe is a division of American Cast Iron Pipe Co. In addition to American Ductile Iron Pipe, American Darling and Waterous Valves and Fire Hydrants, they manufacture steel pipe per AWWA C200. The location in Paris, Texas, expanded operations in May of 2021, opening a steel pipe plant.

Jennifer Vilbig Lawson, PE Named 2021 Young Engineer of the Year by SAME Dallas Post

Jennifer Vilbig Lawson, PE, has been named the 2021 Young Engineer of the Year by Society of Military Engineers (SAME) – Dallas Post. The award recognizes younger members of the profession who have made outstanding contributions to the society and profession.

Ms. Lawson received her Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. She began her career in Dallas working for an international design firm on oil and gas and federal projects. She joined Vilbig & Associates in 2013 and progressed from a design engineer to her current role as a project manager.

“I am honored to be recognized as the 2021 Young Engineer of the Year for the Society of American Military Engineers, Dallas Post. I am very passionate about giving back to my community and advocating both for my country and profession.” Said Ms. Lawson.

Ms. Lawson currently serves as the SAME Dallas Post secretary. In addition, Ms. Lawson is the past president of the Dallas Section of the Society of Women Engineers, is a member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) and serves on the state committee for young engineers for TSPE.

“Jennifer is an accomplished project engineer with a wealth of experience ideally suited to help grow and develop young engineers and architects. In a very short time, Jennifer has made a lasting and positive impact on the post’s K-12 STEM program. She has also strengthened our relationship with local university engineering programs, she is a true inspiration to young people interested in STEM careers.” stated SAME Post President/Member of the Year Noelle Ibrahim

Learn more about Ms. Lawson’s journey to become an engineer, SAME and Vilbig & Associates in the video.

Ms. Lawson enjoys leisure time with her husband Paul and long runs with her favorite running companion, Sadie, a Jack Russell terrier.

Ms. Lawson was honored at the annual TSPE Engineers Week annual awards luncheon in February. A gallery of pictures from the event is below.

About SAME

Founded in 1920, the Society of American Military Engineers builds leaders and leads collaboration among government and industry to develop multi-disciplined solutions to national security infrastructure challenges. With a National Office in Alexandria, Va., and more than 100 Posts and Field Chapters around the world, the Society unites public and private sector individuals and organizations from across the architecture, engineering, construction, environmental and facility management, cyber security, and contracting and acquisition disciplines. Through a vision to serve our nation as the foremost integrator for leadership development and technical collaboration within the A/E/C profession, SAME is committed to strengthening industry-government engagement and developing and sustaining the human capital needed to maintain America’s engineering capabilities throughout the 21st century.

About SAME Dallas Post

The Dallas Post of SAME builds upon the national organization to strengthen collaboration locally between government and industry. The Posts hosts monthly professional development and networking lunches, holds several annual summits and forums, awards scholarships and supports K-12 STEM outreach.

About Vilbig & Associates, PLLC

Founded in 1983, Vilbig and Associates, PLLC (VA) is a professional services firm specializing in the design and delivery of consulting civil engineering, land planning, construction management and surveying services. We serve our clients in the north Texas area and surrounding states for both the public and private sectors. We are a certified Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) providing services for NAICS 541330, Engineering Services and 541370, Surveying & Mapping. Our Cage Code is 8KH40 and Duns is 117494418. Our office is located in Denison, Grayson County, Texas; we are well-positioned to provide services to the Dallas-Fort Worth mextroplex and south central states with several team members based in Collin County.

We are continuing the Vilbig tradition of building our communities while serving our clients, profession and country since 1886.

Jennifer Vilbig Lawson Graduates from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses – Dallas

December 15, 2021

Jennifer Vilbig Lawson, PE recently graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses – Dallas. In addition to earning a certificate in entrepreneurship, she gained invaluable resources from instructors, business advisor and other small business owners while developing a 5-year growth plan for our small business.

For over a decade, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses has helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow their businesses and create jobs in their communities. The program was developed by Babson College and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses has partnered with the Dallas College to reach small businesses in North Texas.

“The program gave us insights into our current operations and we developed a road map for how to position ourselves for growth as we transition ownership.” -Jennifer Vilbig Lawson.

Watch out, 2022, we’re coming for you!

About Vilbig & Associates, PLLC:

Founded in 1983, Vilbig and Associates, PLLC (VA) is a professional services firm specializing in the design and delivery of consulting civil engineering, land planning, construction management and surveying services. We serve our clients in the north Texas area and surrounding states for both the public and private sectors. We are a certified Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) providing services for NAICS 541330, Engineering Services and 541370, Surveying & Mapping. Our Cage Code is 8KH40 and Duns is 117494418. Our office is located in Denison, Grayson County, Texas; we are well-positioned to provide services to the Dallas-Fort Worth mextroplex and south central states with several team members based in Collin County.

We are continuing the Vilbig tradition of building our communities while serving our clients, profession and country since 1886.

About Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital and business support services. To date, 10,000 Small Businesses has served over 10,000 small businesses from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and Washington, D.C, and has resulted in immediate and sustained business growth for graduates of the program.

Jennifer Vilbig Lawson, PE invited to speak at a joint SWE/ACET meeting at UNT

On Monday, November 22nd, Jennifer Vilbig Lawson, PE spoke to about 20 engineering students at the University of North Texas. The UNT Society of Women Engineers invited her to speak about leadership and team building for the joint meeting with the UNT Association of Construction Engineering Technology.

Special thanks goes to the Dallas Post of the Society of American Military Engineers for sponsoring the food for the meeting.

We also raffled off several goodies including one $25 Starbucks gift card!

Additionally, we announced to the students that we are looking to hire a graduate and interns for next summer. Interested applicants can find more information on the employment section of our website.

We are HIRING!

Calling all 2022 Graduates and current engineering students looking for a summer of 2022 internship!

VA hosts the Northeast Texas Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers Holiday Party & Annual Dessert Competition

On Thursday, December 9th 2021, Vilbig & Associates hosted the Northeast Texas Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, TSPE, annual holiday party and dessert competition.

We enjoyed a fajita buffet catered by Denison’s own Rustico’s, an ethics discussion and the always popular dessert competition. The competition field was smaller than in years past with only six entrants, but the competition was TOUGH. The first round of votes resulted in a four way tie for first place! Eliminating the runners up, the second round of voting yielded a winner, Tom Pruitt, PE with his almond joy cake!

The ethics discussion was very thought provoking and provided all engineers in attendance the required 1 hour of ethics continuing education credit. We discussed several recent cases from the National Society of Professional Engineers Board of Ethical Review.

Congratulations to Tom Pruitt, PE with the City of Sherman for winning the dessert competition!
The ethics discussion included a bit of Dilbert humor.

Salute to America’s Veterans – Rotary Club of Dallas – David A. Vilbig, PE, RPLS Volunteers

The 17th Annual Salute to America’s Veterans event was held November 10th – 11:30am – 1:15pm at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas with Ross Perot Jr as the Keynote Speaker.

David A. Vilbig, PE, RPLS volunteered with the Rotary Club of Dallas to coordinate the event. Below are some pictures of him volunteering during setup and as a greeter at the door for all the veterans and attendees.

David A. Vilbig, PE, RPLS has been a member and volunteer of the Rotary Club of Dallas for more than 35 years.

About The Rotary Club of Dallas

The Rotary Club of Dallas was founded on April 20, 1911. With more than 250 members quickly joining, it became the first Rotary club in Texas and the 39th club in Rotary International. During the next 100 years, many of the city’s civic and business leaders joined the club, meeting weekly for lunch and making a commitment to serve others.  Names of Rotary Club of Dallas members such as Stemmons, Miller and Thornton can be found throughout the city on the commercial buildings, hospitals, roads, bridges and schools that attest to their roles in making Dallas the great city it is today. Beyond the weekly meetings, these Rotarians did a world of good for the city and the world around them. They founded and funded a myriad of projects, programs, scholarships and initiatives, on their own and in concert with other groups and organizations. They also reached out to help launch many new Rotary Clubs locally and internationally spreading Rotary values throughout Texas and the world.

Denison Youth Leadership Academy stops by our Office – Vilbig & Associates

Today, November 11, 2021, we hosted the Denison Youth Leadership Academy at our office!

We began with a tour of, spoke about our work, showed a set of civil engineering plans from a project in Denison and described the education requirements to be an engineer. Finally, we challenged the students to design and construct a tower in 45 minutes.

Each group received $5.00, a tablet of paper for their design schematic and a list of supplies with prices. With 15 minutes left, a surprise challenge was announced! The tower had to withstand a hurricane (fan)!

Discussions during the schematic design phase.
The completed towers!

Thank you, Josh Massey, for asking us to participate in the construction day for the academy. We had fun hosting the students!

David A. Vilbig, PE, RPLS invited to speak on TSPE Roundtable Discussion

On Thursday, November 11th, David. A Vilbig, PE, RPLS, spoke during the roundtable discussion for the Northeast Texas chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. The meeting was well attended and a lively discussion on the challenges faced by engineering consultants and municipalities during the pandemic took place. Other panelists included Jeff Frison of Walter P. Moore, Mike Tibbets of Hayter Engineering and Dr. Steven D. Sanders of Burgess & Niple, Inc.

NE Texas TSPE Roundtable at the Sherman Library.
NE Texas TSPE Roundtable at the Sherman Library.

Barbara J. Vilbig, PE has been a volunteer with TSPE for many years and is the current NE Texas Chapter Secretary.

The NE Texas TSPE Chapter December meeting will be hosted at our office in Denison and is one you don’t want to miss! Vilbig & Associates will be providing fajitas from Rustico’s for all attendees. The meeting will also include the famous TSPE dessert competition and an engineering ethics discussion. We hope you will join us on Thursday, December 9th at 5:30pm.

About NE Texas TSPE

The Northeast Texas – Texas Society of Professional Engineers is a local chapter of the state society, see more below. The NE Texas TSPE Chapter meets monthly in various locations the the Grayson County area. The meetings are typically held on the second Thursday of the month. For more information and to be added to the chapter’s e-mail list, please send and e-mail to  NE.TEXAS.TSPE@gmail.com.

About TSPE

The Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is a state society of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

The Texas Society of Professional Engineers, one of the largest state societies in the United States, was founded in 1936 to serve the interests of the individual engineer in Texas across all branches of engineering. Composed of 24 local chapters and eight student chapters, TSPE is the only active, established organization devoting its entire effort to the professional, ethical, economic, social and political aspects of engineering in Texas.

Our mission is to promote and enhance the profession and licensed practice of engineering.

Denison approves new 66 acre housing development

Sycamore Springs in Denison featured by KXII.

Image from KXII

Denison city council approved a new housing development at Monday night’s meeting.

“A local developer picked up the property recently and approached the city about wanting to develop it for a single-family residential neighborhood,” said Bill Medina, Denison Senior Planner.

North of Morton Street between Ray Drive and Juanita Drive, what used to be an old farm will become a 66 acre housing development.

-KXII

Read more on the KXII website.

New Single Family Development, Travis Heights, on Sherman Planning & Zoning Agenda

The proposed development is called Travis Heights. The 160-acre lot would consist of 400 single family homes. The city is calling it the largest residential expansion Sherman has seen.

“The growth in Sherman doesn’t seem to be slowing anytime soon,” city spokesperson Nate Strauch said. “Moving from building 300, 400, 500 homes a year to moving that into thousands of homes a year.”

KTEN News

Read more and watch the report on the KTEN News website.