The National Society of Professional Engineers announced the top 10 finalists for the 2023 Federal Engineer of the Year Award including two AFIT alumni from the Graduate School of Engineering and Management’s engineering management master’s program!

The Federal Engineer of the Year Award, sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Government, honors engineers employed by a federal agency that employs at least 50 engineers worldwide.
 

Dustin L. Gooden, P.E.
M.S. Engineering Management, 2017
U.S. Department of the Air Force
U.S. Air Force Headquarters, Pentagon
Washington, D.C.

Air Force Engineer Strategically Improves Basing Policy, Guidance

Gooden, who serves as chief of the Air Force’s Basing Corporate Branch, provides military-level strategic basing policy and guidance in support of nearly 160 installations and a $16 billion portfolio. His wide-range analyses of Air Force basing requests further enables defense weapon system beddown and unit-level movement directives. Gooden formerly held operations flight commander and squadron section commander posts at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. While at Altus, he directed a diverse team of military and civilian engineers to facilitate operations, maintenance, and repair of $2 billion in infrastructure — a benchmark achievement that received back-to-back annual accolades from command leadership.

Prior to his service at Altus, Gooden led a team of skilled personnel at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois to develop a new civil engineer work management execution process and scheduling tool. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center immediately recognized the benefits of this new process and coined it a “best practice.” Gooden then worked to publish the new process and tool as an Air Force-wide standard operating procedure, a notable accomplishment that has been recognized by the Air Force Institute of Technology and disseminated nationwide.
 

 
Capt. Jeneé Jagoda, P.E.
M.S. Engineering Management, 2020, DG
U.S. Department of the Air Force
Air Force Global Strike Command
Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota
 

Air Force Officer Takes Engineering Lead in Operations, Logistics

Currently serving as engineering flight commander at Ellsworth AFB, Jagoda oversees 35 personnel and an $80 million budget supporting the current B-1B Lancer mission and the future B-21 Raider beddown. To her credit, last year her flight team received accolades for their engineering excellence as a global strike force. In 2021, she deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where she played an integral role in evacuating at-risk Afghan civilians through Operation Allies Refuge. In that capacity, she served as the engineering lead at the Emergency Operations Center, prioritizing work orders and key services to the 14 beddown sites established for the operation. As the base population more than tripled from 8,000 to 27,000 people, Jagoda was instrumental in sustaining facilities and quality of life for the base.

Through her earlier master’s degree study at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Jagoda pioneered research on 3D-printed construction in an expeditionary environment. Her thesis has garnered more than 3,500 downloads and has been used by the U.S. Air National Guard and civilian institutions worldwide to shape the continued research, development, and use of 3D printing.