Captain Naseem A. Ghandour was selected as a "Top 10" finalist for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award.  The award is sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Government (PEG) an Interest Group of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Nominations are open to all federal agencies (and/or subsidiaries) employing at least 50 engineers worldwide.  Nominees are evaluated by a panel of judges and graded on several criteria including engineer achievements, civic and humanitarian activities, and professional/technical society activities.  The winner was recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington D.C. on 17 Feb.

Captain Ghandour is an Instructor in AFIT's Civil Engineer School within the Department of Engineering Management, and is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer.  He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida.  He is also a member of several professional societies including Society of American Military Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Engineers Without Borders, and Chi Epsilon, The Civil Engineering Honor Society. 

His Air Force career accomplishments were highlighted beginning in 2013 where, while assigned to the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, he was an instrumental part of the civil engineer efforts of the search and recovery of an aircraft Class-A mishap.

While assigned to the 554th RED HORESE Squadron at Andersen AFB, Captain Ghandour led the in-house design team, who were instrumental to the unit's execution of 26 troop construction projects in a three-year period. " This was a massive construction operation, with a lot of players. It put my engineering to the test, with a great team we made it a successful accomplishment" said Capt Ghandour.  These efforts brought Pacific Air Forces' $200 million 2,000-acre Regional Training Center to operational status, enabled the DOD's strategic pivot to the Pacific, and saved $36.3 million in contract construction costs.

Also, while assigned to Andersen AFB, Ghandour developed and led a five-instructor team for the Air Force's first tilt-up construction outreach course, where they taught Royal Thai Air Force and Philippine Air Force engineers how to design and construct typhoon resistant facilities.  Capt Ghandour stated, " As an engineer, there is nothing better than taking the knowledge that you worked hard to build and pass it along to another, especially when it has the potential to save lives."

Ghandour has been involved with a number of civic and humanitarian activities during his military career.  As a Focus Group Leader for the Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society he led six visits of 12 volunteers to a Kyrgyzstan orphanage of 160 children, where they promoted physical fitness, education growth, and dental hygiene. Additionally, he garnered funds for, and led, the school's laundry facility renovation, saving the school $3,000.

As the Officer-in-Charge of the Civic Action Team Palau, he led a 13-person team on a 6-month mission building international relations. Through community involvement, the team focused on promoting fitness & health to adults, orchestrating STEM projects to elementary & high school students, and maintained five World War II memorials.

Recalling his time in Palau, Capt Ghandour said " This mission was an awesome experience! I learned so much about myself, not only as an engineer but as a person. Our mission of community construction projects had a direct impact on the lives of the residents of Palau. We repaired the country's only swimming pool, and all during the construction the kids would peer through the fence. The only thing better than the satisfaction of accomplishing a project is the feeling of seeing the kid's enjoyment of being able to use it."