(Image courtesy of National Society of Professional Engineers)
The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) named Major Brigham Moore, Ph.D., P.E., PMP, a deputy squadron commander serving in the United States Air Force, Pacific Air Force, as the recipient of the prestigious Federal Engineer of the Year Award for 2025. Now in its 46th year, this award is the only one of its kind to solely recognize outstanding engineers employed in the federal government.
During his 15-year career, Major Moore has served in various key positions, including as a civil engineer, chief of programs, chief of operations engineering, and now as deputy commander of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron. Moore has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Utah State University (2010) and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Alaska - Anchorage (2014). He earned a Ph.D. in systems engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology (2021).
As a civil engineer, Moore supervised, led, and instructed a team of project managers for a multimillion-dollar U.S. Department of Defense contract. As chief of programs, he served as lead engineer for an airfield and repair agreement between the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Honduras.
Currently, Moore leads a diverse team of military, U.S. and Korean civilians, and contract engineers to maintain and manage two runways, over 1,000 facilities, 284 linear miles of utilities, $1.2 billion worth of design and construction, and manage 2,400 housing units with a combined worth $7.4 billion.
One of Moore’s recent engineering achievements involves the oversight of a $42 million military construction project that sought to alleviate carcinogenic exposure to industrial chemicals and provide corrosion control for $1.5 billion in aircraft assets in 2024. Previously, the project had been labeled a failure and was on the verge of cancellation when Moore took control and quickly developed an innovative design solution that saved the effort by pairing experts in the commercial sector to put the facility back on-track to deliver a commander priority capability.
Moore guided a small tiger team to develop a Game Theory-based tangible tool to increase military readiness amid increasing tensions in the Pacific Theater. This effort alone has educated 105 engineer leaders and exposed the team to 420 staff-hours of critical thinking to help develop leaders to deter and respond to aggression in the era of Global Power Competition.
Moore has engaged in research efforts to explore ways to optimize rapid explosive hazard mitigation in the event of airfield recovery after an attack. This research generated recommended modifications to detailed military standard operating procedures to protect the life of 970 U.S. explosive ordnance disposal airmen and improve efficiencies. It also generated a novel heuristic to shrink decision time to less than 30 seconds for optimal route clearing, paving the way for rapid recovery of defense airfield operations.
Moore is also devoted to community service. He has volunteered in a program to support families experiencing malnutrition in the local community. To foster the next generation of engineers, he has regularly participated in a summer K-12 STEM program to support students facing challenges in math education.
Article and photo reprinted with permission from the National Society of Professional Engineers.
