Phil grew up in northwest Iowa and has a B.Sc. in industrial engineering from Iowa State University and an M.Sc. in geophysical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He served as a commissioned officer in the NOAA Corps from 1986-90 assigned to the National Ocean Service performing geodetic, geophysical, and bathymetric surveys. From 1990-2002 he performed engineering geophysics, civil and geotechnical engineering, and construction management work, the culmination of which led him down a unique career path into a new subdiscipline called “Project Utility Engineering” (PUE). The PUE’s role in civil engineering is analogous to what a radiologist does for a surgeon; effectively, the PUE enables “laparoscopic civil engineering” by using advanced geophysical methods to scan, investigate, and map out buried knowns and unknowns that allow the engineer to strategically design with precision in a manner that mitigates project risk, utility infrastructure disruption, and expedites construction.
Phil co-founded Utility Mapping Services, PC (UMS) in 2002 to professionally investigate utilities using shallow high resolution geophysical methods and perform engineering to: 1) integrate utilities within project design, 2) reduce project risk, 3) optimize project delivery, and 4) treat utility providers in an ethical, proactive manner. Phil’s a governor for ASCE’s Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute and chairs the ASCE 75 Standard Guideline for Recording and Exchanging Utility Infrastructure Data. He’s a committee member of ASCE 38 Standard Guideline for Investigating and Documenting Existing Utilities and he’s also on the Board of Directors for ASCE’s Civil Engineering Certification program and actively working on a new certification for Project Utility Engineering.
In his spare time he enjoys travel with his wife, interacting with their 4 children and their spouses and 11 grandchildren, and restoring pre-war automobiles.
