Brent Aakre, Ted Rud, Adam Ruud, Aaron Schmidt, and Bret Zimmerman—civil engineers with Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI)—all recently earned their professional engineering registrations after successfully completing the eight-hour Principles and Practices of Engineering exam. Brent, Ted, Adam and Aaron earned their registrations for the State of North Dakota, and Bret earned his for the State of Minnesota. The exam measures a candidate’s academic and practical knowledge of technical engineering. Candidates become eligible to take the exam after meeting statutory requirements that include a minimum of four years of acceptable work experience.
Brent has served out of HEI’s Fargo office since 2010. Brent completes analysis and design for a variety of water resource related projects and has contributed to more than 10 flood mitigation projects in Moorhead, MN, alone that help shield the City from the Red River.
Ted, who has served out of HEI’s Fargo office since 2011, assists water boards, counties, and others as a hydraulics modeler, design engineer, and construction project representative. He notably helped model approximately 559,000 acre-feet of storage in the Red River Basin upstream of Halstad, MN, in an effort to help achieve lower flow rates.
Adam, a civil engineer working out of HEI’s Fargo office since 2011, focuses on providing transportation solutions to HEI’s clients. Adam’s design experience ranges from reconstructions of portions of I-29 and I-94 to widening 25th Street South in Fargo and other urban roadways.
Aaron has served out of HEI’s Bismarck office since 2010. He brings a diversified skillset to a wide array of municipal civil projects, often working closely with a range of service sectors to complete roadway and transportation, site development, and municipal designs as well as establish survey requirements to complete AutoCAD designs.
Bret started as a civil engineer working in HEI’s Fargo office and transferred to our Maple Grove, MN, office in early 2015. Bret’s experience with water resources spans across North Dakota and Minnesota, from flood protection in Minot, ND, to hydraulic studies for Minnesota watershed districts. This allows him to draw on a wide-ranging expertise when seeking solutions for water resources clients.
Incidentally, while some have left the Fargo-Moorhead community to serve clients elsewhere, all five engineers earned a B.S. in civil engineering from North Dakota State University.