Two Georgia Tech College of Engineering alumni have been awarded 2011 Engineering Excellence Awards as Engineers of the Year in their respective fields of specialization.

Todd Long, Engineer of the Year for Government, earned his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech.  Long earned the certification of Professional Engineer in 1994 and his certification as a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer in 2002.  He began his career with the Georgia Department of Transportation in its extensive training program in 1990.  He then served in the Office of Planning at the DOT Headquarters in Atlanta.  In 1996, Long moved to Gainesville as the District One Traffic Engineer.  He later served as District Preconstruction Engineer, Assistant District Engineer and then District Engineer.  In 2005, Long returned to DOT headquarters and served as Director of Administration and Director of Preconstruction where he oversaw the delivery of the Department’s multi-billion dollar construction work program.  In August of 2008, he became the Director of Business Operations for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.  In this position, he directed all of the engineering and information technology activities for the organization

Melissa Wheeler, Engineer of the Year for Industry, is a Civil Engineer with over 15 years of experience in the electric utility industry.  While still a student at Georgia Tech, Wheeler joined Southern Company where she has held several positions in the areas of Environmental Affairs, Transmission, and Distribution.  Most recently, Wheeler joined the Metro North Distribution Engineering Team where she manages multiple projects for residential, commercial, and industrial customers, as well as helping keep the lights on.  Previously, Wheeler was a senior member of Project Controls where she was responsible for budgeting and scheduling all Transmission Capital projects for South Georgia and Coastal Regions.  Her efforts afforded her a Southern Excellence award for strong work ethic and dedication to her project teams.  Wheeler is very active in ASCE locally and nationally, currently serving as Region 5 Governor.