Burns & McDonnell’s Ty McGown Earns Engineer of the Year Award in Wichita

WICHITA, Kan.- Ty McGown, a Burns & McDonnell engineer who led implementation of an advanced water-treatment process that is allowing Wichita to recharge a critical water supply aquifer and who is helping define new water supply facilities for the City, is being honored as Engineer of the Year by the Wichita Society of Professional Engineers.

McGown, a project manager and associate in the firm’s Wichita office, recently received the honor recognizing his engineering achievements, his work through professional organizations, and his overall civic involvement. 

For five years McGown served as lead process engineer and provided construction oversight, startup and operational assistance for development of the City’s Surface Water Treatment Plant, which diverts water from the Little Arkansas River back into the Equus Beds Aquifer during high-flow events. He led design of the plant’s advanced oxidation process that disinfects and removes atrazine from the diverted water, a system six times larger than in any other facility in the world. The project has been honored by the American Council of Engineering Companies, the Design-Build Institute of America, Associated General Contractors, and as a finalist for Global Water Project of the Year during the 2015 Global Water Summit.

“The 2018 Engineer of the Year Award is a fitting recognition of McGown’s technical excellence and unyielding commitment,” says Brian Meier, a leader on municipal water projects for Burns & McDonnell.

“Ty is the very definition of ’empathy’ when it comes to partnering with clients: He understands what they’re going through, what they need and what it will take to solve their challenges,” Meier says. “And he delivers.”

McGown has extensive experience working on water projects for the city of Wichita. He serves as project manager for development of the city’s Water Master Plan, and leads the team designing upgrades to the chemical feed system at the Main Water Treatment Plant. He also is leading Burns & McDonnell’s work on developing preliminary designs for a new Northwest Water Treatment Facility, which would replace an existing 80-year-old plant and serve the City of Wichita for generations to come.

McGown is president of the Kansas chapter of the Design-Build Institute of America. He also has held leadership positions with the Kansas City chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and with the Missouri Water Environment Association.

About Burns & McDonnell

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary in Wichita, Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune’s 2018 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com.