Five UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science graduates were recently honored as the Engineer of the Year for their respective business units. These individuals were presented with plaques by TVA CEO Jeff Lyash at a luncheon at the Westin Hotel.
The attached photo shows the five UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science graduates that were nominated by their business units to compete for the TVA Engineering of the Year award. (L-to-R, Stephen Craven, Gabe Kurtz, Clay Hoover, Jason Moon, and Matthew Wilson.)
Stephen Craven – BSE 1999, Transmission and Power Supply Engineer of the Year
Stephen Craven is involved in all aspects of cybersecurity for TVA substations and power system communications. As the power industry transitions from legacy communication equipment to modern packet-based solutions, there are some shortfalls. Packet-based equipment cannot easily provide guarantees for essential bandwidth, latency, and circuit restoration. Through his engineering intuitiveness, Craven adapted packet-based systems for efficient messaging between substations, developing an architecture five times faster than the legacy equipment, providing instantaneous communication restoration. His architecture was adopted as TVA’s communication standard.
Clay Hoover – BSME 2010, Financial Services Engineer of the Year
Clay Hoover is an energy engineering professional who specializes in commercial and industrial energy efficiency, Strategic Energy Management, and energy efficiency program design and management. His career experience has included developing innovative energy management programs and energy auditing of commercial and industrial facilities. A primary focus of Hoover’s career has been on helping organizations adopt the continuous improvement methodologies of Strategic Energy Management.
Hoover is currently the president of the Middle Tennessee chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers. He holds a professional engineering license in Tennessee and is a Certified Energy Manager.
Gabe Kurtz – BSEE 2001, Resource Management & Operations Services Engineer of the Year
Gabe Kurtz has an Electrical Engineering degree, professional TN license, and Masters and Doctorate in Business Administration. In 2022, Gabe accepted the role to lead the NERC O&P team and looks forward to steering the team forward to a wider collaboration effort within TVA, being the TVA NERC O&P FERC/NERC/SERC single point of contact and making continuous improvements that are a best fit for all of the NERC O&P customers across TVA.
Kurtz worked to developed and implemented a pilot Individual Development Program within RM&OS to provide employees opportunities to further develop and strengthen their skill sets. He’s not only an advocate for highly secure power grids, but also for high school students, for innovation, for inclusivity, and for opportunities for everyone.
Jason Moon – BSCE 2008, TVA Nuclear Engineer of the Year
Jason Moon has been working in the Sequoyah Civil Engineering Design Group for the last six years performing engineering evaluations for replacement equipment and design modifications. Jason specializes in seismic analysis of structural components and pressure vessels and uses that experience to ensure the safety of the public and plant personnel.
By focusing on professional and quality engineering standards, Jason has provided reliable solutions for technical challenges at TVA. Jason has recently garnered recognition for leading the engineering effort to gain NRC approval for the mechanical agitation of select check valves during plant start-up. This is the first NRC approved method for mechanical valve agitation in the industry and saves the plant critical path time on startup.
Matthew Wilson – BSE 2000, Power Operations Engineer of the Year
Matt Wilson brings over 22 years of air emissions pollution control experience across multiple TVA plants. Wilson began his career at Widows Creek Fossil Plant where he was assigned responsibility for pollution control equipment and spent more than a decade. Serving on many extensive outages, projects and root cause analysis teams, Wilson switches between leadership, subject matter expert (SME) and hands-on work in the field as needed. These teams strive to optimize and improve stack emissions across the Tennessee Valley through asset management, operational guidance and continuous improvement efforts. A graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering with a mechanical concentration, Wilson currently serves as Power Operations, E&TP’s Pollution Controls Equipment SME. He and his wife reside in Dunlap, TN where they have a family cattle farm.
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