| AWWA Member Spotlight -- Katie Richardson Viranyi, Waukesha, Wis.
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AWWA Member Spotlight -- Katie Richardson Viranyi, Waukesha, Wis.

Job title and employer: Associate and Office Director, Greeley and Hansen

Educational background: Bachelor of Arts, Communication Studies, University of Minnesota; Bachelor of Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Katie with husband Norbert ViranyiWisconsin (Pictured, Katie with husband Norbert Viranyi)
 
Job duties: As office director and a program and project manager, I work with clients to ensure projects are progressing and on deadline. I also work with other project managers and staff to ensure they have needed resources, training and support.
 
How did you get into the water industry? I am a third-generation water and wastewater engineer and fourth-generation engineer, so I’ve been immersed in the water sector for as long as I can remember. Family summer trips were usually determined by where ACE was so that we could be in the same spot as my uncle and grandfather.

I also grew up as a swimmer and was a bit of a fish, obsessed with being in lakes, rivers or the ocean. One of my favorite hobbies is scuba diving. This led to my passion for protecting water resources and working in the water industry. My first science fair project was a bench scale filtration system with a backwash pump. In college, I was very involved in our AWWA student chapter and solidified my interest in water and wastewater treatment and conveyance.
 
Katie at work with map of water projectWhat is one of the most interesting projects you’ve worked on? I’m currently managing a program that involves designing, permitting and constructing a new potable water system in which water is borrowed from the Great Lakes Basin, then used, treated and returned to the watershed. It involves more than 86 permits and coordination with cities, villages, counties, the state, and federal regulators. The design involves three pumping facilities, storage, and more than 36 miles of pipe. It’s been interesting and challenging coordinating with communities not directly receiving a benefit from the project.
 
How have you benefited from being an AWWA member? AWWA helped expose me to the different avenues that exist in the water sector and connected me with many different individuals across the country. Participating on the programming committee for YP Summit as well as with the Illinois and Wisconsin sections helped me build a network of peers and experts from which I can reach out to for advice and feedback. My current work with the Water Equation committee helps raise funds for scholarships to bring more individuals into the industry I find so rewarding as well as provide resources for Community Engineering Corps projects that bring clean water to communities.Katie and Norbert at their recent wedding

Hobbies and outside interests: I recently married an electrical engineer (pictured right) who also works in the water industry. We both try to lobby our siblings’ children to be engineers, mostly through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)-related Christmas and birthday presents.
 
What would people would be surprised to know about you? I have two brothers who did not go into the water industry. Both teach in the Madison, Wis., school district.

 

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