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Jacobs has a lot of rock stars. But it isn’t every day that you get to spend time getting to hear from one describe his 53-year career, including his 32 years with the firm. Meet Dean Rue.
“I didn’t know what engineering was when before I started college at North Dakota State University, but I knew I liked math,” explains Americas Fellow Aviation Technologist Dean Rue. Born and raised in North Dakota (fitting in this case is their state motto: “Be Legendary”), Dean graduated with a civil engineering degree and went to the Air Force for four years. His military career would later coincide with his engineering career.
“Dean is an airfield design industry icon that has been instrumental in the growth of our aviation practice. He was the first aviation professional in the Denver office in the late 1980’s, an office that now houses over 120 airport professionals. Under Dean’s leadership, this growth has been achieved by excellence in delivery and robust quality control in design procedures. Dean established the quality procedures that make Jacobs airfield design best in class. He has served as the Project Manager for 3 of the 6 new runways at Denver International Airport, as well as many new game-changing runway programs across the globe. He has served on the Innovative Pavement Research Foundation’s (IPRF) committee to prepare Concrete specifications that mitigate ASR degradation and has led multiple award-winning projects. Dean is a humble friend, mentor and servant leader for all of Jacobs staff and our clients.”
Dean began at Jacobs (then CH2M) in 1988. Then with approximately 3,000 – 5,000 employees, Dean was the only aviation engineer in the Denver office. On day one he flew to Nashville to work on a new runway at BNA and hasn’t stopped since, making his way to runways and taxiways at airports all around North America.
Described by all as a runway legend, Dean has worked on significant projects, including Denver International Airport, Edwards Air Force Base, Boise, Memphis, Honolulu and Calgary International Airport.
A very unique moment in Dean’s career had to do with a critical landing at Edwards AFB. “Edwards is memorable not only because it ties my aviation career back to my Air Force history, but it is a first alternate landing location for U.S. space shuttles. In June 2007, Atlantis landed at Edwards, on the new runway I helped design! My concern then was that runway was designed as a temporary runway while the main runway was under construction. All went well!”
When Dean thinks about advice he’d give the next generation of engineers, without hesitation he offers “When you are in a profession, you should give back to that profession. You should give back to your employer – an employee owes it to their employer to give it their all!” Dean has lived up to his own advice by earning an ASCE Transportation & Development Institute Airfield Pavement Practitioner Award given by his peers in for leadership in advancing the practice of airfield pavement engineering.
Another piece of advice Dean passionately offers is “Hire the most qualified person for the job. When I started college there were not any women in the engineering school. I’ve seen the benefit of a very diverse team because each person brings a different perspective.”
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aviation employee in the Denver office in 1988 (spoiler: it was Dean)
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53
years of experience
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3
bases served at while in the Air Force
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in the hearts of all he works with and mentors