From the PHS Chief Engineer

United States Public Health Service
MACHINATORES VITAE
Engineer and Architect Newsletter
From the PHS Chief Engineer
Sven E. Rodenbeck, Sc.D., P.E., BCEE
Rear Admiral, US Public Health Service
Assistant Surgeon General
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Message From the Chief
Engineer
1
EPAC Chair and
New Engineer Officers
4
EPAC Subcommittee Briefs
5
Agency Spotlight: NPS
6
PHS Organizations & Budgets
8
Officer Spotlight:
2012 Responder of the Year
13
Book Review: Traffic
15
November 2012
Mentoring is for Everyone
One of my responsibilities as your Chief Engineer is to provide career counseling to individuals. Unfortunately, these discussions frequently occur after
someone has either not been promoted or some other issue has developed. So
often individuals were not aware of the options available to them or were so
focused on the present that they didn‘t think about and plan for what they
wanted to achieve several years down the road. As a result of these and other
conversations and my own experiences, I have grown to appreciation the
power and value of the mentoring process (either formal or informal).
Mentoring is a two-way street in which the mentor and mentee develop a
relationship that allows both parties to exchange ideas and thoughts on a
whole range of issues related to a professional career. These relationships
change over time and may even come to an end as the individuals follow
their own paths. It is common for someone to have several mentors at various stages of their career and for individuals to be a mentor and mentee at the
same time.
The purpose of the relationship isn‘t for the mentor to tell the mentee what
do, but rather to explore the pros and cons of options that you face now and
in the future. A good mentor knows that the career choices he/she made will
probably not be the same choices the mentee will make. The goal is to learn
from each other. I know that I have learned a lot from the individuals that I
have had a mentoring relationship with.
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MACHINATORES VITAE
Of course participating in a mentoring relationship(s) will not guaranty that you will be promoted or assure that your career will not have
any bumps in the road. What it will do is allow you to explore the options and possibilities.
DECEMBER 12
12th PHS Chief Engineer Goals
Reflect upon our past accomplishments as we prepare for
our 100th Anniversary as a
category;
Renew our efforts to recruit
even more engineers and
architects and advance the
engineering and architectural sciences; and
Respond to the ever changing
health needs of our country.
We all should be active participants in mentoring; both as a mentee and mentor. The Mentoring Subcommittee, Engineer Professional
Advisory Committee (EPAC) is available to
assist in establishing a formal mentoring relationship. Participation on the Subcommittee is
also away for you to help develop the culture
of mentoring within our Category. Please contact LCDR Nazmul Hassan for more information and to volunteer to support this important program.
1913 – 2013 and Beyond
―There should be attached to the Bureau a sanitary engineer of high
professional standing, competent to solve technical problems connected with the purification of water and sewage, the prevention of
pollution of interstate streams, and other matters involving knowledge
of Sanitary Engineering.‖ Surgeon General Walter Wyman, 1907
This request from the third US Public Health Service (PHS) Surgeon General set into motion
the federal government‘s effort to address the ramped occurrence of waterborne diseases
(e.g., cholera, typhoid) that was occurring throughout our nation at that time. Congress expanded the PHS authority to include the ―investigation of diseases of man and of the pollution of navigable streams‖ and the first engineer was hired in 1913 at the Chicago Marine
Hospital. Since then PHS Engineers and Architects have continually advanced public health
science and reduced the burden of disease by developing, designing, constructing and maintaining cutting edge engineering solutions such as:
 Drinking water treatment facilities,
 Waste water treatment facilities,
 Solid waste management plans and facilities,
 Occupational safety procedures and protection methods,
 Air pollution control plans and facilities,
 Medical devices, and
 Research and clinical facilities.
These are some of the accomplishments we will reflect upon next year as we celebrate our
centennial. We will also challenge ourselves to renew our efforts to advance the engineering
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
and architectural sciences to address our nation‘s current and future public health challenges.
Many of these challenges are highlighted in our draft Engineer and Architect Injury and Disease National Prevention Strategy (http://www.usphsengineers.org/attachments/
PHS_Engineering_Prevention_Strategy_final_draft_4_20_2012.pdf ).
The celebrations and activities will not be restricted to the Washington DC area. In fact, the
EPAC Special Events Subcommittee is hard at work developing a standardized PowerPoint
presentation that we all will be able to use throughout the year at local events. We are also
working with several professional societies (e.g., Society of American Military Engineers and
the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service) so that the PHS
Engineer Centennial will be incorporated into their national conference activities. All of us
can participate in the planning of the various celebrations. Please contact LCDR Kesteloot to
get involved with the Special Events Subcommittee.
Additional Opportunities
In addition to publishing this newsletter, the EPAC Information Subcommittee can use some
assistance in maintaining and improving our web page and other important EPAC projects.
Please contact CAPT Eric Shih for more information.
In fact, all of the EPAC Subcommittees would welcome your involvement and ideas. Your
active involvement on the EPAC Subcommittees will help assure that we will continue Machinatores Vitae!!
(Engineering for Life)
To get involved with EPAC activities, feel free to contact any of the following EPAC members.
EPAC
Point of Contact
Agency
e-mail
Chair
CAPT Ed Dieser
CDC
[email protected]
CDR Ramsey Hawasly
LT QuynhNhu Nguyen
CDR Nathan Epling
IHS
FDA
NPS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
CAPT Ken Sun
HCFA
[email protected]
CAPT Eric Shih
LCDR Nazmul Hassan
OS
FDA
[email protected]
[email protected]
CAPT Steve Raynor
IHS
[email protected]
FDA
[email protected]
Subcommittees
Rules (Chair-Elect)
Awards
Career Development
Deployment Preparedness
Information
Mentoring
Public Health Engineer Practices
Recruitment and Retention
Special Events
EPAC Website
LCDR Kimberly Piermatteo
LCDR Kurt Kesteloot
NPS
[email protected]
http://www.usphsengineers.org/
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
2012 EPAC Chair
CAPT Ed Dieser
On the occasion of my promotion to Captain, along with
many words of congratulations, I also received comments
regarding my ability to ―cruise‖ through O-6 to retirement.
Cruising to retirement is quite contrary to my vision of a
USPHS Captain! My perspective most likely comes from
my early years as an officer in the US Army where your promotion is not for a job well done as a reward, but bestowed
because of your potential as an officer to succeed at the next
level of responsibility and authority.
We, as rising officers in the USPHS, must actively commit
ourselves to the new duties and responsibilities with which we are entrusted as we receive our
commission to our new ranks. With a similar commitment, promotion boards are responsible
to the Commission Corps to ensure that officers recommended for promotion are prepared
and dedicated to their new level of duties and responsibilities.
I ask you to challenge yourself, set the example, advance your organization and mission, and
develop the dynamic cohort of young officers that will surely take our place in the future.
This is the duty of all officers, and a fresh reminder to those with new hardware on their
shoulders. As a new O-6, with plenty of years and miles behind me, it is my time to find the
next gear and the next challenge in the USPHS. I expect that I will have much company on
this road.
New Engineer Officers
The EPAC would also like to acknowledge the following engineer officers who were commissioned between April 2012 and September 2102. The EPAC welcomes each of you and
hopes you will enjoy a long and prosperous career in the PHS.
Rank
Name
OPDIV
City
State
LT
Rafael Gonzalez
FDA
San Juan
PR
LT
Viky Verna
FDA
Silver Spring
MD
LTJG
Mike Buckelk
IHS
Albuquerque
NM
LTJG
Kelly Hoeksema
NPS
Middlesboro
KY
LT
Shane Deckert
NIH
Bethesda
MD
LT
Leo Angelo Gumapas
NIH
Bethesda
MD
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
EPAC Subcommittee Briefs
Awards – The subcommittee met this summer to discuss ideas to improve the nomination and
review process for awards. These ideas were reviewed and approved by EPAC leadership
and will be implemented before the 2013 award cycle. The 2012 award cycle is in full swing
and nomination forms and associated deadlines are available on the EPAC website.
Career Development – The subcommittee kicked off a pilot webinar series with a Promotion
Preparation webinar held in September. Additional live webinars are being planned over the
next few quarters and will include topics such as Readiness, and Awards. Webinars will be
archived on-line for future reference.
Deployment Preparedness – The subcommittee completed a survey that went out to 400-500
engineers to collect data on their engineering specialties, education, language skills, deployment roles, certifications and other credentials. The survey received a 50% response rate and
will be used to assess readiness resources within the category.
Special Events – The subcommittee is soliciting volunteers, speakers and abstracts for the
2013 COF Symposium to be held in Phoenix, AZ in May 2013. The theme this year is
―USPHS Engineers: 100 Years of Problem Solving to Promote Public Health and Medicine.‖
The deadline to complete the agenda for Category Day is December 1, 2012. If you are interested in helping with the planning of this event or other events, including the centennial,
please email [email protected].
Public Health Engineering Practices – The subcommittee is developing draft technical
documents on topics that include HVAC Equipment mounted above Electrical Equipment and
Water/Wastewater Pipe Materials. The committee is also developing a calendar of on-line
CEU opportunities and is interested in developing panel discussions on engineering topics for
future webinars.
Recruitment and Retention – The subcommittee continues to coordinate COSTEP applications and develop the Engineer Placement Assistance Program for PHS engineering applicants. Committee members also participated in a recent Career Fair held in Washington DC
for returned Peace Corps Volunteers.
Junior Officer Advisory Group – JOAG has named LT Samantha Spindel as the new JOAG
Liaison to EPAC. Junior officers in the Engineer category are encouraged to participate in the
JOAG General Membership Meetings, the Journeyman Series and join the working groups
and committees. There is no formal process for becoming a general member, and there are
no membership fees to join JOAG. For more information, visit http://www.usphs.gov/
corpslinks/joag/ or contact LT Spindel at [email protected].
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DECEMBER 12
Agency in the Spotlight:
National Park Service
LCDR Bret Nickels, MS, PE
A lot of people ask me what it is like to be an Engineer with the National Park Service – it
really is a pleasure with a new challenge every day. The type of engineering and project
management we do here ranges from renovations of water/waste water systems to construction of new visitor centers to historic preservation of buildings, light houses, and military
earthworks from the Civil War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812. Each of these projects
requires collaboration with a different set of specialists and stakeholders.
LTJG Kelly Hoeksema conducting site inspection with park staff
at Pinnacle Overlook at Cumberland Gap National Historical Site.
The Public Health Service (PHS) and National Park Service (NPS) have had a long-standing
relationship that goes back to the early years of the NPS. The NPS was established by the
Organic Act of 1916. In 1918, according to the US Surgeon Generals‘ Report of that year,
―the laboratory car Hamilton (a rail car laboratory) and personnel was ordered to proceed to
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming late in May, where the month of June was spent in
making a sanitary survey of the water supplied to tourists.‖ According to the report, ―the
sewage from the Mammoth Hotel empties into an extinct geyser hole located in the rear of
the hotel.‖ In 1921, Stephen Mather, first Director of the NPS, asked the US Surgeon General to assign someone from the PHS to the NPS and H. B. Hommon, a PHS Sanitary Engineer, was give the detail and PHS Officers have been instrumental in the operations of the
NPS ever since.
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DECEMBER 12
The PHS Officers provide consultation
and technical assistance to the NPS
through two main avenues. One is the
Public Health Program which is funded
and managed from Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. The preponderance
of officers who work for the Public
Health Program are co-located with
field staff at one of seven Regional Offices or large parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon to
name a few. These officers provide the
backbone of public health consultation
to the NPS through inspections of concession facilities, water and waste water
LCDR Bret Nickels assisting park personnel troubletreatment facilities, and occupational
shooting water supply system at the Great Smoky
health/risk management support. The
Mountains National Park.
other avenue to which PHS Officers are
utilized by the NPS is through direct hires
to parks or regions. These officers, of whom I am one, work for and with local park management or regional offices to address more acute public health needs of the parks in which they
serve.
There are a total of 8 engineer officers and one environmental health officer working within
the Southeast Region of the NPS. Of the engineers, two work directly for the parks, five are
regional project managers, and one is the Regional Public Health Consultant. Our environmental health officer is the Environmental Program Manager and Sustainability Officer for the
region. We work within our respective chains of command and spheres of influence to provide a comprehensive service to the parks. Collaboration is paramount when working through
difficult situations and having
a fellow officer on the other
side of the table helps to facilitate this process.
Our predecessors have developed a high standard of customer service and technical
expertise that we strive to
maintain. If you have further
questions about the role of the
PHS Engineers within the
NPS, please don‘t hesitate to
contact LCDR Nickels at [email protected].
CDR Steve Sauer provides technical support to the Senior Facility
Management Staff at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
All You Ever Wanted to Know about
PHS Organizations and the Budget
Process…
CAPT Eric Shih and LCDR Jim Kohler
Basic knowledge of the funding process is important for officers because it allows you to
understand how you fit into the broader framework of HHS and – more importantly – enables
you to demonstrate the value that the Commissioned Corps provides to the agencies you
serve.
Organization
It is important to know how the Corps fits into the organizational structure of the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) to understand the nuts-and-bolts of how HHS manages
our service. The Corps resides in the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), which is in the
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), headed by the Assistant Secretary for
Health (ASH). The OASH is a Staff Division (StaffDiv) in the Office of the Secretary (OS),
and the ASH reports directly to the Secretary for Health.
Within the OSG, the Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness (DCCPR)
and the Division of Systems Integration (DSI) are responsible for the day to day management
of the Corps and its Human Resource systems. It is important to note that DCCPR and DSI
share their budgets, and therefore must work closely to coordinate their budget activities.
The DCCPR is responsible for developing policies and carrying out the day-to-day management of Corps operational functions. The DCCPR provides the actual human resource services and bills the agencies to which the officers are assigned. The DCCPR combines the
offices previously known as the Office of Commissioned Corps Force Management, the Office of Commissioned Corps Operations, the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment, and
the Office of Reserve Affairs.
The DSI is responsible for maintaining all Corps–specific information technology systems,
including the Commissioned Corps Management Information System (CCMIS) website, the
www.usphs.gov website, the payroll system, and the Corps electronic Official Personnel
Files. The DSI is also responsible for migrating its information technology systems to the
Coast Guard – hosted Direct Access system.
The OASH consists of 14 public health offices – including the Office of the Surgeon General
– as well as 10 Regional Health Administrators, and 10 Presidential and Secretarial advisory
committees. The ASH serves as the senior advisor for public health and science to the Secretary and provides professional leadership on population-based public health and clinical pre(Continued on page 9)
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DECEMBER 12
ventive services. Additionally, the OASH is often charged by the Secretary to lead initiatives
that cut across the operating and staff divisions of HHS. The formal mission of OASH is
―mobilizing leadership in science and prevention for a healthier Nation.‖
In addition to the OASH, the following agencies within HHS are designated ―Public Health
Service‖ (PHS) agencies1:










Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Indian Health Service (IHS)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Office of Global Affairs (OGA)
This PHS designation applies to those agencies that were authorized under the Public Health
Service Act (PHSA) and various other statutes. For example, the programs and activities of
five of the PHS agencies—AHRQ, CDC, HRSA, NIH, and SAMHSA—are mostly authorized under the PHSA. While some of FDA‘s regulatory activities are also authorized under
the PHSA, the agency largely derives its statutory authority from the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act. Many of the IHS programs and services are authorized by the Indian Health
Care Improvement Act, while ATSDR was created by the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and Liability Act (AKA, the ‗Superfund‘ law). In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the ASPR (formerly the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness)
was created under the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act to lead the nation in preventing, preparing for, and responding to the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters. The OGA is an HHS support office with no specific authorizing legislation.
The missions and key functions of the PHS agencies vary. Two of them are primarily research agencies. The NIH conducts and supports basic, clinical, and translational medical
research and the AHRQ conducts and supports research on the quality and effectiveness of
health care services and systems. Three agencies—IHS, HRSA, and SAMHSA—provide
health care services or support health care services systems. The IHS supports a health care
delivery system for American Indians and Alaska Natives. The HRSA funds programs and
systems to improve access to health care among low-income populations, pregnant women
and children, persons living with HIV/AIDS, rural and frontier populations, and others who
are medically underserved. The SAMHSA funds community-based mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services.
(Continued on page 10)
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
―CDC and ATSDR are public health agencies that develop and support public health prevention programs and systems, such as disease surveillance and provider education programs, for
a full spectrum of acute and chronic diseases and injuries, including public health emergencies and bioterrorism. The PHS agencies have limited, if any, regulatory responsibilities with
the exception of FDA; its mission is largely regulatory, ensuring the safety of foods and the
safety and effectiveness of drugs, vaccines, medical devices, and other health products.‖2
The ASPR focuses on preparedness planning and response; building federal emergency medical operational capabilities; countermeasures research, advance development, and procurement; and grants to strengthen the capabilities of hospitals and health care systems in public
health emergencies and medical disasters. Under the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness
Act, HHS is the lead agency for the National Response Framework for Emergency Support
Function 8 (that is, the ―Public Health and Medical Services‖ support function). The Secretary of HHS delegates to the ASPR the leadership role for all health and medical services
support function in a health emergency or public health event.3
The OGA is the lead HHS office in global health and international matters. The OGA provides advice and direction to the HHS leadership regarding international health, family, and
social affairs, including health diplomacy in support of U.S. foreign policy.4
The Budget Process
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR) is another StaffDiv in
the OS, and its Assistant Secretary also reports to the Secretary of HHS. The mission of the
ASFR is to provide advice and guidance to the Secretary on all aspects of budget, financial
management, grants and acquisition management, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
coordination, and to provide for the direction and implementation of these activities across
the Department. The ASFR has several formal and informal roles; one of its primary roles is
to manage the Service and Supply Fund (SSF).
The SSF provides a wide range of business services including financial management, budget
formulation, fee-for-service rate development, and performance measurement to ―customer
agencies‖ within HHS as well as other government departments. The SSF board consists of
representatives from the HHS Operating Divisions (OpDivs), including, but not limited to,
IHS, CDC, HRSA, NIH, and SAMHSA. Non-HHS agencies, such as the Bureau of Prisons,
the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service do not have representation on the SSF board.
The SSF helps agencies determine their human resource management costs which the agencies use to develop their budget. For PHS officers, the DCCPR and the DSI work through the
SSF to determine the human resources management costs associated with each officer.
The budget determination process begins with the President submitting a budget to Congress.
(For example, see the FY2013 Budget Justification for HHS at http://www.hhs.gov/budget/.)
After appropriations occur, the Office of Mangement and Budget (OMB) then informs departments of their funding levels. HHS informs the agencies of these levels and the ASFR
(Continued on page 11)
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
coordinates with workgroups to determine the SSF rate. The SSF helps create a starting point
for budget negotiations.
After the ASFR builds a rough draft budget, the DCCPR and DSI create a rough draft spending plan. The DCCPR and DSI, in conjunction with the OASH Budget Office, estimate the
number of active duty officers for that fiscal year and the total from the spending plan is divided by the total number of officers. This calculation determines the per-officer charge that
each Agency employing PHS officers must pay. Finally, the SSF Board votes on the budget
request. The resulting per officer amount is amortized on a monthly basis and charged to each
Agency with PHS officers. Non-HHS agencies also pay the per-officer charge, as well as a
0.9 percent administrative overhead charge. The DCCPR and DSI do not receive the 0.9 percent administrative fee.
Historically, the per-capita fee has ranged from $3,400 to $3,700 per officer. The FY 2013
fee will be a bit higher due to the loss of appropriations that funded mandatory Corps functions.
Funding is broken into two categories and includes the following general expenses:
Non-Discretionary
Discretionary
Salaries
OBC
Rent
Supplies
Security
Awards
Utilities
Printing
Assessment
Mail
IT systems
Travel
For the DCCPR, funding is used to:








Develop and update all Corps policy
Train, deploy and manage deployment teams
Process all personnel orders, (calls to active duty, separations, transfers)
COSTEPs, application processing, USPHS website
All Corps Officer Training
COERs, Promotions, Travel, Billet management, Uniforms, e-OPFs
Active Duty pay processing
Retirement pay processing
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DECEMBER 12
About 50 people in DCCPR are responsible for providing these services to PHS officers.
Given that there are approximately 6,500 active duty officers, this works out to be 1 service
provider to 130 officers. If you include the 6500 retired officers, this becomes 1 service provider per 260 officers. The typical HR-to-employee ratio in organizations with 2,500 to 7,499
employees is about 1:35.5 While some HR support is provided by the Agencies themselves,
you can see that the DCCPR represents a great value to the agencies to which officers are
assigned and to taxpayers.
For the DSI, funding is used to:








Support all of the Corps HR Information Technology systems
Provide IT helpdesk support to the Corps
Support the migration to Direct Access
Pay for the Payroll and Personnel Order system, which is outsourced
Support all of the IT security and IT governance activities required by HHS
Provide ―third party‖ payroll validation services for the Corps payroll
Perform mandatory yearly financial audits of the payroll system
Maintain data exchanges with the Treasury and with other agencies to ensure
that the money moves correctly.
The DSI has 15 people that provide all of the services above.
1
http://www.hhs.gov/about/orgchart/#text
Public Health Service (PHS) Agencies: Overview and Funding, FY2010-FY2012. Congressional Research Service. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41737.pdf
3
http://www.phe.gov/about/aspr/Pages/default.aspx
4
http://www.globalhealth.gov/index.html
5
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/1722/whats-the-correct-hr-to-employee-ratio
2
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DECEMBER 12
PHS Engineer in the Spotlight
CAPT Christopher Brady, 2012 PHS Responder of the Year
A fellow engineer is this year‘s recipient of the Responder of
the Year award. CAPT Christopher P. Brady was selected for
the honor that is presented annually to recognize a PHS Commissioned Corps Officer among all the categories who has
demonstrated outstanding achievements in disaster response
and emergency preparedness.
CAPT Brady has served on the Applied Public Health Team
(APHT) #2 since 2006, serving as a disaster response engineer
until he was selected as team leader in 2009. As team leader,
CAPT Brady has been responsible for overall recruitment,
planning, coordinating, and leading the team of over 60 officers with a capacity to deliver environmental public health,
epidemiology, and preventive medical services as part of disaster response efforts. He provided leadership for Community Health and Service Missions
(CHASMs) in eastern Tennessee and Kentucky in 2010 and 2011. The CHASMs provided
the team with an opportunity to collaborate with the state and local health authorities to plan
and execute numerous public health-focused projects including community assessments and
data analysis for public health emergency response, school emergency plan reviews, radon
and lead assessments, drinking water wells data collection, and child care center emergency
preparedness assessments. CAPT Brady also assisted in developing a concept of operations
with public health-focused interventions for the 2011 Medical Readiness Exercise Training
Events in Peru, led by the U.S. Air Force.
Most recently, CAPT Brady provided disaster response and recovery assistance to residential
homes in flood-impacted areas in Minot, North Dakota in July 2011. On June 26, the Souris
River in Minot crested to six feet above major flood stage, which impacted approximately
12,000 residents, triggering mandatory evacuations and inundating homes with up to 10 feet
of water. CAPT Brady and the team provided post-flood information packets to each resident
along with counseling and technical expertise regarding general clean-up activities, pumping
out flooded basements, wastewater contamination and disinfection, mold issues, proper
household hazardous material disposal and risks, asbestos, safe use of generators, and personal health precautions.
In addition, CAPT Brady has previously served on numerous response activities including
multiple Indian Health Service-led operations for fires and severe flooding on Indian Reservations in California, the 2007 USNS Comfort Humanitarian Assistance and Training Mission, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina drinking water engineering response in the Mississippi Gulf
Coast, the 2004 Hurricane Ivan environmental health disaster and recovery services in Florida, and the 2002 Typhoon Chata‘an engineering assistance for water system disinfection in
Guam.
(Continued on page 14)
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
CAPT Brady also helped publish the 2010 guide Conducting Assessments of Public Health
Infrastructure and Capacity Building for International Humanitarian Assistance Missions for
identification and prioritization of water supply and sanitation-related interventions.
CAPT Brady currently serves as the Deputy Director for the Division of Sanitation Facilities
Construction in the Indian Health Service, California Area and is a registered professional
engineer in the states of Washington and California. He received his Bachelor of Science
degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont and a Masters in Engineering
from the University of Idaho. CAPT Brady is currently enrolled in a Master‘s of Science
program for infrastructure in emergencies at Loughborough University‘s Water, Engineering
and Development Centre and studies distance learning modules in emergency preparedness
and response from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the University
of Wisconsin Disaster Management Center.
Like most awards, the achievements of CAPT Brady were largely made possible by support
from his agency the Indian Health Service, the high level of service and dedication from the
Officers on APHT#2, and overall direction and opportunities provided by OFRD.
CAPT Brady (right) on deployment with fellow APHT#2 officer in Minot, ND.
PAGE 15
MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
Book Review
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do
(and What It Says About Us)
LCDR Jim Kohler, PE
Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). New
York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. 2008.
Why it’s Worth Reading
We spend much of our day behind the wheel and often in traffic. This book explores why the
other lane always seems faster, why you‘re not as good a driver as you think you are, why
ants don‘t get into traffic jams, why more roads lead to more traffic, why dangerous roads are
safer, and – generally – how societies deal with traffic. Traffic is both an engineering and
public health issue. Motor vehicle collisions are one of the leading causes of death, particularly among younger populations. Other traffic problems include: wasted time, air pollution,
stress levels, and – of particular relevance to field engineers – the author explains that so
much time is spent in cars in the United States, studies show that drivers have increased rates
of skin cancer on their left sides. (p.17)
Highlights
 Traffic is not a new problem: In ancient Rome, the author tells us that chariot traffic
grew so intense that Caesar declared a daytime ban on carts and chariots, ―except to
transport construction materials for the temples of the gods or for other great public
works or to take away demolition materials.‖ (p.8-9) In 1700s London, traffic fatalities
from ―furiously driven‖ carts and coaches were named the leading cause of death –
eclipsing fire and ―immoderate quaffing‖. (p.9)
 People cannot be modeled like water: Removing a road from a traffic network does not
necessarily mean that traffic on other streets will rise to make up for the lost capacity.
For example, the author tells us that in the 1960s there was a campaign to close the street
running through Washington Park in Greenwich Village without widening nearby streets
to accommodate the newly rerouted traffic. Traffic planners predicted mayhem; however,
what happened was the reverse: Cars, having lost the best route through the park, decided
to stop treating the neighborhood as a shortcut and thus local traffic dropped. (p.156)
 Building more roads does not always solve the problem: The author explains that
there is always a clamor for more roads, but empty roads – of course – are wasteful and
―90% of our roads are uncongested 90% of the time.‖ (p.162) Additionally, adding more
lanes is a process of diminishing returns because the bigger intersections grow, the less
efficient they become and the more you spend on new lanes, the faster they become re(Continued on page 16)
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MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
congested because they are less efficient. (p.163) Examples of this ―friction‖ that causes
smaller returns despite more lanes: for safety reasons, turn arrows are needed when more
than one lane is turning, which means lights have to be longer; bigger intersections mean
longer pedestrian crossing times, further increasing delay. The author describes a vicious
cycle of traffic that carries over to public transit as well: ―The more people who choose
to drive to work, the worse the traffic. This raises the time buses must spend in traffic,
which raises the cost for bus companies, who raise the fares for bus commuters – who are
being penalized despite their own efforts to reduce total traffic. As the bus becomes less
of a good deal, more people defect to cars, making things worse for the bus riders, who
have even less incentive to ride the bus.‖ (p.167)
 Much of our frustration in traffic comes from lack of communication: When driving
a car you have a limited ability to convey your intentions (e.g. brake lights, blinkers,
flashing lights, hand gestures). This limitation makes simple explanations difficult, for
example: projecting your intention to parallel park or explaining why you braked suddenly to the person behind you who didn‘t see the deer and now thinks you are a bad
driver.
 Strategies to increase and smooth the flow of traffic can be counterintuitive: For
example, the author presents a case that merging late (rather than merging early) improves traffic flow because it maximizes use of the road up to the merge point and compresses merging maneuvers to a single point, rather than having disruption of traffic flow
for thousands of feet before the merge point.
 Fewer traffic signs can increase safety: This forces drivers to slow down and pay attention due to the increased uncertainty of the situation. For example, the author explains
that narrow roads can reduce accidents by forcing drivers to be more alert and slowing
down; bike lanes can be more dangerous than road sharing because drivers and bikers
pay less attention to each other when they have their own dedicated portion of the road;
and that when safety features in cars and roads make drivers feel safer, they also tend to
drive faster, thus negating the safety benefits.
 Traffic tells us a lot about human nature: 20 miles per hour is the speed at which eye
contact becomes impossible. Eye contact is a fundamental human signal — studies have
shown, for example, how people are more likely to cooperate with one another when they
can make eye contact. When we don‘t have it, we not only lose some of that impulse towards cooperation, we seem to become susceptible to behavior we might not otherwise
engage in. In other words, anonymity makes drivers more reckless because they are held
less accountable for their actions. At much slower speeds, however, like those seen in the
experimental roundabouts in the Netherlands where most signage has been stripped
away, it is fascinating to see how intricately traffic can interweave — exactly because
some of those human signals have been restored. (From Amazon.com author interview.)
Are you an avid reader? Do you have a book recommendation that may be of interest to PHS
engineers? Let us know at [email protected].
PAGE 17
MACHINATORES VITAE
DECEMBER 12
Dear Readers,
The Machinatores Vitae newsletter is a publication of the EPAC, but we need help in
bringing you the stories you want to read. Please consider submitting an article for an
upcoming issue or let us know when you or a colleague have reached a milestone, been
recognized for an accomplishment, or have an experience to share. If you are an accomplished writer, send something along that is already polished. If you don‘t feel like a Hemingway or Dickinson, just send enough detail so the writing team can take hold of it
and build the story for you.
The writing staff can only see a bit of the big world that is public health engineering.
There are numerous accomplishments even within our readership that remain unknown
except in the relatively small circles around you. If you have not presented at a national
meeting, the likelihood is that no one outside of your agency, or possibly even Office,
ever heard about your pet project that you nearly exhausted yourself completing. Here is
your chance to shine!
All ideas are welcomed. Remember that we do not have to solely focus on work going
on within the PHS. Let us know if you hear of new technologies or applications, or just
find an interesting story from the outside world. The rule of thumb is that if you as an
engineer are interested in it, then others will be too!
Send your thoughts, suggestions, or a brief synopsis of a proposed article to the newsletter editors at [email protected].
Thank you,
EPAC Newsletter Team
The Machinatores Vitae is published three times a year and posted on the USPHS Engineer
Professional Advisory Committee website. The next issue of the newsletter will be published
in March 2013. The deadline for submitting articles is February 15, 2013.
If you have suggestions or comments about the newsletter, or would like to submit an article,
please contact the editors at [email protected].
Newsletter Coordinator: LCDR Matt Vojik
Editor-in-Chief: CDR Jennifer Mosser
Managing Editors: CAPT John Longstaff, CAPT Peter Nachod
Copy Editor: CAPT James Ludington