Peters Township resident Rebecca Bowman recognized
(PIX) On Sept. 21, the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers awarded Peters Township resident Rebecca Bowman the President’s Distinguish Service Award at its 80th annual conference.
Bowman, who is both a registered professional civil/structural engineer and an attorney, began her career in 1974 with the North Dakota State Highway Department, and went on to work with Westinghouse Electric for more than 12 years in a variety of engineering capacities. According to Bowman, her most interesting projects were building what was then the world’s largest gantry crane in Jacksonville, redesigning the “innards” of a heat pump and conducting Department of Energy efficiency research in Norman, Okla., and working on the rebuilding of the Overbrook line for Port Authority Transit in Pittsburgh.
Bowman received her Bachelor of Science in civil/structural engineering from the University of North Dakota, her master’s in international finance from Oklahoma University and her J.D. from Duquesne University.
She has owned a certified business since 1976 registered to provide engineering, real estate, legal and training services with the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Allegheny County, PennDOT, New Jersey Transit and Port Authority Transit of Allegheny County. She has appeared regularly as an expert witness in construction disputes and is an arbitrator and mediator with the American Arbitration Association and a Christian Conciliator.
Bowman has served on the Construction Appeals Board for her townships and as a judge of elections for many years and was recently elected to the Peters Township School Board. She appears in area schools for various career days and Engineers’ Week activities. She supports STEM education at all age levels by mentoring seven different STEM academic extra-curricular activities (as well as three non-STEM activities) and through the Collaborative Learning Center, by tutoring, and by mentoring individual students who have expressed an interest in engineering.
Bowman serves on the advisory board of Habitat for Humanity of Washington County, Inc. and has served on the real estate committee of Habitat International. For the former Wesley Child Care, Rebecca coordinated planning, design, fund-raising and donations and construction for a playground. When it turned out that none of the major playground equipment companies made toddler-specific equipment at that time, Bowman worked with a company that designed playgrounds for physically-challenged children to design a toddler playground, serving as engineer and construction manager. She also served as the civil engineer for the construction of a Christian Life Center for her church, Thomas Presbyterian, as well as one of the foremen for the projects of the Thomas Day of Caring. She also serves as engineer/attorney for Family Promise, a private network of churches providing shelter, food and agency coordination for homeless families, addressing zoning and code inspection issues.
For the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, Bowman has faithfully judged, recruited judges for and emceed the regional MathCounts competition for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Washington and Jefferson University and the state competition in Hershey. She has also provided continuing professional education seminars at various PSPE conferences, served on the Washington County Chapter’s scholarship committee, and writes a column called “Risky Businesss” for the magazine, PE Reporter, a feature for more than 15 years.
Bowman is married to Jeffrey, a nuclear engineer. Their two sons, Eric and Joshua, were raised in the Peters Township School District. Eric now lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Sharon. Joshua is at Penn State-Main, studying nuclear and mechanical engineering.