In early October, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii selected two of its most outstanding engineers for special recognition, awarding Red Hill Program Management Officer Cmdr. Darrel Frame as the 2021 Military Engineer of the Year and Supervisory Structural Engineer Guar Johnson as the 2021 Civilian Engineer of the Year at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
Johnson, a Hilo native, is a lead structural technical expert and has been involved with the obligation of more than $200 million of Navy Mission Critical requirements in fiscal year 2020 that will increase the mission readiness of the military and provides a valuable federal funding stream into Hawaii’s economy. In addition, he has developed a review/tracking system of pier load evaluation requests by incorporating current assets and structural engineering studies. This system has increased the efficiency for load evaluation reviews and provides a tool to program future studies and improvement projects for piers, saving the government millions of dollars.
In addition, Johnson has performed structural integrity and load rating evaluations for the state Department of Transportation and Hawaii Community Development authority infrastructures, including piers, wharves and bridges. He continues to conduct research as an adjunct professor/affiliate researcher at the University of Hawaii Civil and Environment Engineering Department.
“Along with his extensive engineering experience, Guar brings a strong work ethic and positive attitude to solve any challenge,” said NAVFAC Hawaii Supervisory Interdisciplinary Engineer Cey Murakami. “He is well respected by his coworkers.”
Guar is a graduate of UH-Manoa, with a bachelor’s and master’s of science and doctorate in civil engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Hawaii.
Frame and Johnson were forwarded to compete for the NAVFAC Engineer of the Year award and potentially for the National Society of Professional Engineer’s Federal Engineer of the Year award program.