The Western Dredging Association (WEDA) Is proud to announce the organization’s newest fellow, who started on February 1, 2023: Narayan Kumar.
WEDA announced the opening of the position in the fall of 2022 to ensure turnover after the completion of Kendal Brome’s term as the organization’s first fellow (2021/2022). Narayan Kumar is slated to be the organization’s fellow for the next 12 months and will be reporting to Staci Goetz, who runs the mentorship, scholarship, and fellowship programs under the Education Commission. Staci described The WEDA fellowship program as, “seeking to engage the next generation of dredging industry leaders. The fellow gets behind-the-scenes experience organizing a technical conference and publishing its proceedings. The fellow also grows their network connections and gains professional experience. Our goal with Narayan is to enhance professional-to-student mentorship and subsequent fellow-to-fellow mentorship.”
To apply to become the next Western Dredging Fellow, Mr. Kumar had to complete both an online component and a virtual interview. This year, a substantial increase in applicants was noted. WEDA believes this is because of the witnessed value of the program for the dredging sector, and as Donald Hayes, a longtime member of WEDA’s Board of Directors and respected educator in the field, noted, “the WEDA fellowship provides a unique opportunity to introduce students to dredging and dredging-related issues. There is currently very little academic activity in the US related to dredging. Only one Coastal Engineering or related academic program in the US teaches a course specifically related to dredging regularly. Therefore, very few undergraduate or graduate students in the US are exposed to any aspect of dredging during their studies. The WEDA fellowship is a positive, albeit small, step to help remedy this concern.” The first fellow, Kendal Brome, completed her fellowship and is now a full-time employee of a firm that has a long history of supporting WEDA.
“The WEDA Fellow Program further allows highlighting the work of a student who represents the next generation of talent entering our industry while at the same time allowing those students to work directly with established industry leaders. Moving forward, as the WEDA educational mission grows, so too will the WEDA Fellow program and the opportunities we can provide through the effort,” said Matt Binsfeld, President of WEDA’s Board of Directors. The organization looks forward to learning from Narayan as well as supporting him in achieving the goals set out by the program.
