Christopher J. Rousseau, P.E., F.ASCE, whose career over time has evolved to several diverse areas of specialty within civil engineering, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
On the technical side, Rousseau has particular pride and experience in his work in water and wastewater, commercial/residential/industrial land development, and community planning work. His most recent work, in the power industry, may be his most fulfilling: the FDL Penstock Rehabilitation project was the largest penstock replacement of its kind in the world at the time of completion.
However, the restoration of the historic Thomson Hydro Station following Minnesota’s Great Flood of 2012 will probably be his most significant engineering achievement. Rousseau is manager of hydro operations at Minnesota Power (MP), in Duluth. When 10 inches of rain fell along the St. Louis River in 24 hours, the forebay earthen embankment above the Thompson generating station was breached in one location.
Rousseau’s team dedicated three years of service to restoring power-generation capabilities to a facility (once the largest hydro generation facility in the world) which was the birthplace of the MP generation fleet. In his current position, he is engaged in leadership and long-term strategic planning for hydro at a time of great and rapid transformation, as the electric industry prepares to answer the nation’s call to change our energy landscape.
Rousseau has always been a passionate advocate of ASCE, the engineering profession, lifelong learning, and the communities and people he has served both as an engineer and as a community leader. His varied engineering career has positively impacted many individuals by helping them transform their surroundings into places where people “live, work and play.” He has proudly protected the public’s health, safety and welfare.
He has been involved his entire career with professional organizations and societies. His dedication to ASCE has seen him in roles at the local Section and Regional Board levels, and involved with and leading on several of the Society’s national-level committees. Most recently he was Region 3 Governor (2014-1017), and he currently serves on the ASCE Public Policy Committee. Rousseau is also very actively engaged with the National Hydropower Association. He currently serves NHA as an advisory member of the Board of Directors as well as vice-chair of their Legislative Affairs Committee.
Rousseau holds a B.S. in engineering from the University of North Dakota. He is a registered professional engineer in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Congratulations Chris. Thanks for stepping up.