MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District recently nominated Jairus Stroupe as the Project Manager of the Year. Every year the district selects an Army civilian engineer to recognize their outstanding contributions and support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the regiment, including civil works, leadership, and local achievements.
Highlights from Stroupe’s impressive year of achievements make clear how he earned this honor.
Stroupe has been instrumental in monitoring and maintaining multiple pumping plants within the St. Francis Basin (SFB) and White River Backwater (WRB) area and has served as the project manager and main point of contact for the pumping plants over the last several years. These pumping plants include the W.G. Huxtable Pumping Plant (the largest USACE-owned pumping in the world), the DD17 Pump Station in the SFB, and the Graham Burke Pumping Plant of WRB.
Stroupe also serves as project manager for multiple St. Francis Basin Maintenance projects. The SFB-M federal authorization consists of 1,265 miles of channels, 440 miles of levee, 38 floodgates/culverts, five concrete control structures, two pumping stations (W.G. Huxtable Pumping Plant and DD17 Pumping Station), and one siphon.
Stroupe is also a critical asset in navigating our local partnerships to ensure that major maintenance needs are prioritized, funded, designed, and constructed as quickly as possible. Stroupe has delivered time and time again over a year that has seen not only the devastation and disruption caused by COVID-19 but also a year that has been one of the largest budget years the Memphis District has ever seen.
Of special note are the awards of three large cleanout projects in the Little River Drainage District – $5 million Ditch 251 Lower Cleanout (21 miles), $9 million Ditch 251 Upper (30 miles), and $8 million Ditch 1 Upper (39 miles). These three projects encountered multiple obstacles. One included navigating environmental concerns related to endangered species.
Stroupe put together and led a multidisciplinary team effort with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to develop remedies on moving the projects forward to contract award to tackle the lack of available spoil area and how best to layout the most efficient proposed spoil footprint with the least amount of environmental impact. Getting these projects awarded was a huge effort by multiple disciplines and the project partner, and construction is on-going today.
Stroupe holds a Professional Engineering License in the state of Arkansas. He holds an ACI Grade I Concrete Field Testing Technician License and an Arkansas Class I Industrial Wastewater Treatment License. He has served as Chief of the Collateral Duty Safety Officer Program for the Memphis District during 2012.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and Arkansas State University. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Arkansas State University.
Congratulations to Stroupe, his family and his team for all his efforts that afforded him this touted nomination.