Brad Mortensen, the recipient of the UCLS 2021 Surveyor of the Year Award and the Utah Engineers Council (UEC) 2022 nominee for the Engineering Educator of the Year Award, has been honored once again by the UCLS. This time, he has been presented with the prestigious UCLS 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his exceptional service to our esteemed profession.
The nomination for Brad’s award was submitted by Michael Nadeau, Todd Jacobsen, Darryl Fenn, and Tyler Baron. The UCLS selection committee, impressed by his accomplishments, chose to bestow this great honor upon him. On Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, these four surveyors took to the stage and surprised Brad with the award in the presence of his wife Claudia, who admirably kept the award secret for us.
Brad embodies immense strength of character, a positive attitude, humility in all his actions, and a genuine concern for the future of our profession. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 1992 and obtained his California PE. He further achieved PE licenses in Wyoming and Utah. More importantly for us, he also acquired PLS licenses in California, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming.
To fully grasp the extent of Brad’s contributions to our profession would require numerous pages in Foresights. In summary, his recent endeavors include serving on the Standards and Ethics Committee for multiple years, acting as the past chairman of the UCLS, currently fulfilling the role of the UCLS board secretary-treasurer, and serving as an adjunct instructor in the SLCC Surveying Program. Moreover, he played a vital role in compiling and writing the 2015 and 2017 updates of the UDOT Surveying and Geomatics Standards Manual, which serves as the definitive standard for control, topographic and construction survey specifications throughout the state. Let us also pay attention to his instrumental efforts as chairman of the UCLS ad hoc committee in bringing the State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 into existence for the State of Utah, in close collaboration with the NGS.
When asked about these awards from last year’s Foresights magazine, Brad responded: “I fell into the land surveying profession by accident. I was a student in an agricultural engineering program, and the first two courses were on surveying. I fell in love with being outdoors and using my wits to solve problems and collect data. After that, I changed my major and never looked back. The profession has been good to me, so I have tried to give back by mentoring future generations. Receiving the recognition from my peers these last few months has touched me deeply, and with much appreciation, I give my thanks!”
It’s our honor to have presented Brad with this distinguished award, and we look forward to many more years of collaborating and moving the profession forward with Brad.
We extend our heartfelt appreciation for Brad’s contributions to our profession, and we congratulate him on receiving the UCLS’s most esteemed recognition for our members.
