Academy of Distinguished Alumni
Robert P. Wadell MSCE, P.E.
Inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni on
Robert P. Wadell received his B.S. (1967) and M.S. (1968) degrees in Civil (Transportation) Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. His graduate studies at the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering (now ITS) focused on airport planning and design under Professor Robert Horonjeff, a nationally recognized leader in airport design.
Five years after graduation, Mr. Wadell founded Wadell Engineering Corporation, a San Francisco Bay Area airport consulting firm, where he serves as President and CEO. The firm specializes in airport site selection, master planning, environmental analysis, design, and construction management. During his career, Mr. Wadell has completed more than 450 public and private airport projects in the United States, Asia, India, and the Pacific islands.
Mr. Wadell’s membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) began as a student at Berkeley. Today, he is a Fellow of ASCE, and has received the national “Edmund Friedman Young Engineer Award for Professional Achievement” and the “Outstanding Engineer in California ASCE Activities Award”. His San Francisco Section ASCE positions have included President of the Associate Member Forum, Chairman of the Air Transport Division, and Member and Secretary of the Board of Directors. Nationally, he served as one of four members of the Committee on Engineering Management and as Chairman of the Executive Committee of ASCE's Engineering Management Division. His activities in the Airport Consultants Council (ACC) include four years on the Board of Governors, Chairman of the ACC National Airport Planning-Design-Construction Management Symposium, and Chairman of the ACC National Conference. He was appointed as one of three consultants who developed the first “ACC/FAA Best Practices” document. Mr. Wadell is a Registered Civil Engineer in California.
Mr. Wadell serves on the U.C. Berkeley Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Advisory Council and the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) Advisory Council. In 2009, he established the Robert P. Wadell, P.E. F.ASCE Endowed Scholarship Fund to assist Berkeley undergraduate students in CEE who show financial need. He hopes that the scholarship will provide for "the creation of outstanding civil engineers through opportunity.”