Amanda Childs, Director and Senior NEPA Project Manager in SWCA’s Portland, Oregon office, has been named the Lawrence S. Semo Scientific Achievement Award winner for the third quarter of 2019.
Amanda joined SWCA in 2006, working out of our Salt Lake City office before joining the Portland office. Recognized as a NEPA expert, Amanda has led multiple large-scale interdisciplinary project teams and has contributed to more than 80 EAs and EISs during her time with SWCA. She also teaches several BLM NEPA courses.
Amanda excels at managing her teams through regular and clear communications, setting up pathways to success, and finding innovative ways to streamline and improve processes. Her expert project management skills coupled with her practical applied NEPA expertise is a great example of what makes SWCA unique in the NEPA marketplace.
The quarterly Lawrence S. Semo Scientific Achievement Award rewards individuals for demonstrating passion, creativity, and scientific excellence in a manner that advances SWCA’s purpose, mission, vision, and values. The award is in honor of Larry Semo, who began working as a biologist for SWCA in Austin in 1993 and transferred to Denver in 1999. A respected and widely published ornithologist and all-around naturalist, Larry had an insatiable desire to learn and a great love for the outdoors until his untimely passing in 2011.