Paul R. Weber is a licensed civil engineer in Hawaii, Oregon, Georgia, and Washington State and an ASCE Certified Lifetime Member.
Meta engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with the harmony between nature and technology.
Paul Weber’s sixty-year professional career as a civil engineer spans the entire transition from analog to digital analysis technology, from slide rule to supercomputer. What may be commendable or not about the fruits of this transition may become evident in the following.
An enduring love of the outdoors combined with an agile mind made him a perfect candidate for soils engineering. He rarely hesitated to go where the assignment was located, or use the most up-to-date tools of the trade. Some of his innovations are unique to the industry and are used by contractors and other engineers to improve safety and efficiency.
Paul’s love of the outdoors also contributed to a focus on ecology and the environment. Every study and each recommendation contain an element of protection or conservation of the natural conditions being disturbed by development. His cement-conserving foundation systems alone (grout injection micropiles) save tons of CO2 emissions.
Paul Weber has been a professional engineer (P.E.) in Washington, Oregon, Georgia, and Hawaii. To become a P.E., a person starts with a degree in engineering, works for eight years under the supervision of an already licensed engineer (four years of college applies toward the eight year total), and passes the exam. Joseph Lamont, Jr. was Paul’s supervisor.
Engineering Career
1962–1964 Bureau of Reclamation Research Lab, Phoenix, Arizona
While a full-time student at ASU, Paul worked half-time at the Bureau of Reclamation Research Lab in Phoenix, Arizona. At this lab, he helped build electric analog computers for groundwater studies.
1964–1966 Southwest Materials Lab, Phoenix, Arizona
After graduating ASU, Paul took his first engineering position as project engineer intern to Bob Paulsell, P.E. Southwest Materials Lab owned a drill rig, and one of Paul’s duties was to direct drilling and soil sampling in test borings all over the Valley of the Sun. He also trained in soil testing and wrote the soils reports.
1966–1971 Dames and Moore, Seattle, Washington
Paul continued his training under Joe Lamont, Jr., P.E. He also pursued his Master’s degree at ASU. Paul took contract studies with soils professors Dr. Duncan at Berkeley University and Dr. Clough at Stanford University. This tutoring was to learn soil structure interaction analyses by FEM (Finite Element Analysis). At Dames and Moore, Paul applied what he learned about FEM analyses to several jobs, including the Bank of California and the Highland Open-Pit Mine.
1983–1985 Stang Hydronics, Orange County, California
Stang Hydronics owned 13 drill rigs of various types. Paul was in charge of the drilling division. Work included dewatering systems design and construction, water wells up to four feet in diameter, and construction design.
1985–1988 Waste Management North America, Orange County, California
Paul was design supervisor for Waste Management North America landfills all over the country.
1990–1995 Field Support and Supply Managing Partner, Seattle, Washington
Field Support and Supply was an environmental remediation contractor. They provided remediation for leaking underground storage tanks (UST). Operators were finding contaminated soil and groundwater in connection with USTs. Examination revealed that the tanks were rusting out and releasing fuels into the surrounding earth. This created a whole new field of effort to pull the tanks, remediate the contaminated soil and groundwater, and install new tanks with leak protection.
Field Support and Supply provided this service for five years, during which time they replaced dozens of USTs—mainly at gas stations. Virtually every Chevron, Texaco, and Exxon facility was tested for leakage, and many had new tanks installed.
Meta Engineering 