Nicholas Manz, EIT, Staff Civil Designer, Howard Stein Hudson, and Transportation & Development Institute Boston Chapter Chair
In alignment with the Bertram Berger Seminar hosted each year, a young engineer is recognized for their achievements in their professional practice, as well as in their endeavors throughout BSCES and similar organizations. Bertram Berger, a transportation engineer and past president of BSCES, was honored for his contributions to ASCE and BSCES with the establishment of a memorial fund. The memorial fund is maintained by BSCES to hold an annual transportation seminar and provide scholarships to recognize an outstanding BSCES younger member for his or her professional achievements and service to the community.
Bertram Berger was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 3, 1931. Mr. Berger received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Northeastern University in 1954, was in military service for two years, and in 1956-1957 took graduate courses in transportation and soils at MIT. He started in 1957 with Fay, Spofford & Thorndike in Boston as a junior engineer, acquired good experience in field and office on transportation and in other fields, and rose to project engineer level before long. His interest in, and self-study of, traffic engineering led to his being instrumental in forming a traffic engineering department at FS&T. He became a company director in 1973 and vice president in 1974. At the time of his death, he was a key figure for FS&T in the joint venture handling the Southwest Corridor project in Boston, and in the planning phase of a third vehicle tunnel under Boston Harbor.
Mr. Berger became an ASCE Member in 1965, was active in several committees and chairman of the committee that arranged the national ASCE meeting in Boston in 1979. He was also active in the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, worked for the 1974 merger with the local section of ASCE and was president of the merged society in 1976-1977. He also held membership in the Massachusetts Society of Professional Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the Society of American Military Engineers.
After he passed away in 1982, the Bertram Berger Memorial fund was established to fund student scholarships, continuing education for young engineers, and to host a seminar each year. For the Young Engineer Award, the requirements were as follows. The successful candidate should (1) be less than 35 years old on January 1, 2026, (2) have attained exemplary professional achievements as a young engineer, (3) demonstrate leadership in the practice of civil and environmental engineering with emphasis on transportation, (4) enhance the stature of civil engineers within the community, (5) be a current BSCES member and is actively engaged or attends events, and (6) be a registered engineer, or has taken the professional engineer examination and applied to be a soon-to-be registered, professional engineer.
Through the nomination process, our T&DI Award Committee selected Anna Beheshti-Rhodes as this year’s award recipient. Anna is a Massachusetts Registered Professional Engineer driven by a passion for resilient urban design, professional community engagement, and STEM outreach. With a decade of experience Anna has provided both permitting and technical site design services, as well as multidisciplinary project management support for a variety of private development and public transit projects across the Northeast. Anna currently serves as a Senior Civil Engineer and Project Manager at Arup in their Boston office, where she leads and performs design on increasingly complex and high-profile projects across transportation, civil, and infrastructure.
Anna has been an active member of BSCES since her undergraduate studies at Northeastern University where she received her bachelor’s degree. She served for many years as an officer in the Younger Member Group before transitioning to leadership in the Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI) Boston Chapter. As T&DI chair, she revitalized the committee post-COVID, spearheading six in-person technical and networking events, relaunching the Bertram Berger Seminar in 2023, and strengthening social media engagement. She also represented the Boston chapter at the ASCE National Convention in 2022 and 2023 and the T&DI National Conference in 2024. She has served on the BSCES newsletter editorial committee since 2017, authoring articles, coordinating and reviewing content, and enhancing communication and visibility of civil engineering achievements across the region.
In addition to her BSCES leadership, Anna has been an active member of CREW Boston, helping advance equity, mentorship, and professional networking in commercial real estate and related infrastructure disciplines.
Over the years, Anna’s accomplishments have been recognized by her peers and the broader engineering community. She was named an ASCE 2022 “New Faces of Civil Engineering” honoree and received the CREW Boston 2024 Esprit du Coeur Award, reflecting both her professional contributions and her leadership in advancing the field.
Anna is deeply committed to mentoring and developing future engineers. She regularly engages with undergraduate students through outreach and mentorship programs, providing guidance, support, and encouragement to those entering the profession.
The Bertram Berger Young Engineer Award honors individuals who demonstrate excellence, leadership, and service in civil engineering – Anna embodies all of these qualities.
This is the first year the Bertram Berger Young Engineer Award was given since 2019, and the T&DI is eager to continue to recognize the Bertram Berger Young Engineer to deserving young engineers each year.