YP Spotlight: Mateja Vidović Klanac
The SWANA Young Professionals (YP) group continues to grow and expand across the country. SWANA YP members have been busy this past year speaking at SWANA events, leading teams, mentoring students, and making strides in every aspect of the industry. Let’s get to know some of these upcoming industry leaders!
Mateja Vidović Klanac – Project Professional – SCS Engineers (SCS)
Mateja is a Project Professional at SCS Engineers (SCS) in the West Palm Beach, FL office with over seven years of experience in the environmental engineering field, currently focusing on solid waste management. Her experience in solid waste includes involvement in a diverse range of landfill design projects including lateral expansions, vertical expansions, permitting, stormwater management systems, geotechnical evaluations, modeling, and field experience in observing and documenting construction projects and verifying adherence to plans, specifications, and construction quality assurance plans.
As a very active young professional (YP), Mateja is engaging both internally and externally. Internally, she uses the skills she has developed to guide and train junior staff allowing for the sharing of knowledge and contributing to the development of the next generation of YPs. She has presented to the company’s national training and learning platform on stormwater design concepts and calculations. Externally, Mateja is a member of the SWANA YP Steering Committee and has a leadership role as the chair for the SWANA YP International Solid Waste Design Competition (SWDC).
After working in air quality sector for two years in Croatia, Mateja came to the United States with a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology. She joined the research team lead by Dr. Daniel Meeroff at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the spring semester of 2016. Accepting this opportunity, she embarked on a journey where she would not only shift the continents, but also the course of her career.
During her time at FAU, she worked on research investigating the effective odor control strategies to assist landfill site personnel in managing daily operations based on the weather conditions. It was there that she noticed an interest in the waste industry and shifted her priorities to becoming a solid waste professional. While there, Mateja also took a leadership role as the president of the joint chapter of the FWEA/AWWA/SWANA/A&WMA. During her time as president of the chapter, the joint association at FAU became a more active organization with a mission to promote interest in the environment and our industry as a whole. After earning her M.S. in Civil Engineering from FAU in August 2017, Mateja joined the leading consulting company in the solid waste industry, SCS, where she is currently working as an engineering consultant.
For the past five years, Mateja has held a leadership role as the chair for SWANA YP SWDC. The SWANA SWDC provides students with an opportunity to work on real life waste management challenges that our world is facing at this very moment in a supportive and fun environment. The competition strives to prepare students for similar issues they will potentially encounter after graduation working as engineers or solid waste professionals.
Throughout her time in the “real world”, Mateja understood that she can contribute significantly to the continued growth and participation of YPs and the influence they can have in the solid waste industry. Being involved in SWANA, provided a pathway for sharing ideas and challenges with other professionals in the industry, while providing students with an opportunity to display their talents and establish a premier networking event where they can connect with potential employers. She believes that team work, mentoring, and encouragement of each other are the keys to the growth of YPs in becoming the next leaders of the future.
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