Welcome to A Dam Conversation – With Doug Johnson

This is an Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) podcast sharing the stories of leaders and innovators in the dam safety community. Your host for this episode is Silas Sanderson. 

In this episode, we welcome Doug Johnson, Dam Safety and Water Resources Engineer at Schnabel Engineering. Doug is a civil engineer with over 40 years of professional experience. He recently retired as Regional Engineer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Division of Dam Safety and Inspections in the Portland Regional Office where he managed 18 staff and was the official responsible for dam safety and non-federal hydropower dams in 6 northwestern states. Prior to 2011, Doug was supervisor of engineering and dam safety for the Washington State Department of Ecology and oversaw dam safety in the State of Washington for 13 years.       

Doug, thank you for sharing your story and advice on career insights and technical expertise for engineers at all levels. 

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Silas and Doug discuss:

• The importance of taking advantage of coop or internship opportunities 
• Comparing public versus private sector for an engineering career 
• Why getting involved in professional organizations like ASDSO is a great way to see how others manage projects and solve problems
• The need for training in probability and risk concepts as the industry shifts toward a more risk-focused approach to dam safety

We want to hear from you!

Have questions for our guests? Want to suggest a topic? Email us at [info@damsafety.org] – we’d love to hear from you!

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📢 This program is copyrighted in 2025 by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. All rights reserved.