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New Member News - Dipakkumar Patel, CSI

Posted: Tue, Aug 22, 2023

Please meet Dipakkumar Patel, CSI. He says that people call him Dipak (pronounced Dee-puck). Dipak joined the Knoxville Chapter in June of this year, after visiting a CSI meeting with fellow employee, Kathryn Fuller. He is currently employed by MBI Companies Inc. as a Project Designer, where he focuses primarily on conceptual design. He has been with MBI for 7 years.

He said that he chose this field because “architecture / engineering combined strengths and passions [he had] as a young adult growing up.” Dipak attained his BA Hons Architecture at Birmingham City University, his Post-Graduate diploma at the University of Nottingham abroad in the United Kingdom. He completed his Master of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology here in the US. He came to Knoxville in the spring of 2010. 

Dipak has family here in Knoxville: his parents, his wife, Karmi, and his two children, Abhi and Anjali. He has a brother in Franklin, TN and a sister in Williamsport, MD. In his spare time, he coaches soccer with FC Alliance, is a Big Brother Mentor and Board President with BBBS-ETN, plays soccer, watches One Knox/865, and follows a number of other interests.

When asked what he hoped to gain and why he joined CSI, he replied, “Access to learning materials to develop construction and engineering material/detailing knowledge. And to add myself to the local network of AEC professionals as a peer resource and increase my familiarity with the Knoxville community.”

When asked what areas he would be interested in being a part of and how could he see the chapter improving, he replied,” Chapter growth and involvement will be a by-product of offering the environment for building strong, deep connections with one another. This may be social activities beyond the seminar/conference/meeting room walls - and completely unrelated to our occupations. I'm excited to discover where my abilities and experiences can be leveraged!”

He closed with one thing that he would like people to know about him. “I believe, [in] almost all instances, being kind is better than being right. Everyone matters and is managing their own real struggle at any given time. Helping one another in the best way we're able is what we're built for.”

Our CSI chapter is like a family that helps each other grow in our profession. I think Dipak had found a great place to invest his talents. Please reach out and introduce yourself to him at our next gathering.

 

 

 

 

2023 CSI Celebrates! The Awards Ceremony

Posted: Mon, Aug 14 2023

The Knoxville Chapter members and their guests enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Foundry and then celebrated the efforts of all the volunteers that make our chapter successful. We were delighted to have Darson Buckner, past CSI president, to MC the event. Then 3 members were recognized for their extra efforts with a Stepping Up Award. These went to Ginger Aspurua, Katie Goethert and Peter Giddings. The committee chairs received certificates of appreciation and small gifts that tied to their roles; Samer Shatara- Membership Chair; Tyler Goza - Programs Chair; Stacy Colbaugh- Communications Chair; Collin Rummage - Student Affiliate president; Wes Crow - Golf Tournament Chair. Our officers were also recognized: Geoffrey Cavalier - Secretary; Whitney Kaul - Treasurer; and Brent Williams-President-Elect. Aaron Miller (a.k.a Yoda the Wise) received his certificate and a Yoda bobblehead for his desk. The top awards for the evening are the Edward Bankston Award which Geoffrey Cavalier received; the Miller Euler Award, which Stacy Colbaugh received and the top award went to Suzan Jordan, the Gunnar Kraft Award. Wes Crow was honored for the two decades of running our golf tournaments by learning that we are naming our golf tournament after him.

Anniversaries

JOINED THIS MONTH

  • 24 years ago Dwight LeClair
  • 5 years ago Michelle Barillaro
  • 3 years ago Jim Odle

The Speck

Knoxville Chapter's Award Winning Newsletter

Latest Edition: THE SPECK - JUNE 2023

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