2016 Outstanding Engineer of the Year Award to Steve Szablya
Steve Szablya was awarded the 2016 PES Outstanding Engineer of the year for his many years of holding volunteer positions in IEEE and other nonprofit organizations such as Engineers Without Borders, his support of power and energy in higher education and his significant effort in 2016 for KWH, Kilowatts for Humanity KWH Website.
Steve has been a great supporter of the Seattle IEEE section and the energy industry.
Steve is an Electrical Engineer who has served as a faculty advisor for senior design projects. Over the years the projects have related to appropriate technology including micro-hydro, wind, solar and human powered generation. He has co-authored a number of papers on the topic with Dr. Henry Louie. In the 2005-2014, Steve lead Professionals Without Borders in Seattle with fund raising and missions to Zambia, Belize and Nicaragua. In 2014, Steve’s student team won the NCEES Grand Prize Award for the engineering combined wind – solar microgrid at a small school in rural Kenya. Steve is a co-founder of KiloWatts for Humanity (KWH), a non-profit organization that does rural electrification in developing countries using renewable energy. Prior to working in higher education he and his wife Kristy did humanitarian work in Africa, including opening a medical clinic with a standalone solar power system and a small school in rural Kenya. He served as an electrical engineer in Louisiana on the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. He is member of IEEE Smart Village, the Chair for the Seattle IEEE PES SIGHT organization, as well as recent past president of KWH. Steve received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and MBA from Washington State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Washington.