Welcome to A Dam Conversation - With Doug Boyer!

This is an Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) podcast sharing the stories of leaders and innovators in the dam safety community. 

On this episode, we welcome Doug Boyer, a civil engineer and engineering geologist with 35 years of experience in dam engineering and dam safety. He currently serves as the Chief, Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) Branch of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Before joining FERC in 2016, he held positions with the US Army Corps of Engineers Risk Management Center and Bureau of Reclamation in Denver. He also served as the Chief, Dam Safety Branch, Department of Water Resources for the State of Colorado. Before federal employment, he had nearly 15 years of consulting experience. Mr. Boyer has a Bachelor of Science degree in geological sciences and a Master of Science degree in civil engineering. Mr. Boyer is a licensed professional engineer, professional geologist, and certified engineering geologist.

Key Takeaways From This Episode

• 8:20 - Case histories to explore dam failures and dam safety: Fontenelle Dam
• 10:49 - What are your key takeaways and lessons learned?... Recognizing signs before failure and how to intervene! How do we prevent hindsight bias?
• Industry Changes: What are the current theories? How do I get rid of my “jump-to-conclusions mat?!
• 23:25 - What makes risk analysis so enticing?
• 30:45 - Lessons learned! Ask questions & seek more information - sometimes you strike gold!
• 35:30 - Roles of mentoring and being mentored in a post-Covid world (be deliberate, reach out, and ask for help if needed!)
• 41:30 - What’s been the most rewarding in your career?... Seeing growth in younger engineers, watch them fly!
• 47:00 - What are the differences between working as a consultant vs. a regulator?
• 51:30 - How do you keep learning and growing?... Reach out! Join professional societies! Read up! Attend meetings!

It was a busy day for train operators and emergency help during this recording! Apologies for the train horns and signals in the background, but we appreciate the operators and law enforcement who used signals to keep our neighbors safe!

We want to hear from you! Send us a message at [email protected] and let us know your questions for our leaders and innovators. 

Get Involved!

ASDSO Membership

In addition to free resources for the Dam Safety community, membership with ASDSO provides the following list of benefits and more! Follow this link to join! https://www.damsafety.org/basic-page/become-member  

• Member discounts on all training and products
• Unlimited access to full ASDSO conference papers
• Online member directory
• Journal of Dam Safety

Committee Membership

Consider joining one of the many ASDSO committees and Interest Groups. Find the full list at the following link:  Committees and Interest Groups | Association of State Dam Safety

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Find upcoming training opportunities, including on-demand webinars, live webinars, seminars, and past content in the Training Center! Training Center | Association of State Dam Safety

ASDSO Toolbox

The ASDSO Toolbox (www.damtoolbox.org) is intended to be a one-stop shop for current guidelines and regulations of the dam safety industry. Consider volunteering as a moderator, proposing new content, or suggesting additional resources. 

This program was copyrighted in 2024 by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials with All Rights Reserved.