Douglas Owen

Senior Principal and Program Manager, Stantec
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In his role as senior principal at Stantec, Douglas Owen is the consultant program manager for Pure Water San Diego, the largest infrastructure program in the city’s history. When complete, the multi-billion-dollar project will provide up to half of the water supply for the City of San Diego.

In a previous project for the city, he was responsible for the basis of design for the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant, which won the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2013 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award, the organization’s highest honor. He considers this his proudest professional achievement. In 2024 the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering awarded him their Alumni Achievement Award.

“Throughout construction, the facility was providing safe and reliable drinking water to the city 24/7/365. There was never a water quality violation during the 12-year construction period,” he said.

Prior to Stantec, Owen was executive vice president at Arcadis, serving as chief technical officer for the Water Business Line. In his 28 years at Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., he began as a project engineer, ascended to managing director of the $250-million water environment business unit and served on the board of directors.

Time and again, Owen realized how well Purdue had prepared him for his next steps in life. After completing a five-year co-op work study program, he felt ready for graduate school and to tackle his first full-time job, where he contributed quickly and advanced.

“Purdue’s reputation was viewed favorably on my resume,” Owen said. “In my assignments across the country, I was asked more than once whether Purdue was in the Ivy League.”

As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he said, “I felt well prepared for the high-intensity classroom and research curriculum. It was as if I had taken advanced placement courses at Purdue. It resulted in a very productive graduate program experience for me.” 

A professional engineer in three states and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Owen has published and presented widely on water treatment and planning topics in books, peer-reviewed journals, and at national and international conferences.

His expertise has been utilized on several boards, including the Water Research Foundation, Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. Currently, he is the chair of the Water Reuse Program Advisory Board at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since 1990, he has provided technical and facilitation support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Water Works Association on a range of policy issues, including regulatory development, advanced technology implementation and utility compliance.

His best advice for students is to relax and learn from classmates.

“It’s not a competition. You’ll be with a lot of talented people in your life, and you may or may not be the smartest person in the room. Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Work together as a team, value divergent opinions and exhibit emotional intelligence. You will succeed far beyond what you can accomplish on your own.”

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