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The Long Family – A Civil Engineering Tradition

Daniel Long and his sons, Aaron and Brandon, have a long tradition with civil engineering at UT Arlington. All of them received their bachelor’s degree here.

While studying for his degree, Daniel Long worked for O.V. Di Sciullo, Consulting Engineer (now Di Sciullo & Terry, Inc.) as a survey crew chief. “Mr. Di Sciullo is perhaps my most respected engineering mentor,” said Dan. “Before the days of calculators, this was an engineer who designed massive subdivisions with curvilinear streets... and with a slide rule. Forty years ago, he stressed the value of trees and made every effort to save as many as possible within his developments.”

After graduating in 1976, Dan took jobs in Texarkana and Florida. He obtained registration as a Professional Engineer in the states of Florida and Texas in 1980. In 1983, he returned to Texas and joined his brother, Jim, a Registered Public Land Surveyor, to begin their own engineering and surveying firm. “Jim made a huge impact on my life,” Dan recounted. “He encouraged me in those early years to pursue an engineering degree, and I have never had a moment of regret as to the profession that I chose.”

Dan currently works for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, where for the past 20 years he has inspected public water systems and water treatment plants.

“My two sons, as I did, worked in engineering-related jobs while going to school and contributed more than significantly to their own educations,” Dan said. “I think they are the better for that effort, even though it took a little longer to finish their degrees. When you’re working in your future profession while going to school, I think you develop an understanding of the importance of each class and the purpose for each incremental step in the process.”

Dan’s oldest son, Aaron, started his career with the City of Fort Worth as a summer intern in 1997 and then joined the Department of Engineering full time as a construction inspector the next year. “I inspected the construction of infrastructure and public utilities, including water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and paving,” Aaron said. “I enjoyed seeing the real world application of subjects taught in civil engineering classes.”

In 2000, Aaron moved to the Transportation and Public Works Department. During all this time, he had been working full time and taking classes in the evening. But as the number of junior- and senior-level classes offered at night dwindled, he received permission to reduce his normal five-day work week to three days and he returned to full time studies for his last two years. He received his bachelor’s degree in May of 2003.

The degree allowed Aaron to receive a promotion to Graduate Engineer in the department. “That’s when my ‘work’ became real fun,” he said. “I reviewed all new development plans for temporary traffic control and coordinated work in Public Right of Way. This allowed me a very intimate evaluation of what the text book teaches and how real world traffic works.”

Dan’s youngest son, Brandon, knew from the third grade that he would be an engineer. “That goal helped me throughout my studies, all the way through high school and into my courses at UT Arlington,” he said.

While pursuing his bachelor’s degree, Brandon was an intern with Wier & Associates, where he gained experience in the design of water, sanitary sewer, paving and drainage systems. Brandon completed his studies in May of 2005 and began a full-time engineering position with Wier & Associates. Earlier this summer, he became a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.

Brandon has been an active member of Texas Society of Professional Engineers, Mid-Cities Chapter by serving on the Board as Director, Secretary, Treasure, and Vice-President. He has been a strong advocate for the MathCounts organization and has helped host the MathCounts math competition for middle schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In 2009, he received the branch’s distinguished honor of Young Engineer of the Year. Brandon has also been active in the Fort Worth branch of ASCE as a committee chair as well as volunteering on behalf of the ASCE to host and work ringside at the Golden Gloves Boxing championships.

Dan has one principle that he hopes he has passed on to his sons and other young engineers that he has had contact with: “There can be many solutions to an engineering problem, but there is only one best solution. As annoying and tedious as it may be, make the effort to redesign if a significantly better solution comes to mind, because what we design and construct will likely be here long after we are gone.”