Kam Movassaghi, Ph.D., P.E., President of Fenstermaker, recently announced an expansion of the company to include four Divisions. Founded in 1950, Fenstermaker has now added the Advanced Technologies Division to its existing Engineering, Surveying & Mapping, and Environmental Consulting line up of services. This new Division will comprise specialized disciplines, including Underwater Acoustic Imaging (UAI), High Definition Survey (HDS), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The UAI team, under the leadership of Ken LaBry, applies sophisticated, underwater methodologies and the utilization of high beam sonar equipment to deliver clear details of subsurface structures, even in areas of low visibility. UAI was used extensively in the recovery effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to locate sunken barges and debris and to identify structural damage to bridges. UAI surveys are used primarily in bridge, dam, and water control structure inspection.

The HDS team, led by Ryan Fuselier, P.E., P.L.S., specializes in highly advanced survey methods, using state-of-the-art equipment. These techniques result in greater detail while employing considerably less manpower and time in comparison to conventional survey methods. HDS is currently used in a wide array of applications, including as-builts and dimensional control, topographic surveys, and roadway, bridge, and structural inspections.

These two disciplines, HDS and UAI, have been used concurrently on projects requiring superstructure, substructure, and water bottom, spatial element mapping. The combination of these two specialized methodologies provides an opportunity for high resolution visualization on projects that would not be possible with traditional methods of surveying.

Larry Lovas has been named Director of the firm's GIS Group. Mr. Lovas is a twenty-one year veteran of Fenstermaker and is a Registered Environmental Engineer in the State of Louisiana. He earned a B.S in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1975. As Environmental/GIS Specialist for the Fenstermaker firm, Mr. Lovas provides support services in all aspects of environmental compliance issues relating to the petroleum industry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) expertise to support for Fenstermaker and its clients.

For over twenty years, Fenstermaker has developed complex GIS solutions for various types of clients and applications. Utilizing the latest GIS technologies, datasets and maps are integrated to provide visual representation of the data associated with attributes in a relational database. Sophisticated, geo-processing tools allow the client to generate "what if" scenarios, thereby establishing a new avenue through which the client can make more informed decisions. Brad Hamilton, P.E., a thirty-four year veteran of Fenstermaker, has been named Vice President of the Advanced Technologies Division and will oversee each of the specialized teams. "These increasingly sought-after, highly advanced technologies are a key to Fenstermaker's growth and diversity," says Hamilton. "I am elated to be involved with this highly-skilled team of experts in these areas. We look forward to expanding this Division as new areas of specialization are introduced."

Fenstermaker is a regional company providing engineering, surveying and mapping, and environmental services to federal, state and local governments, the oil and gas industry and private enterprise. Fenstermaker's offices are located in Lafayette, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport, Louisiana and Houston, Texas.