The Coast Guard has named Andrew Lawrence as the winner of the 2022 Coast Guard Engineer of the Year Award. Based at the Marine Safety Center (MSC) in Washington, D.C., Lawrence leads a team of top engineers forming the MSC’s Salvage Engineering Response Team (SERT).
Lawrence is being recognized for his outstanding work not only as SERT’s principal naval architect, but also as a member or technical advisor to several high-profile marine casualty investigations. Following the loss of the Scandies Rose fishing vessel and four of the crew, along with the deadly capsizing of the Seacor Power lift boat, which resulted in 13 deaths, Lawrence conducted thorough forensic analyses and investigations. His oversight of the investigation of the foreign car-carrier Golden Ray was similarly outstanding, as was his leadership of the Coast Guard engineering in the operation to remove the wreck from St. Simons Sound, Georgia – the most complex and expensive salvage efforts in American history.
A former active duty marine safety engineer and prevention officer, Lawrence graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 2004. He left active duty in 2012 and did commercial marine salvage work for several years before returning to the Coast Guard as a civilian in 2019. “I’ve always wanted to be an engineer,” Lawrence reflected. “I like being able to actually have an answer to problems.” In engineering, “the math has to add up,” he explained.
Lawrence was “surprised and flattered” when he received word about the award. Reflecting on his work that earned him this award, Lawrence said it was “very uplifting” to see “when the last piece of the Golden Ray was removed” after two years of hard work.
Lawrence’s commitment to excellence exemplifies the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty.
The award ceremony is scheduled to be held Feb. 24, in Washington, D.C. Further, as the Coast Guard’s Engineer of the Year, Lawrence has also been nominated for the National Society of Professional Engineers Federal Engineer of the Year Award.
If you have any questions about the Engineer of the Year Award, please contact Lt. j.g. Russia Roland.
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