Engineer of the Year 2008

Saskia Rijtema has been elected Engineer of the Year 2008

Saskia Rijtema (1971) was named Ingenieur of the Year 2008 at the Hague Engineers Event. Rijtema, one of the three nominees for the award, is senior project engineer at Heerema Marine Contractors. She managed to distinguish herself through a combination of personality, entrepreneurship and innovativeness.

Saskia Rijtema (graduated from TU Delft, Civil Engineering) was given technical responsibility by her employer Heerema for a complex project: the Thunder Horse PLET re-installation project. For a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, a number of pipeline welds had to be reinforced. To this end, the pipelines were pulled up from a depth of 2,000 metres and replaced after the welds had been reinforced. Such a project had never been carried out before. The work involved converting ships, developing new software and deploying remote-controlled robots. The entire project was completed within a year.

The jury consisting of chairman Jozias van Aartsen (Mayor of The Hague), Ed Nijpels (chairman ONRI), Els Verhoef (board member of The Hague University of Applied Sciences) and Jan Dekker (chairman KIVI NIRIA) was impressed by the candidates. In the end, the jury's verdict was unanimous: Rijtema most closely matched the image of the Engineer of the Year. A woman who not only technically 'stands her ground' in a very complex situation, but also knows how to manage and motivate a large team and keep her customer happy. And, as one of the judges noted, "Someone who shows very clearly that she can look from the outside in and not just from the inside out. That sets her apart from many other engineers".

The two other nominees for the Engineer of the Year 2008

Job Nijman, director Fugro Water Services and Jan van der Tempel, CEO Ampelmann Company.