A soccer referee has to be in control of 22 players, has to run approximately six miles in one game and make around seven thousand decisions- some of them within an eighth of a second- during the 90 minutes it takes to complete a game.

For José Eduardo Sánchez Torres, graduate of the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM), the soccer field can be compared with the professional field because decisions need to be made quickly and many conflicts must be managed.

Sánchez Torres’ formula has had good results, because at 39 years of age he recently became the director of the newly created Assets Management Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

The Engineer, who graduated from UPRM in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree and in 1995 with a master’s degree, began to work with the Corps of Engineers a few months after completing his graduate studies. His career in the government entity has been as active as a soccer game, a sport in which he acts as a professional referee and describes it as one of “his passions.”

He began his career as a research engineer at the Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) of the USACE Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi. At this position, which he occupied for ten years, he specialized in navigational floodgate structures (structures that permit leveling water to facilitate navigation). During this period, he participated in research in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Honduras and Nicaragua. In the last two countries, his work took place after Hurricane Mitch, which destroyed various bridges that Sánchez Torres, along with his co-workers, helped to redesign.

In 2005, he was promoted to manager at CHL where he managed a budget of $8.4 million dollars and was the leader of thirty research scientists. He was the first, and until now, the only Hispanic to hold this position.

In response to an executive order of the President of the United States, the USACE created a division for the management of assets, which Sánchez Torres temporarily directed until 2006. Later, when the position was made official in March of 2008, the Puerto Rican Engineer was chosen to occupy the position permanently.

In this position, the UPRM alumni has the task of developing and implementing an integrative plan, that includes inversion strategies for more than $200 billion dollars in funds directed towards the infrastructure of bodies of water in the United States.

While he studied at UPRM, Sánchez Torres acted as an assistant to the Scout Master of UPRM Troup 39. As he indicated, beginning to execute leadership functions at a young age has proven to be a very important element in his professional career.

He remembered in a joking tone that when he was a student, he was one of the few men who were part of the Society of Women Engineers. Also in his life as a student he distinguished himself as a tennis player.

“All of these activities form part of one’s professional life and contribute greatly to leadership qualities,” he stated.

He added that he has always been committed to serving the community. Because of this, for six years, he was a mentor for a group of young students in the Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, who participated in robotics competitions. Also, when the school was in need of a physics teacher, the engineer modified his USACE hours to perform this task, which he did for three years.

Awarding his Excellence

During his professional career, Sánchez Torres has received prestigious awards for his work in the community as well as his professional performance. In 2005, he received the Esmerald Honors Awards for his dedication to community service.

In 2007, the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) granted him the Civil Engineering Distinction Award. For the consecutive years of 2007 and 2008 he made it onto the list of the 100 most influential Hispanics, chosen by the Hispanic Business magazine.

In 2008, he was also chosen to be the principal speaker at a symposium in Korea about the management of assets. He was also a guest speaker for a group of Latino students during the Hispanic Month, which was celebrated in September of 2008.

The Engineer and soccer referee continues in the field, in which he assures his principal mission is one of service.

“What I’m interested in is service, doing my job, helping people and if I have the opportunity to receive awards such as those that have been bestowed upon me, I will receive them with open arms and I share the honor with my employees who help me to do the job efficiently,” sustained Sánchez Torres.

Engineer José Eduardo Sánchez Torres, during his acceptance speech for the award granted by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation.

The UPRM alumni recently became the director of the newly created Assets Management Division of the Corps of Engineers.

Courtesy photos.