JT performing an inspection
At Cummins Cederberg we have some incredible employees, so we decided to make some waves and introduce you to those incredible people who make it all happen!
Jason Taylor (JT) is a Senior Engineer, and one of the most well-respected engineers in the industry. He is responsible for overall design for complex heavy marine structures projects. Jason oversees and performs inspections (above and below water), and waterfront structural designs including seawalls, docks, and ports.
Born in Jamaica, engineering appealed to him at a young age. He remembers being a problem solver with a technical mind set, drawn to toys like Legos where he could create something, take it apart, and create something completely new and different using the same pieces. Jason moved to California at a young age and then to the US Virgin Islands for high school, eventually heading back to the west coast where he attended Stanford University on a partial academic scholarship.
CC: Why were you interested in studying engineering?
JT: My dad worked in the construction industry, selling heavy construction equipment. The idea of designing and constructing always fascinated to me. I weighed back and forth between aeronautical and civil engineering, but during that time there was a cut in aerospace programs so that’s ultimately why I decided on civil engineering. After I graduated, I went right into the master’s program at Stanford University and finished that in a year.
JT also plays the ukulele!
CC: What is a normal day like for you?
JT: My day to day varies from going to project sites and performing conditions inspections, construction inspections, meetings with clients, project coordination and review. During the first phase of any project, we perform condition assessments. I’ll visit the site with our engineering team, and we perform the assessment, then issue a report which summarizes repair or replacement work. During the construction phase of a project, we continue to perform inspections and oversee the construction process.
CC: What has been your favorite project to work on here?
JT: They’re all great, I like them all. Recently we had a project in Dania Beach that involved a massive travel lift pier, around 900 tons. The client wanted to upgrade to a larger travel lift so we performed an analysis to show the improvements they would need to complete to support the newer, much heavier, travel lift. They ended up deciding to keep the current one and now they’re extending their pier to accommodate larger vessels, we’re leading the design for the extension of the pier.
CC: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you while working on a project?
JT: We were performing a scour inspection survey for the Fisher Island Ferry slips. Matt and I were diving, Zach was captaining the boat and Liz was providing support. We were halfway through the dive and completely unknown to us the barge had to be moved. So, Liz jumped in the water and tried to get our attention. I looked up and thought “who is this crazy tourist girl swimming in this ferry slip at Fisher Island?” – I didn’t realize it was Liz until I surfaced!
CC: What is something most people don’t know about you?
JT: I was born with webbed fingers, makes me a better swimmer.
I have had 4 near drowning incidents in my life (probably survived due to the webbed fingers).
My father, grandfather and great-grandfather were born in India.
JT fishing with his sons Oliver and Maximus
Jason works in our South Miami office. He has two sons, Oliver (8) and Maximus (10), and enjoys taking them fishing on the abandoned bridge near the Rickenbacker Causeway, going to movies together and playing video games. They’re very interested in what their dad does and like coming into the office to play with the scales and drafting tools to make their own designs.
