Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Frank Homer,
M.S. 2006
Whiting-Turner

Frank earned his MSCE from the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2006 shortly after completing his undergraduate studies at Villanova University In 2003. Since his graduation, he has had a successful career as a structural engineer and project manager, with extensive experience in commercial, institutional, healthcare, municipal, and entertainment projects.
While at Virginia Tech, Mr. Homer was a lead researcher for the Virginia Tech Structural Engineering Laboratory, performing "push-out" tests to analyze the behavior and strength of a crimped deck joint in composite design. Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, Mr. Homer joined Ehlert/Bryan, an internationally recognized structural engineering firm located in the Washington DC metropolitan area. At Ehlert/Bryan, he worked as a design engineer with project management duties for a variety of projects including commercial, residential, educational, worship centers, and international embassies. His project portfolio included US embassies (Khartoum, Sudan; Brazzaville, Congo; Johannesburg, South Africa), the KIPP Public Charter School, various Sunrise Senior Living communities, the Hilton Garden Inn hotel, and numerous high-end custom residential projects.
He is currently working as a project manager for Whiting-Turner, one of the largest construction and engineering firms in the United States. His responsibilities at Whiting-Turner have included, coordinating work with project owner representatives, architects, engineers, inspectors, and site subcontractors; managing estimating and bidding processes; tracking costs to manage project budgets; implementing project schedules; providing field support to construction superintendents to help ensure contract compliance; and developing contracts and purchase orders to document all ordered work. He is currently working on a $130 million, 380,000 square foot, LEED Gold, 'Class A' office building project for a large corporate client headquartered in the DC region. Previously, he led the construction of a new 40,000 square foot Catholic Church, Fellowship Hall and Parish Center in Leesburg (Va), which was the winner of multiple Washington Builders Congress Awards. Prior to that, he managed the construction of a DCPS elementary school modernization in Washington, DC, which garnered numerous accolades, such as the 2011 Engineering News Record 'Best K-12 Project’, the 2012 AIA Sustainable Merit Award, and the USGBC LEED Gold award. Prior to this project, he managed the construction of the George Mason University Hylton Performing Arts Center, a $38 million, 86,000 square foot building modeled after 19th century European opera houses that features a four-tiered main concert hall and separate rehearsal space. The arts center incorporated several "green" elements and earned the 2011 ACI Award and 2011 WBC Craftsmanship Award.
Outside of work, Frank participates in several philanthropic efforts. He is the co-founder of The Heylo Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing young entrepreneurs with funding, resources, and mentorship. He is also actively involved in Engineers Without Borders (EWB), a non-profit organization that provides engineering and infrastructure solutions to developing nations. Through EWB, he has recently traveled to El Salvador for a water distribution project that provided potable water to over 200 homes in the rural region of Santa Clara and to Panama for the design and construction of a computer lab for the Haton Rincon region. Mr. Homer has also been involved with Habitat for Humanity, where he has helped on the construction of numerous homes for those in need and the Washington Builders Congress, where he has served as a judge for various design and construction competitions over the past several years.
In addition to his role at Whiting-Turner and community efforts, Mr. Homer also works as a Master Personal Trainer for one of the largest gym franchises on the East Coast. His areas of specialty include functional resistance training, corrective exercise, nutrition, injury prevention, weight management, and holistic health.
He has done all of the above in conjunction with running a highly successful real estate development company (Portcullis Development). As a sole proprietor, he has developed and currently owns, operates, and manages nearly 20 properties in the DC metropolitan area with the intent to purchase ~30-40 more properties by 2020.
His hard work was recently rewarded when he was selected as recipient of the Building Design + Construction ’40 Under 40’ award.