An Enduring Mission

Miles Yaw Named TVA Engineer of the Year

About mid-morning inside the Tennessee Valley Authority’s River Forecast Center in downtown Knoxville, Miles Yaw grabbed a mechanical pencil and sidled up to the edge of a sunlit desk.

Over a meeting room intercom system, a host of voices sprang to life.

The topic? Risk evaluation and all things hydrotechnical.

On any given day, this group can include hydraulics and hydrology engineers, geotechnical and structural engineers, Dam Safety inspectors, emergency preparedness experts and computer scientists.

Together, they leverage their expertise to carefully manage TVA’s complex system of dams and the Tennessee River system for flood control, navigation, power production, water quality and supply, and recreation.

In these collaborative projects, Yaw and his coworkers encourage each other to constantly improve their processes as they work to ensure TVA’s dams operate safely and efficiently.

“Going about our daily jobs the best that we can is what keeps the people of the Valley safe and keeps their lives operating,” said Yaw, a civil engineer with TVA River and Resources Stewardship. “It’s what gives them affordable, sustainable, reliable electricity and keeps floods from destroying their lives.”

Each member of the team plays a critical role in shaping the systems that manage risk throughout the river system.

And amid that work, they’re ever mindful of how their decisions affect the lives of the millions of people who live, work and play in the Valley region.

“The Tennessee River is everything,” Yaw said. “It’s the primary resource of the Valley from the very beginning – and it’s the development of that resource for the people that has made TVA so successful.”

It’s also the leadership of experts like Yaw that helps ensure continued success.

This week, Yaw earned TVA’s Engineer of the Year award, which includes nomination as a finalist for the Federal Engineer of the Year award.

‘Water is life’

Among TVA’s many iconic dams, Fontana Dam in western North Carolina has always been Yaw’s favorite.

Built during World War II to provide electricity for the war effort, it’s the highest dam east of the Rocky Mountains.

Yaw sees it as a testament to what people can achieve when they work with a unified vision.

“I mean, what a testimony to the will of the people, coming together to build that project, during a war, in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “It’s extraordinary.”

For his part, Yaw has carried forward that historic spirit of collaboration and excellence in his work at TVA. Before making big decisions on projects, he actively listens to the perspectives and insights of colleagues.

Unlike many in his field, however, he didn’t grow up with an innate ability to pin down the technical workings of machinery.

At times, it proved to be a learned skill – sometimes hard-learned.

He remembers trying to fix his brother’s BB gun after the stock had fallen off. Yaw dismantled it in hopes of making repairs but left the toy in pieces.

“(My brother) was not happy,” he said, chuckling.

Even so, he’d always been a critical thinker, adept at solving challenging math problems. To this day, he considers himself more analytically than mechanically inclined – a skill that serves him well in his profession.

In high school, lessons about the Taipei 101, Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper, sparked his interest in structural engineering. He found it fascinating how the structure uses a central pendulum to improve stability during earthquakes or high winds.

That inspired him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in structural engineering, though he later shifted his focus to hydraulics engineering.

Water, he decided, is life.

“And water changes people. It’s the essential thing,” he said. “I knew I could do a lot more good in the world if I focused on water instead of structures.”

He was born in Tennessee, but his family later moved out West. He earned his master's degree from Colorado State University, where he also met his wife, Anastasia.

In 2019, after working as an engineering consultant, Yaw took a position at TVA, which prompted a move back to his native state.

It’s a move he’d gladly make 100 times over. At no place is water resources management more intimately tied to the people than at TVA, he said.

‘The Work Continues’

Yaw recently completed a temporary role as TVA’s lead hydrologist, allowing him to enhance the systems TVA uses to estimate risks at dams.

He helped usher in improvements that boosted efficiency, increased production output, cut costs and ensured long-term stability for the program, and he and his team developed new and important methods for assessing the impacts of spillway gate reliability.

Yaw also helped incorporate paleoflood data to better understand hydrologic risks.

Throughout this work, TVA’s historic mission of service to the Valley region has remained a guiding light for Yaw and his colleagues.

During Hurricane Helene, for example, the careful management of TVA’s dams and the river system helped avert about $406 million in flood damages.

By enhancing flood resiliency, increasing warning times, adjusting evacuation procedures and modifying structural or policy measures at dams, the ultimate goal is to protect lives and minimize risk.

As a recipient of TVA’s Engineer of the Year award, Yaw will represent TVA at the Federal Engineer of the Year awards in Washington, D.C.

He said he embraces the recognition on behalf of the many talented TVA team members who help manage the enterprise’s valuable resources.

“I’m humbled. I’m honored,” he said. “There are a lot of people who deserve it. I’m thankful for the recognition.”

One of his favorite rewards for a job well done? Returning home each evening to garden or play Legos with his children. He’s also a Sunday school teacher, and he and his family give back to the community by donating to missions and church-based organizations around the world.

As Yaw surveys the road ahead, he remains focused on TVA’s enduring mission of service to the people of this region.

“The work continues,” he said. “There’s a lot to be done.”

Miles Yaw with his wife, Anastasia, and their children.