Honoring a legend: Robin Cababa receives SAME’s Goethals Medal
An adored AECOM leader, Retired U.S. Army Colonel Robin Cababa, PE, was recently awarded the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Goethals Medal, a prestigious honor that recognizes his eminent contributions in engineering, design, construction, and environmental stewardship.
From an early age, Robin had an ardent desire to both serve his country and to become an engineer. Influences in his family included his father, who served in World War II, and his uncles that worked in the engineering field. Robin’s acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, meant that he didn’t have to choose – it gave him a path to follow both dreams.
Since then, Robin’s remarkable 54-year career has taken him all over the world. During three decades of leadership as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) officer, he served in Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and various Pacific Islands. Back in the United States, Robin went on to command the USACE Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which earned accolades as the U.S. Army Research & Development Laboratory of the Year in 1998. When USACE’s seven research laboratories and 2,300 professionals were integrated to form the U.S. Army Engineering and Research Development Center (ERDC) later that year, Robin was the natural choice to become its first Commander. ERDC’s mission is to “help solve our Nation’s most challenging problems in civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences.”
After retiring from the Army, Robin spent the next five years as vice president of the nonprofit Oceanic Institute. Then in 2005, he joined AECOM where he’s led large teams working on highly complex environmental programs, including the U.S. Navy’s Pacific CLEAN program.
Based in the Honolulu office, Robin says he hadn’t planned on working this long, but “treasures” his team as well as the opportunities AECOM has given him. When asked what project has been the most rewarding, he hesitates to pick just one and focuses instead on the bigger picture.
“I’ve been blessed with many great projects and assignments,” he says, “but what motivates me most is developing the next generation of engineers, scientists, and leaders. To be an engineer is to be a problem solver and there will always be problems to solve. No matter how well we plan, conditions will always change. While solving one problem or finishing one project might be individually rewarding, actively preparing future generations by problem-solving our challenges together is more important.”
Throughout his career, Robin has demonstrated his dedication to developing and mentoring the next generation of industry leaders. He oversaw development of an immersive two-year AECOM onboarding program in the Pacific, resulting in enhanced staff development, higher retention, and higher client satisfaction. The program is now expanding to other AECOM teams. Robin has also made significant contributions to numerous mentoring programs outside of AECOM that are focused on helping military veterans.
Robin has received dozens of awards throughout his distinguished career, including a Purple Heart and Silver Star for valor.
Colleagues like Mark Handley can’t think of a more worthy recipient for this latest honor from SAME. “Robin has supported AECOM’s most demanding projects in the Pacific. Drawing on his deep experience in technically complex and stressful situations, he’s led his team to provide world-class environmental engineering support to our clients. Robin is an impassioned leader, as well as a talented program manager and engineer. It’s rare that we find a true hero who has contributed so much to our profession both in and out of uniform,” says Mark.
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