People Spotlight: Meet Jason Weiss

Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting a principal economist from our Transportation business in the U.S. East and Latin America region and providing an insight into his inspiration and work.

Jason has more than 23 years of experience as an economist for AECOM projects across business lines. Over the course of his career, he has leveraged his background in resource economics to help evaluate and justify transportation, water, energy and environmental projects for local, state and federal agencies such as the U.S Department of Transportation (USDOT), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), as well as the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

His recent projects include an economic impact study for a working waterfront in Portland, Maine where he lives and benefit-cost analyses for dam rehabilitation projects nationwide. He’s currently working with our Environment team to help our clients find ways to generate revenue from the natural capital of their land assets through initiatives like conservation easements and mitigation banking. He has prepared application packages and completed economic analyses for multiple successful federal and state transportation and hazard mitigation grants, including for BRIC, HMA, BUILD, INFRA, CRISI, PIDP and RAISE. He has been an instructor for courses at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute and instructed a pilot course at the National Highway Institute that taught participants (USDOT reviewers) how to evaluate the benefit-cost analyses of applications submitted to USDOT discretionary grant programs.

Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry.

While I earned my undergraduate degree in engineering, I became interested in the best ways to justify environmental-related measures from an economic standpoint. This led me to pursue a master’s degree in resource economics, and economics has been my focus ever since. When completing an environmental-related project, we used different methods to show that people are willing to pay for things like higher water quality, clean air and preserved nature that benefit the community or broader society.

This involves either surveying people who could be impacted or using a benefit transfer, in which we consider values developed through other studies published by academia or in peer-reviewed journals and translate them to our specific study. We provide benefit-cost analyses and feasibility studies for existing projects and grant applications to show that projects are economically feasible and cost-effective.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have increased available grant funding tremendously, so our team’s grant work has expanded. I work on a broad range of projects at AECOM — there are always new and interesting opportunities to learn and grow — and this keeps me energized in my role.

What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?

I have opportunities to work on a broad range of projects, so it’s difficult to select one project or area of practice. However, much of my career has focused on hazard mitigation, which aims to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from future flooding and other hazard events. For more than 20 years I’ve helped federal, state and local agencies evaluate flood mitigation projects using cost-benefit analyses and provided guidance related to resilience and climate change.

For the United States Trade and Development Agency, we looked at ways to help restore mangroves in coastal areas of Thailand. Our proposed solutions needed to protect the ecosystem while supporting local communities that rely on shrimp farming for their livelihoods and food security. We examined and brought forward more sustainable aquaculture approaches that protect mangroves and contribute to mangrove reforestation.

Another subset of my hazard mitigation work is dams, which can have a significant impact if they fail. Working with our Water business line teams across the country, I help the NRCS, FEMA and USAF evaluate dam rehabilitation projects. We use benefit-cost analyses to determine the economic feasibility and value of rehabilitating dams to current day standards.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.

In 2018, I took part in a study aimed at improving the wastewater collection system in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city, for the Millennium Challenge Corporation. One of the study’s outcomes is a newly constructed Advanced Water Purification Plant (AWPP). The AWPP has introduced the latest developments in water purification science and technology to Mongolia and replaced an ineffective water treatment plant that had left water untreated and flowing into a local river with communities struggling under the stench.

The project has made a significant impact, both in terms of the water supply that’s available and the health and well-being of the downstream communities. I was able to spend two to three weeks in Mongolia to develop the benefit-cost analysis that helped justify the AWPP. Seeing the situation in person and then being able to play a part in solving this health issue — putting my resource economics background to use on the ground — was extremely rewarding. Overall, I’ve enjoyed the international projects I’ve worked on because they provide the opportunity to think creatively on how to approach a problem and how to evaluate proposed solutions.

Share a piece of career advice.

Keep yourself relevant in the industry by trying new things and continuously expanding your knowledge base. There are so many great resources here at AECOM to bounce things off and our people are very willing to help train young professionals to bring them up to speed. So don’t be afraid to say, “yes I can!” when you’re asked to do something new internally or by a client.