Dubuque, IA—Emily Crowe, PE, SE, accepted the fifth annual Waugh Award during Origin Design’s annual holiday party held on January 26, 2024 at the Diamond Jo.
The Waugh Award was created in honor of Origin Design (known as IIW at the time) co-founder, Dennis Waugh, who retired at the end of 2018 after 37 years of service. The award recognizes an Origin employee that supports and furthers the company’s Mission-Vision-Values.
Fourteen nominations were received for the Waugh Award. “Emily is passionate about the work she does in her role at Origin Design and extends that passion by volunteering and taking on roles internally, as well as in the surrounding communities,” as described in one of the nominations.
Crowe accepted the award from Pat Ready, PE, President & CEO of Origin Design. “Emily is a true ambassador of Origin Design and is the epitome of what it means to be an employee owner. She has stepped up in many ways in 2023 through her efforts to get involved and take on leadership roles with our annual employee meeting, strategic planning implementation, and creating & implementing a mentorship program at Origin. She is very deserving of the award,” said Ready.

“ It is a tremendous honor to be the fifth recipient of the Waugh Award. Denny’s legacy lives on through Origin Design’s Mission, Vision and Values, as well as through the people who were fortunate enough to work with him. We have welcomed many new people to Origin since Denny’s retirement—I want to embody Denny’s most admired traits to pass them on. My most notable accomplishment from last year was co-starting our formal Mentor Program. The program grew from a desire to foster these celebrated traits of Denny’s, that I believe live in all of us and are truly the soul of the company. ”
Emily Crowe, PE, SE Structural Engineer
Emily is a structural engineer at Origin Design and recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary with the company.
