CDM Smith

CDM Smith is an employee-owned engineering and construction firm established in 1947 by Thomas Camp, Herman Dresser and Jack McKee. The founders laid the foundation for groundbreaking advancements in wastewater and drinking water treatment, water quality protection and groundwater recharge. The company has delivered over 150,000 projects to more than 20,000 clients in more than 150 countries.

CDM Smith offers full services in consulting, engineering, construction and operations across the project life cycle in water, environment, transportation, energy and facilities. The company operates through six business units: Construction Unit, Federal Services Unit, Industrial Unit, North America Unit, Technical Services Unit, and Trinnex. The firm maintains 120 offices worldwide with 7,000 employees and operates as a privately held, employee-owned company.

The company’s technological portfolio includes Trinnex SaaS, lab testing, remote sensing, machine learning and digital engineering. CDM Smith operates three in-house laboratory facilities: the CDM Smith Research and Testing Laboratory providing customized treatability, monitoring, disinfection, fate and transport, and R&D in analytical chemistry, bioremediation, engineering, microbiology and molecular biology; the Denver Environmental Laboratory specializing in larger pilots, bioremediation experiments, sludge characterization and industrial client support; and the Geotechnical Testing Laboratory delivering field support and testing services for soil and rock properties, foundation design, and structural stability.

The company invested $18 million in total R&D program investments across 120 active projects with 390 team members working on R&D. Research focuses on water and environmental solutions including advanced treatment technologies, emerging contaminants including PFAS, indirect and direct potable reuse, biofiltration, anaerobic membrane bioreactors, and alternative disinfection methods; transportation and mobility including dynamic traffic tools, AI driven video detection, tolling algorithms, immersive reality applications; climate, sustainability and energy including renewable energy strategies, emissions reduction, waste-to-energy conversion, water reuse and climate resiliency planning; and digital and intelligent systems including AI-driven solutions, automation, energy optimization, advanced modeling, augmented and mixed reality, and data enabled decision support.

Sky Wave combines geospatial intelligence, machine-learning analytics and patent-pending digital field capture with a fleet of advanced drones including a long-range, American-made fixed-wing platform. Applications include wetland mapping and monitoring, river and watershed morphology, green infrastructure, wind and solar facility siting, water quality monitoring, TMDL discharge studies, ecological studies, construction progress, disaster and flooding response, impervious area assessment, dam, levee and pipeline condition assessment, and climate resilience. Sky Wave demonstrates 80 percent reduction in field time and schedule.

The company’s priorities include lead in drinking water, Complete Corridors, energy and power, water reuse and desalination, and PFAS treatment and remediation. CDM Smith has won more than 120 health and safety awards over the last three years.