
Damon Weiss, PE
Over my career as a Professional Engineer, I have had an unusually broad exposure to various disciplines, having worked as a structural, municipal, site design, and transportation engineer. Throughout this, stormwater and water resources were always the constant, central tenets of my work, regardless of project or job description. Over time, I gained deeper expertise in innovative green infrastructure solutions, and gained a sincere appreciation for their social and economic benefits. It became a a creative outlet in a way that structural and transportation simply could not. Soon I realized that there was a substantial market opportunity for community-focused, sustainability-conscious ecological design to address a wide range of urban challenges - failing infrastructure, need for urban renewal, workforce development, air & water quality. In 2014, I founded Urban Rain Studio. Almost immediately thereafter, Barton Kirk joined me and we renamed to Ethos Collaborative, with the purpose of becoming thought leaders and implementers of an exciting and growing idea - to create a brand of design where engineering, art, community benefit, social equity, and environmental justice interface. Although we also specialize in renewable energy planning, innovative wastewater design, advanced infrastructure management, and more conventional site design, green infrastructure design, watershed management, and water resources have always been our core expertise, passion, and identity. From scratch, we have built a team of staff who share in this culture and have helped to build a greener community in the Pittsburgh region over the past few decades.