Abilene District Engineer

Lauren Garduño, P.E., was named the district engineer of the Abilene District effective January 1, 2009. The district includes Borden, Callahan, Fisher, Haskell, Howard, Jones, Kent, Mitchell, Nolan, Scurry, Shackelford, Stonewall and Taylor counties. He also serves as the interim district engineer for the Brownwood District.

Garduño previously served as Odessa district engineer since July 1, 1999. A 22-year TxDOT veteran, Garduño also served over the past year as the Interim West Region Manager during the department’s ongoing reorganization of district functions.

He joined TxDOT's Amarillo District as a summer hire engineering aide in his hometown of Borger while earning his bachelor's degree in civil engineering at Texas Tech University. After graduating in 1987, Garduño worked full-time as an engineering assistant in the Abilene District. He also designed plans for farm-to-market roads in the Austin and Houston districts before moving to the Abilene Area Office in 1990.

After returning to Abilene as the district construction engineer, he was promoted to district maintenance engineer the same year. In 1997, Garduño became director of operations and in 1998 served as the district's interim district engineer.

While in Abilene, Garduño completed a master's degree in management at Abilene Christian University in 1991. Accepted in TxDOT's Master's Program in 1992, Garduño became a licensed professional engineer in 1993 and earned his master's degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University in 1994.

He is a member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers. Garduño received the Young Engineer of the Year Award from the Abilene Chapter of TSPE in 1995 and the Engineer of the Year Award from the Permian Basin Chapter of TSPE in 2000. In 2001, he was inducted into the Texas Tech Civil Engineering Academy.

Garduño and his wife, Ketta, have two daughters, Amber and Brooke.