Megan Muller
From her nomination:
Samantha has volunteered the most to perform testing and maintain urgent technical assistance for Colas USA Subsidiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her volunteerism, motivation, and example influence the team to maintain reactivity during the pandemic. Samantha is also good at communicating and listening, hard worker and most importantly has a cordial and positive attitude.
Samantha Dixon is the Quality Manager at Southeast Emulsions located in Duncan, South Carolina. Southeast Emulsions a part of Reeves Construction Company, the Colas USA subsidiary that operates throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Samantha joined the Colas USA Family in 2018. Prior to joining the team at Southeast Emulsions, Samantha was the HMA Lab Engineer at Colas Solutions, the laboratory that operates within Colas USA.
Read more about Samantha Dixon through the following spotlight.
Describe your role to someone who is not familiar with the construction industry or Colas USA.
I oversee all activities associated with testing and lab organization to ensure requirements are met to acquire/maintain proper accreditation and quality. This process guarantees our assessment has strong repeatability and our product meets consumer expectations.
What has been your favorite project so far?
When I worked at Colas Solutions, all projects including high quantities of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) were of major interest to me. While each project exhibited their own obstacles, they also taught us a lot about how we can make this ever-increasing RAP a more reasonable reality. I felt like I was really contributing to the future sustainability of our roadways — the product is already there; we just need to figure out the best method to reuse it while maintaining high performance.
What drew you to working within the construction industry?
I found the idea to contribute my thoughts, research, and service for something so tangible to be extremely rewarding, especially when it came to the great potential the pavements industry holds for incorporating more sustainable materials and methods.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day?
Being a part of a team to help improve the sustainability and resilience of our nation’s infrastructure keeps me in the industry, but the camaraderie I find in my coworkers motivates me to go to work every day.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I worked on concrete canoes competitively for a few years in college.
What is one recommendation you could make to help Colas USA operate better?
I recommend developing a structured path for employees by incorporating a checklist of skills to master before moving onto Level II, III, etcetera. Spotlighting these goals will help the company with more proactive and regulated training, and they will help the workers as they will feel motivated to build towards a higher level and receive competitive pay. We know that the majority of our employees want to build their skills and progress in the company, but we cannot expect motivation or loyalty if the goals are not clearly defined.