In March 2018, Purdue Civil Engineering alumnus William F. Brumund (BSCE '64, MSCE '65, PhD '69) received the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The OPAL award recognizes a person's extraordinary contributions to the civil engineering industry throughout their career.

Brumund's specialty is in geotechnical engineering, and — after earning his PhD at Purdue — he went on to teach civil engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology for five years before joining Golder Associates Inc.

Brumund opened the Atlanta office for the firm and practiced geotechnical engineering while managing and directing various civil engineering projects. In 1985, he became president and global CEO. He served on the parent company's board of directors for 33 years until he officially retired in 2008.

As president and CEO of Golder Associates, Brumund helped transform the North American geotechnical consultancy into a global, multidisciplinary market leader, and he grew the company by 2,000 employees. He also oversaw the expansion of the firm's operations in the United Kingdom, started a company in Germany, acquired a firm in Sweden, acquired a firm in Italy, started a firm in Hungary, acquired all the stock in a partially owned affiliated company in Australia, and expanded Golder Associates' operations in Hong Kong. While serving as CEO, Brumund continued to direct and work on major engineering projects.

Throughout his career, Brumund was registered as a professional engineer in 20 states. He also wrote 27 technical papers and gave 54 invited talks at various venues in the United States and other countries.

In 1993, Brumund was honored by Purdue University with the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award. In 2000, he was recognized as the Chapter Honor Member of the Purdue Chapter of Chi Epsilon. He was also the recipient of the 2006 Heroes Award from the ASCE Geo-Institute.