Building a Strong Foundation
Date Posted: January 19, 2021
Posted In: Ideas, People,
by Amy Clement, Burns & McDonnell
For me, my path to becoming an engineer started early.
My father was a professor of mechanical engineering and my mother worked as an administrative assistant for the engineering group of the Ohio Bell Telephone Co., so I guess you could say I was destined to become interested in all things technical. In fact, our family vacations often revolved around visiting engineering marvels like the Hoover Dam. Or maybe it’s genetics — my family is full of engineers: my father, his brother, my brother, and three cousins — and my architect husband and I now have two sons in college studying engineering, too.
But what really got me interested in buildings and how they function was when my father volunteered as the property manager at our church. During that time, he would go in to check on the boiler, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to make sure everything was functioning properly. I would tag along, becoming more comfortable with the behind-the-scenes of the building, my experiences slowly helping to shape my interests and career desires.
After graduating high school — still interested in buildings — I met with an architect to discuss my career path. Although I was interested in becoming an architect, he told me to consider architectural engineering instead, as there were a lot of opportunities in that area that fit my interests. Armed with this advice, I ended up in the architectural engineering program at Kansas State University. This comprehensive program allowed me to take an in-depth look at electrical, mechanical, civil and structural engineering as they relate to buildings, further broadening my knowledge and interests.
Upon graduation, I got my first job in Detroit as a mechanical engineer designing HVAC systems to provide special temperature and humidity control in the manufacturing and testing facilities of Ford and Chrysler. This start in heavy industry helped me further understand specialized building mechanical systems and how they impact overall production and operations.