HOW HAS THE INDUSTRY CHANGED SINCE THE START OF YOUR CAREER?
When I first started more than 30 years ago in the power utility industry, I remember working with drafting pens that had refillable ink on mylar, vellum, and sepia drafting sheets. Now they have been replaced by MicroStation and AutoCAD. Substations had electromechanical protective relays, oil circuit breakers, metal-clad switchgears. Nowadays, substation designers replace them with electronic protective relays, SF6 breakers, and gas-insulated substations. Power plants were mostly coal, nuclear, oil, and gas but now more commonly designed and constructed are wind turbines and solar farms.
WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF ENGINEERING THAT YOU COULDN’T GET FROM ANY OTHER KIND OF WORK?
It brings satisfaction and accomplishment when I drive around and find myself looking at some of the projects that I managed, led, or participated in and knowing that I have made a difference in the engineering industry.
WHAT PROJECT HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED WITH THAT HAD THE MOST SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON YOUR CAREER?
In my first assignment after graduation, I was part of a design-build team to construct a 550-megawatt coal power plant in San Antonio. As a young engineer, the project allowed me to witness and be part of just about every aspect of engineering.
WHAT’S ONE ITEM YOU CAN’T LEAVE YOUR HOUSE WITHOUT?
I can’t leave home without my cell phone. The cell phone has become part of my day-to-day essentials.
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