Consulting-Specifying Engineer - July 2008 - (Page 31)

Consulting-Specifying Engineer 40 Under 40 Richard Watters, PE, 35 Mechanical Engineer, Baird, Hampton & Brown, Fort Worth, Texas University of Texas, El Paso, BS in Mechanical Engineering Texas A&M, MS in Mechanical Engineering atters’ name has become synonymous with success with Dallas-Fort Worth-based medical facilities and other commercial, retail, and municipal buildings. His biggest payback came from helping the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dallas, which was having problems with its steam distribution system: Not enough water was getting back to the boiler plant. Watters created a six-step design to drastically improve efficiency by adding additional pipe, while abandoning parts of the older system since the below-ground pump was pressurizing the line. Watters realized his achievement when the utility company called the hospital to make sure “everything was OK” because its energy usage had dropped by 40%. Watters also worked on Fort Worth’s XTO Energy historic building with 9-ft ceilings, which needed new electrical, mechanical, and plumbing that had to be creatively constructed. Watters’ advice to others: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you are afraid to ask a dumb question thinking you’ll find the answer, you probably won’t. Instead, find a mentor to ask.” When Watters isn’t working, he enjoys going hiking and mountain biking in the state parks with his wife, Yesenia. Mike Westemeier, PE, LEED AP, 37 Principal, Mechanical Department, LKPM Engineers Inc., St. Paul, Minn. Iowa State, BS in Mechanical Engineering W W estemeier grew up watching his father solve problems for John Deere and later became the first in his family to graduate with a college degree. He supervises the 25-member mechanical engineering department and is in charge of bringing in clients and setting office standards. As the mechanical project manager, Westemeier implemented a heat recovery system to help make Buena Vista University’s new science building efficient. Westemeier also has designed Schwan’s frozen food company distribution centers across the country as the project engineer. His advice to others: “Don’t be afraid to learn from other people, even those who aren’t engineers and don’t have a degree.” An Eagle Scout, Westemeier takes time each week to trap shoot clay pigeons in a sportsman club. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Katrina, and their four children, Emily, 10, Sara, 8, Mark, 6, and Molly, 4, who enjoy fishing and riding their bikes. The couple is active in fundraisers for the St. John the Evangelist School and the Men’s Club in Little Canada, Minn. Gerald “Gerry” Williams, PE, LEED AP, 39 Vice President, Engineering, Cannon Design, St. Louis University of Missouri, BS in Mechanical Engineering Qui Song (Kent) Yu, PhD, 39 Associate Principal, Degenkolb Engineers, Portland, Ore. Bachestor Tongi University, BS in Civil Engineering University of California, San Diego, MS and PhD in Structural Engineering n Chinese, Yu’s first name means pine tree. “It stands for a person of tough character, because a tree can grow near a cliff and deal with cold or wind or snow,” Yu said. “When my dad gave me the name, he hoped I would have the similar characters of a pine tree.” The son of a leather-shoe factory owner and a teacher, Yu grew up in Shanghai and went through a traumatic earthquake as a young child that led him to sleep under the dining room table for weeks as he obsessed about how to make buildings safe. That curiosity led Yu to become an expert on seismic activity. He traveled to Peru with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute to study the damage and give advice after a major earthquake hit last August. “It was hard to see the little hands and bodies of the children,” he said. “I think about them every day when I work.” Yu, a father of two with wife, Lin, has assessed such buildings as San Francisco’s H. C. Moffitt Hospital and serves on the National Science Foundations’ cooperative urban Earthquake Disaster research project between the United States and Japan. W illiams knows how to go after what he wants. Most recently, he has his sights set on running his first marathon this October in Chicago. A tri-athlete who played on his high school’s golf team, Williams spends time coaching boys’ and girls’ soccer teams. As an engineer, he specializes in mechanical systems for high-tech laboratory buildings that conduct medical and pharmaceutical research. He helped secure Reagan International Airport when the terrorist attacks happened on Sept. 11, 2001. “It really changed the way I designed buildings,” he said. “I realized the importance of emergency shutoffs since smoke and debris from outside was coming in the building as people were being evacuated.” His other projects include the Center for Emerging Technologies, a lab incubator group that specializes in developing next-generation medical and other advanced technology companies. Williams used an energy-efficient design with a grass roof, a helical windpowered generator, and a hybrid of grape vines to shade the south wall during the summer and allow sun exposure during the winter. “It’s about taking old engineering concepts and applying them to high-tech modern buildings,” said Williams, who is married with three children. I Consulting-Specifying Engineer • JULY 2008 31

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Consulting-Specifying Engineer - July 2008 Contents Viewpoint Letters News M/E Roundtable 40 Under 40 Using Demand-Based Reset Strategies VFDs and Motors: Making the Right Match Grounding and Bonding Practices for Hazardous Areas Codes & Standards Case Study New Products Equipment Lifecycles Advertiser Index Green Space

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - July 2008

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