Once again, this year the BCxA Scholarship Foundation is proud to award five scholarship winners for 2021. Here, in alphabetical order, are the recipients.
Shrikant Joshi is a mechanical engineer with Taitem Engineering, PC in New York, who is currently conducting energy auditing, energy engineering and measurement & verification on projects for NYSERDA and Tomkins County. He plans to use his scholarship to enroll in the Commissioning Provider Certificate Program and eventually become a Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP).
Krystina Kattermann came to the commissioning profession in an unusual way, after earning Bachelor of Science degrees in Microbiology and in Molecular Genetics, then working as a lab technician. She found that work to be unfulfilling, and wanted a job that would challenge her daily while having a beneficial impact on the planet. “Commissioning marries those two concepts.” she says. Krystina plans to use this scholarship to pursue courses that will increase her understanding of electrical distribution system design, how to efficiently read electrical distribution plans, how to identify design flaws, and what to look for from a commissioning standpoint during site work.
Martin Patrick Kilbane says, “My goal is to optimize building systems to ensure peak performance and occupant comfort in all facilities. … I have worked on mechanical, electrical, plumbing, technological, architectural, and civil issues. I enjoy that each day is a new experience from conducting pre-functional equipment inspections to functionally testing systems by running them through the designed sequence of operations. As a mechanical engineer, I was drawn to the design side, but commissioning has provided me an outlet to conduct design reviews where I catch issues even before construction begins.” Martin plans to use his scholarship to pay student loans before starting graduate school at the University of Dayton.
Hayden Edward Lampert became interested in commissioning after his first co-op with Heapy. “I really feel like I am doing work that matters with my team. Even though the hope is to not find errors in a building or a construction site, it feels good when I can spot even a little issue, and have it fixed before it turns into a much larger issue later in construction or occupancy.” Hayden plans to use his scholarship to help pay for his Electrical Engineering and Technology program at the University of Cincinnati.
Stephen Obermeier has worked in building commissioning for 5 years, serving a variety of industries, ranging from pharmaceutical labs and healthcare facilities, to academic institutions and federal buildings. These diverse experiences have shown me that building commissioning has near limitless applications and brings a different perspective to the table. The value added to a project by proper commissioning has shown me that our industry provides a critical eye to construction and helps to keep progress moving in a meaningful way. Stephen plans to use this scholarship to become a Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP) to “further expand my qualifications and allow me to provide a greater quality of service to my industry.”