I joined the Keen team in February 2017 shortly after graduating from Iowa State in Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering. I knew very little about construction but I had a good knowledge of the agriculture industry. I started as a Project Engineer on the operations side. In this position I worked on site in Tipton, IN for 4 months and then in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada for about 10 months. Being onsite allowed me to quickly learn more about the construction process and agriculture industry from a seed processing standpoint. We won an Excellence in Construction award for the Tipton Precleaner Project.
I worked on the operations side for about 3 years and then moved to the Engineering department. I realized I enjoy being hands on and deep within the design portion of projects. Here I was able to apply my learnings from the operations side and infuse them into the design phase of projects. My time on the operations team has really helped me excel in the Engineering department. I have been on the Engineering team now for about 4 ½ years and have designed around 10 projects. I am currently designing a greenfield site.
My Why:
Growing up, I enjoyed putting things together and was a big fan of Lego sets. I enjoy creating something from nothing. In this case, I enjoy seeing a digital design come to life in reality. I enjoy the challenge of finding ways to improve the installation process to make it quicker and easier for the team in the field. Also, taking lessons learned from previous projects and implementing them on new projects. Family comes before work for me, so there is an added benefit that what I enjoy helps support my family.
