In 1951, the National Society of Professional Engineers established the very first National Engineers Week. This honorary week not only recognizes present-day engineers, but also pays tribute those of our past. The week-long celebration always takes place in February, following President’s Day (2/20-2/26), to commemorate the nation’s first recognized engineer, George Washington. Some of the core goals for Engineers Week include: recognizing engineers for their hard work, encouraging the youth to consider this career path, emphasizing the significance of pursuing a technical degree, and inspiring the engineers of our future.

Through Engineers Week, it is crucial to highlight and inspire a diverse workforce, and reiterate the importance of having a technical education rooted in high level science, math, or technology. Our uniquely versatile team is enriched by the variety of skill-levels, years of experience, certifications, backgrounds, educations, areas of expertise, and more. Among these individuals, there are 15 licensed professional engineers (PE), 5 licensed engineers in training (EIT), 4 females, and 7 people who have worked in the industry for over 20 years. Finally, this team of experienced people is led by a few talented individuals: Noah Nemmers, Chris Rundall, and Luke Myers. Collectively, these three managers lead 28 engineers, have well-over 60 years of work experience, and 22 years of leading teams at Baseline alone—that’s impressive!

Since last year, our infrastructure team has grown by more than 10 people. Currently, we have 31 talented team members who make up our infrastructure team, who pay great attention to detail, take ownership over their work, and continually exceed expectations. Each individual has their own expertise and passion, creating a well-rounded and knowledgeable group. It is inspiring to see our engineers work as a team to creatively solve complex problems. We are thankful for their contribution to our company and our local communities, and are continually impressed by the quality of work that they produce.

When Baseline was founded in 1998, the company was rooted in civil engineering expertise. From that foundation, various different specialties have been added to the company’s services such as planning, surveying, landscape architecture, public information management, and more. Therefore, enthusiasm for the engineering industry, and the people within it, is what sparked and developed the formation of this firm. We celebrate our civil engineering team not only on this week, but every day that leads and follows.

We thank and acknowledge all of the incredibly accomplished engineers out there, within Baseline and beyond!

Q&A WITH BASELINE’S ENGINEERS
Baseline’s civil engineering team was asked to reflect upon their experiences as engineers. Check out what they had to say this week in their responses below.

Question: Who (or what) inspired you to become an engineer? Why?

  • “Science and the desire to contribute to society in a sustainable and thoughtful way.” Cameron Stone
  • “My parents gave me guidance and encouragement to pursue engineering based on my strengths. I’m glad they did!” Chris Rundall
  • “Technical work that would keep me engaged, constantly learning, and improving the communities around me.” Cody Pfister
  • “I decided to become an engineer while taking Calculus 2. Math became very intriguing to me during this class and I began to realize all of the different opportunities there were for me in this field.” Hannah Shultz
  • “Me, because I like to build things and design stuff.” Isaac Tiley
  • “Tom Frayer (my high school engineering teacher). Showed me how exciting it is to see a project become reality!” Jake Jackson
  • “I’ve always been interested in science and how things worked.” Lan Van
  • “A comment from an elementary school teacher, who told us that an engineer can create and build, as well as have the freedom to design the environments in which we live.” Laura Rios
  • “My father and a couple of my uncles were civil/structural engineers so it seemed like a decent career choice.” Luke Seeber
  • “I have always loved streams and rivers and the idea of actually designing them sounded amazing to me.” Matt Jones
  • “I grew up watching a bunch of engineering-related shows on the Discovery Channel and always wanted to know how things worked. My high school teachers encouraged me to pursue engineering and it has felt like the correct path since.” Morgan Clapp
  • “My father inspired me. He was a drafter in a mechanical engineering department for a company that produced conveyor systems for assembly lines but he would make prototypes and show the engineers he was working with how they could make improvements. I also had many professors in school that inspired me to choose my current field; most notably was my land surveying professor.” Noah Nemmers
  • “Helping to solve environmental problems.” Richie Cupp
  • “My engineering math teacher. He made the engineering world come alive.” Rob Buchholz
  • “I went to college to study wildlife biology but decided to change to follow my math background and went into civil engineering. I’m positive I made the right decision.” Steve Baggs
  • “My dad was a mechanical engineer, so that help steer me in the direction of becoming a civil engineer.” Steve Batchelder

A slideshow, with further responses from the engineers, is linked here.