38/Plumbing Engineer December 2021
general contractors and several construction companies. It was just a crazy time. The U.S. Army Corps of engi- neers was saying if this goes way south, we need to have something in place to take care of it. The good thing was it didn't go way south, but at the beginning, in March 2020, we didn't know if there were going to be millions of people dying from COVID in weeks. You never know with a pandemic. On the plumbing side of things, we replaced the domes- tic water heaters, upgraded the domestic water heater sys- tems, installed Legionella control systems, upgraded toilet fixtures, upgraded medical air compressors, upgraded medical vacuum pumps, brought in new bulk oxygen stor- age tanks, and re-piped most of the medical gas systems to provide increased oxygen, medical vacuum and medical air supplies to the patient rooms. There were hundreds of workers on the site working in unison toward a single goal - to get the facility ready for an influx of COVID-19 patients. It was a truly stellar effort put forth by all parties and I am proud to have been a part of it. PE: Mentorship is an important topic for the plumb- ing industry right now. Can you elaborate on what you have learned as a mentor and the types of mentorship programs you've helped establish at Grumman Butkus Associates? JF: Mentoring is how I give back to the engineering com- munity that I am proudly a part of. At Grumman Butkus, we encourage development of all employees to be the best they can be. This benefits the employees as well as the company. We provide numerous training opportunities every year such as participation in ASPE events, sending people to seminars and a monthly open forum called "Tell Me Something I Don't Know," where we share knowledge of all engineering disciplines with each other. Mentoring is a learning relationship that is constantly evolving. It is bringing forth knowledge, training and advice on how to deal with people, projects and the stress- es of the engineering profession. It involves providing challenges as well as being there to help solve problems or difficult design challenges. It is encouraging mentees to develop professionally, socially and personally. It involves patience as well as stopping to listen. It is about teaching an engineer to be self-sufficient and not be dependent upon others for solutions. Knowing where to find an answer is often more important than knowing the answer. We will never know everything but knowing where to find it or whom to ask is very important. It is about teaching an engineer to not be afraid of ask- ing "dumb questions" simply because they do not know the answer. Mentoring is also about helping someone achieve life balance. Work does not make a whole person. Life is not fulfilling without social and personal interaction. Family is very important, as are friends and outside interests. Encouraging participation in work events, industry events and taking time for themselves all help round out an indi- vidual. I take pride in seeing my co-workers and other design professionals excelling because of my efforts. Over the years, I have assisted hundreds of plumbing engineers through training and participation in ASPE at the local and national levels, and helped teach plumbing engineering courses for up-and-coming ASPE Chicago Chapter members. I also helped develop a training course for the ASPE CPD designation and presented it at local and national meetings. PE: Who do you consider your mentor and what have learned from him/her? JF: I would say that I have had two mentors in my life. The first is Jacques Chatain, who introduced me to plumbing engineering and encouraged me to participate in ASPE. He helped bring me into the fellowship of ASPE. The second mentor would be Dick Kviz, who taught me the finer points of plumbing engineering design as well as
Engineer of the Year
Grumman Butkas Associates' team at work during the con- version of Westlake Hospital into an alternate care facility for COVID-19 patients.
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