"No Dumb Ideas"

Sometimes the best solutions are ones you least expect to work

I have always felt that in studying and practicing engineering, a profession which typically appeals to introverts, I have been able to set myself apart through my ability to connect with people. In the business world, this is a base-level requirement.

The focus of my career thus far has been technically driven in the field of tunnel ventilation design. Creating and interpreting 3D simulations of smoke flow in train stations is generally not a client-facing role. The parts of my work that I have enjoyed the most have been coordinating my designs with other engineering disciplines; coming up with creative compromises in tight-fitting underground spaces where every square foot of excavated ground adds more than $10,000 to construction costs.

No tunnel system (ventilation, lighting, fire protection, etc.) is designed in a vacuum. And in projects where each team is fighting for literal inches of space, it can take a ton of work to sell people on a vision. Each design decision can feel like robbing Peter to pay Paul - giving extra space to one discipline will always take it away from another. Managing this balance is not easy, but the interpersonal skills required to generate a viable design can be applied to any sector of business.

I have also (unknowingly) been positioning myself as a “creative realist” since I can remember. I take the “no bad ideas” brainstorming mantra to heart. This mindset has resulted in some of the biggest accomplishments of my career. During my senior design course at Bucknell, I was able to come up with some of the most integral solutions for my project, which nobody thought would work... Until they did. And as a young engineer, I proposed a nontypical redesign for one of the Second Avenue Subway stations I was working on. With some adjustments and proof of concept testing, the redesign was approved and would end up saving NYC taxpayers $500 million in construction costs.