Bob O’Neill graduated from the the UMSL/Washington University Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program in 2020 and now works as a project engineer with Grumman|Butkus Associates in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Bob O’Neill)

Bob O’Neill was the kind of kid who enjoyed taking his toys apart to see how they worked, so it didn’t take him long to figure out he wanted to pursue a career in engineering.

After serving in the United States Army for four years after graduating high school, O’Neill enrolled in the UMSL/Washington University Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Initially, he thought he would pursue civil engineering but soon realized he was more interested in dynamic systems. In his second year in the program, he landed on mechanical engineering, which would allow him to build on his passion for sustainability. He said the joint engineering program gave him a well-rounded understanding of mechanical systems as well as skills that are important in any field, such as problem-solving and critical thinking.

“Those were things that I didn’t fully flesh out in my years before that, in high school and the army, so I was sharpening those skills,” he said. “The professors were awesome, and it was a well-rounded program. It created a good foundation for my understanding of mechanical systems and how things work.”

During his time at UMSL, O’Neill also worked as a student veteran coordinator at the Veterans Center, assisting incoming student veterans as they began their university coursework and advising fellow veterans on matters pertaining to their education benefits. He said it was a valuable experience to connect with fellow vets and help them out as they started their college careers.

“It’s good to have folks that are going through a similar transition from active duty to full-time student,” O’Neill said. “That’s a big jump, so it was nice to have people dealing with a similar experience, and to have that camaraderie and accountability. It’s a good little group to surround yourself with as you’re going through that transitionary period.”

O’Neill graduated with his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2020. Although he had his sights set on a career in building construction, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity at the time amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so he wound up working for AG Industries, a medical device manufacturer based in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He spent two years working as an engineer for AG Industries, a medical device manufacturer based in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He spent two years working as an engineer for the company, focusing on design, quality and R&D, until he moved to Chicago and started working at dbHMS, a sustainable engineering firm. It was a great way to get his feet wet in the industry, O’Neill said, as he gained valuable experience as a commissioning engineer on new construction projects.

In January 2024, O’Neill landed his current position as a project engineer with Grumman|Butkus Associates in Chicago. While he continues to work on some new construction projects, he primarily works in retro-commissioning, looking for ways to save energy and optimize mechanical systems in existing buildings to make them more efficient and sustainable. His role involves a lot of analysis, including reviewing trend data and drawings and on-site assessment and testing. He also does energy calculations to determine savings for modifying or updating HVAC automation systems and equipment.

“It’s a little all over the place sometimes, but generally speaking, the goal is to make systems more efficient,” he said. “And on a new construction project, to make sure that systems are designed and built as intended – a quality assurance process.”

O’Neill has known for a long time that he wanted to work in sustainable construction and design. While his path into building construction and retro-commissioning didn’t follow a straight line out of college, he’s excited to now be in a position to make a real impact on sustainability.

“It’s motivating to have a positive impact in the work you do and to be able to say, ‘OK, this is how much we saved on this energy efficiency measure,’” he said. “Or, ‘this measure is going to save us 5% energy over the course of the year compared to where we’re at now.’ It’s all about those little wins, when it comes to making building systems more efficient. I would say that is the most rewarding part of the work I do, because the most poignant statistic is that 40% of the world’s energy consumption goes to buildings. So if you can just chip away at that number a little bit in every building, it’s going to have a serious impact.”