From Justin Barrett, March 2019:

I grew up on a farm in Northwest IA and graduated from Armstrong-Ringsted High School in 1999.  During my senior year of high school, I job shadowed my cousin working for McQuay as a Mechanical Engineer.  This experience, along with my enjoyment of math and science, lead me to Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University.  At Iowa State, I joined the ISU Student ASHRAE Chapter while taking Dr. Maxwell’s HVAC Design Engineering Course.

I was an ASHRAE Iowa Chapter Scholarship winner in 2003 and attended the chapter meeting in Ames to receive the scholarship.  I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2004.  After graduation, I moved to Des Moines and worked for Hussmann/Ingersoll-Rand, formerly known as Taylor Industries.  I was able to work on a wide variety of HVAC and refrigeration projects- mostly in commercial food and grocery.  In addition to the work experience, I received mentoring from senior PE’s in the company.  I took an active role in the Iowa Chapter leading up to the 2009 Region VI CRC.  Jason Kems encouraged me to be involved with the event, and I joined the planning committee as the Awards Banquet Chair.  Through my CRC involvement, I joined the chapter BOG as refrigeration chair in 2008/2009.  I have been a board member every year since.

In 2009 I became a licensed Professional Engineer.  In 2010, I left Hussmann and joined Hart-Hammer as a Sales Engineer. In 2011-2012 I moved into the Iowa Chapter chairs as secretary.  I was chapter president in 2014-2015.

I was the Registration Chair for the 2018 Region VI CRC in Des Moines.  Attending CRC’s and helping when it is Des Moines’ turn as host are some of my favorite ASHRAE memories.  Involvement in ASHRAE at the local level is a wonderful tool for technical, professional, and personal development.