|
Today's Featured Biography
Paul Jackson
I attended Purdue University and graduated in January 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Shortly after graduation, I started working in downtown Chicago for an engineering design company, Pioneer Service and Engineering, and participated in the design of control systems for the Kewaunee Nuclear Power station near Green Bay.
I met my future wife, Lisl, in Chicago and after a short dating period and engagement, married Lisl in February 1973. Later that year, I took a new job with Brown & Root in Houston, continuing controls design for the South Texas Project; our first daughter was born late in 1973.
I attended the University of Houston (night school) and completed an MBA in the fall of 1977. During the 3 years of night school, our second daughter was born in July 1976.
In 1979, I again changed jobs and returned to the Kansas City area to work at Black & Veatch. Over the next 22 years, I worked on a variety of power plants and worked at several field locations. My initial field assignment returned us to Texas for almost 2 years at the Comanche Peak power plant (under construction) followed by 2 ½ years at the Duane Arnold power station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Following these field assignments, I worked on several combined cycle power plant projects in Thailand and followed with a field assignment to manage startup of the Rayong Power Plant in Thailand for 2 ½ years. During this time I also was the lead control system engineer on site and completed the assignment as the field project manager for the final year, in addition to the control system and startup duties. During this assignment, our younger daughter lived with another family in Bangkok and commuted on the weekends to be with Lisl and me--there was no international school where we were based.
After returning to the US, I participated in several studies and proposals for new Thai power projects, including a supercritical power plant study. Lisl and I returned to Thailand for 2 ½ years as part of an expatriate team to open a new design office in Bangkok and lead a team of Thai nationals in designing control systems for a three block combined cycle plant. My wife, Lisl, found a position at an international school teaching art during this time. We managed to take several vacation trips during this assignment and traveled to New Zealand twice, Australia once, and Sri Lanka, in addition to enjoying various shorter weekend travels in Thailand.
In 2001, I again changed jobs and we relocated to Reading, Pennsylvania to work with WorleyParsons. While there, I again lead design efforts for combined cycle power stations and again took a field assignment to North Carolina for startup.
In 2003, the Tennessee Valley Authority selected me to manage a system improvement program, necessitating our relocation to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Unfortunately, the program was cancelled 9 months after we relocated; WorleyParsons has an office in Chattanooga so relocating again was not necessary. I continued control system design for various TVA plant upgrades and several other projects before volunteering for an assignment in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010 to lead control design for a WorleyParsons (Singapore) design team. Following this 4 month assignment, I returned to Chattanooga.
Subsequently, another Vietnamese coal fired power plant project needed assistance at the project location in Thai Binh, Vietnam in November 2011. The engineering design for this project was on site about 3 hours from Hanoi and I was the engineering manager for the project, leading a small expatriate team in guiding the Vietnamese engineering staff for 16 months. After the prime contractor (a Japanese/Korean consortium) was selected, I was asked to embed in the Korean contractors’ office in Seoul, South Korea. My task there was to monitor engineering design quality and guide/direct engineering decisions by the Korean design team. Lisl joined me there for the 6 months of that assignment.
At the end of this assignment, we returned to Chattanooga. I continued to work on various projects and started training for retirement by changing to part-time work in June 2014 and finally retiring in at the beginning of July 2015.
Since then, we’ve managed multiple visits to our daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren and are thoroughly enjoying the interactions. The grandkids are 11, 8, 6, 5, 4, and 3. We have met people from all over the world and are maintaining the friendships by visiting (or enjoying their visits) and traveling. We have hosted several exchange students over the years (from Iceland, Republic of Georgia, Peru, Japan, Spain) for year programs, and have continued to host short term exchanges from Germany, China, and Russia. We’ve visited sister cities of Chattanooga in Germany, China, and South Korea and have traveled to Germany, UK, Peru, and traveled to South Africa in spring 2016. Over the years, Paul has maintained close friendships with fraternity brothers; a core group has made an annual expedition somewhere to hike, canoe, or travel for over 40 years. This is the year we will make a raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, previous trips were to Turkey and Hadrian’s Wall in northern England as well as multiple wilderness hikes in the western US.
Unfortunately, I'll miss all the reunion activities as we have recently arisen family commitments that will take precedent; hope all attending will thoroughly enjoy the reunion.
VIEW ALL BIOGRAPHIES
|
Indicates an included photo
