2024’s 30 Under 30 EC&M Electrical All Stars: Maria Howell

Maria Howell did not always dream of designing industrial energy systems. Her path to the electrical industry was shaped by experiences and interests that she acquired over time.

“It started in high school with my physics teacher who made the subject so fun that I wanted to learn more about it,” she says.

She earned a double major in physics and electrical engineering and a minor in business and nuclear engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, which further cemented her desire to work in the energy industry.

Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, she interned at Burns & McDonnell, where she was hired in the Global Facilities group.

“I loved the people and the energy and decided to accept an offer to stay with the team after graduation,” she says.

When she joined the company, she volunteered to work at a location in Kansas for a year to see firsthand how designs go from paper to light. During this time, she was able to see and experience many hands-on training moments firsthand.

“There’s no better training than seeing it all happen right before your eyes and being able to ask questions of the technicians and electricians who work with the materials you specify every day,” she says. “From pulling wires to setting circuit breakers to temporary power conditions to vendor requests and requirements, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge during my time there.”

Now, as a licensed electrical engineer for the Food & Beverage team, she creates drawings, meets with equipment suppliers and customers, assesses job site conditions, and performs design calculations. When she’s in the field, she visits various project sites, leads breakdowns to execute fast-moving projects, and also walks potential subcontractors on site.

She currently manages the design and construction schedules for five ongoing projects. One of her favorite parts of her current role is coordinating with other discipline engineers and learning about what makes a design complete.

“Electricity is just one piece of a very large puzzle, and I like to see the bigger picture,” she says. “I also love the sense of accomplishment that comes from investing time and energy into solving a customer’s problem and seeing the finished product come to life. You really feel like you’re making a difference.”