Melissa Moran

After completing her BSME at Purdue, Melissa Moran attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin in the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering program.  Soon after graduating, she then began her career as an environmental engineering consultant assisting municipal and industrial clients planning for safe drinking water and water supply reliability. Starting as a project engineer, and then learning the ropes to become a project manager, a client manager and ultimately the Global Leader for Water Supply and Treatment.

Fourteen years into her consulting career, Moran’s work took her to Guatemala where she assisted a Guatemalan-based non-governmental organization in a two-year assignment providing water supply and sanitation systems in the rural highlands.

Upon returning from Guatemala, Melissa continued consulting for another seven years before starting work at The Nature Conservancy in Indiana. It is here where she develops and promotes the Children of Indiana Nature Park, a bicentennial project designed to reconnect kids to nature.  In addition, Melissa supports the Conservancy’s urban water projects in Indiana.

Not having the Environmental and Ecological Engineering program at Purdue when she was an undergrad in 1986, she is now thrilled to be a member of the External Advisory Committee and contribute to the growth and evolution of the program.

Moran enjoys meeting EEE students, hearing about their experiences and interests, then helping them consider different ways to envision a career, drawing from her own non-traditional path.

As she works with students in her mentoring circle, she wishes to validate the importance of the career path they have chosen.

“Humans must learn new and dramatically different ways to live sustainably,” Moran emphasized, ”for the future of our species and many others, and EEE’s are the ones to do this work!”

Brad Kohlmeyer

Brad Kohlmeyer is one of the 19 members of the EEE External Advisory Council, and it is his hope that he can “provide perspective on the type of careers that are available in the environmental field, especially in the manufacturing sector.”

Having graduated from Purdue in 1990 with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Kohlmeyer’s career began with a brief stint working for a company that built revolving doors and storefronts. Unfortunately, with a turn in the economy, the facility eventually closed.  However, with the passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments that created the Title V air permitting program, there was an influx of engineer recruitment at the Illinois EPA to implement the permitting program.

While working with the Illinois EPA, he became the lead on all air permitting activities for the petroleum refineries in the state and had opportunities to work on regulatory development, enforcement activities, and outreach with the regulated community over a six and a half year period.

Kohlmeyer then moved on to Mobil Oil Corporation (later ExxonMobil Corporation) where he developed programs to ensure compliance with air permits, served as the permitting lead on multi-million dollar projects and has worked with IEPA personnel and regulatory groups in the development of regulations that allow the Agency to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards in a cost-effective way for industry.

Currently, he is a Senior Environmental Advisor for ExxonMobil Oil Corporation at the Joliet refinery.

Using his experience in the field of environmental engineering, he hopes to provide insight as to the types of classes that will prepare them for a career in the environmental field that is both fruitful for them and the employer they choose.

When asked what it means to be on the EEE EAC, Kohlmeyer stated, “In short, honored and proud.”