PES Scholarship Supporter – Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell’s commitment to aiding the next generation of power and energy engineers allows IEEE PES Scholarship Plus to make an even greater impact. Burns & McDonnell is a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting solutions firm, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They have a staff of 5,700 including engineers, architects, construction professionals, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and scientists, representing virtually all design disciplines.

Burns and McDonnell works closely with our program to offer internship and mentoring opportunities directly to our scholars. In addition, many of our scholars have gone on to work full-time at Burns and McDonnell.

How has your organization benefited from supporting the PES Scholarship Plus Initiative?

Burns & McDonnell has always been very heavily involved in the PES Scholarship Plus Initiative – from promoting the scholarship to students at the universities we visit, to participating in PES activities and attending conferences. Burns & McDonnell employees mentor Scholars, and they promote the initiative internally to candidates and intern hires.  PES Scholarship recipients differentiate them from other candidates, and that means that the PES Scholarship Plus Initiative helps Burns & McDonnell identify a candidate that stands out from the rest.

In the end, it’s mutually beneficial for Burns & McDonnell to be involved in the Scholarship Plus Initiative because they are getting more people to choose power engineering instead of another field of study. Companies that invest in the Initiative will find that it not only benefits the industry but it benefits them as a company as well. By encouraging these students to get involved, and providing them opportunities in the industry, it creates a more knowledgeable pool of talent than we’ve previously had. The more high quality talent we have in the industry talent pool, the better each of our companies will be because of it.

What distinguishes a PES Scholarship recipient from other candidates?

A candidate who has received a PES Scholarship will come into a job interview with better knowledge of our industry and a better understanding of what our company’s role in the power industry is. Receiving the scholarship and being exposed to the opportunities that come with it gives a candidate more confidence that this is the right field for them and that they are qualified for the work they will be doing. Most importantly, having been involved in the scholarship program gives candidates a better network of other power professionals already working in the industry. That helps them both while they are job searching and once they start a job.