Christopher Baersten
39, Vice President and Project Manager
Kennedy Jenks Consultants Inc.
Seattle

Pursuing water-wastewater work as a career wasn’t the first thing on Christopher Baersten’s mind when he began studying engineering. But as he learned more about the field he found himself drawn to it partially because of the need to integrate elements of other disciplines he was interested in such as biology, physics and chemistry.

“It wasn’t just like using one of those. It was all of them,” he says. “There was just this big connection to me for protecting public health, protecting our communities, plus protecting ecosystems that we’re trying to coexist with.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Seattle University, he joined consultant Kennedy Jenks as an intern and completed a master’s degree in water and wastewater treatment at the University of Washington in 2010.

He then steadily rose through the firm’s ranks, from staff engineer to client director to his current role as vice president and project manager. His work primarily focuses on planning, design and construction management services for treatment plants, pipelines and pump stations for public agencies.

Baersten disagrees that sticking to water-wastewater has made him a specialist due to the sheer variety of systems and pursuits it involves such as collection, system work planning, and work reliability engineering. Additionally, handling the chemical systems and designing biological processes requires working with a diverse team that includes structural engineers, electrical engineers, control engineers and more.

“I’ve actually kind of broadened as I’ve kept going in my career seeing those different aspects of how to pull it all together,” he says. “I feel like sometimes we like these really specific details, but I’ve also really appreciated connecting to the greater context as well.”

As a licensed professional engineer in Washington and Oregon with specialized knowledge in regional environmental issues, Baersten is helping expand Kennedy Jenks’ footprint across the Pacific Northwest. His portfolio includes the Cascadia wastewater treatment plant and Ballard conveyance project. He says his aptitude for problem-solving has been essential to meet challenges of his career, but empathy has been the key to his success.

“I am trying to put myself in other people’s shoes and ask what are they trying to do?” he explains. “What are their concerns? Where do they feel like things are challenging? You know, what are their challenges versus what are my challenges and how do we develop solutions that can meet both of those?”

Looking forward, Baersten is already considering challenges facing the industry and how he can play a role in solving them. As U.S. wastewater treatment plants and water facilities begin to age, there will be a need to restore and replace them. To do that effectively will require skilled engineers trained to find the best alternatives to accomplish that.

“We’re seeing an immense amount of work still in the water-wastewater industry and the challenge with that is we aren’t seeing people coming into the industry we need to support that,” he says. “A huge part of what I do right now is just mentoring.”