February 2021

President's Message

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying busy.

For our second meeting this year, we will have an exciting presentation that is a bit outside the box, again at NO CHARGE! If we’re lucky March could possibly be an in person meeting, but we are striving to be lucky enough to have the Clay Shoot in April.

Our annual scholarship application closed 2/6/21, but if you have any other last minute applicants, please send them directly to myself and the board.

I wish you and your families well.

Alec Lyons

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President Elect Report

President Elect / Programs Chair – John Bigda

Please join us for an online training session, can be attended from the comfort of your home or wherever you are working/being during these days of social distancing!

12:00PM-1:00 PM

This meeting will be held online via Teams

Access Information will be sent prior to the meeting  

Meeting Registration

It is FREE to attend this presentation.

Kelli Goatley-Seals & Christine Thompson

Smoke Free Truckee Meadows is a local effort of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition (NTPC) that is working to pass laws in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County prohibiting smoking in casinos and bars. Kelli Goatley-Seals, NTPC President and Washoe County Health District Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, and Christine Thompson, Cancer Prevention Programs Manager with Nevada Cancer Coalition, will share details about the effort and are looking forward to conversation with ASHRAE’s Northern Nevada Chapter members about this issue.

Bio:

Kelli Goatley-Seals is a native Nevadan who has been working in public health with the Washoe County Health District for 18 years.  She currently works in chronic disease prevention, focusing much of her work on tobacco prevention and control. Kelli is the current President of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, whose mission is to improve the health of all Nevadans by reducing the burden of tobacco use and nicotine addiction.

Christine Thompson is Cancer Prevention Programs Manager at Nevada Cancer Coalition, a statewide non-profit she joined in 2016. Her program initiatives focus on tobacco prevention and control and skin cancer prevention. She is an advocate for healthy living and the role of education and public health initiatives in ensuring community health and wellness. Christine grew up in Gainesville, FL and is a UF graduate. She and her family have lived in Reno since the mid-1990s.

Meeting Schedule: 

Meeting for next year are being evaluated. See schedule for remainder of the ASHRAE "year".

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Historian's Report

Dean Borges-Historian

Hi Everyone,

Northern Nevada Chapter cancelled all face-to-face activities for the rest of 2021, per the Governor’s directions for “Covid-19” policies.  We have had a “Zoom Meeting” for January 21^st.

There was no cost to attend this presentation by Jack Zarour - ASHRAE Mechanical Engineer, “Filtration” for air filters to have any impact must be appropriately specified, installed and maintained, for the building in which they are used.

Adrienne Thomle, Fellow provided a Leadership Recall response (17 Questions in Appendix N of the Historians Guide) below.

Best regards,

Dean S. Borges, Historian, 2020-21 

Adrienne Thomle, Fellow – Leadership Recall for Historian, Past President of Northern Nevada Chapter and past member of Minnesota Chapter ASHRAE.

1. Brief Biological sketch – I was born in a snow blizzard in North Dakota, my parents lived on a ranch in South Dakota but the closest hospital was in ND. I have one sister who is 2 years older than me and is a Geological Engineer. The year before my first grade my parents lost their barn in a tornado and house in a gas appliance fire which destroyed almost everything we owned so my parents sold the ranch and we moved into “town” which in those days was 2500 population but today is about 1000. I worked full time as a waitress, bar tender and technician while working my way through South Dakota School if Mines and Technology and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. My first job was with Control Data Corporation as a Process Engineer in a SMT printed circuit board assembly plant; I ran two maquiladora plants in Chihuahua and Tijuana Mexico as an engineer then worked up to head of the engineering department. Eventually I transferred to Minneapolis and worked for Honeywell in engineering design and product management before retiring in 2016. When I retired, I was the world expert in airside economizer controls. I am still involved in the industry through ASHRAE.
2. What attracted me to engineering? There were two major influences in my life of engineering: When I was in grade school during the winter I would go to the school (high school and grade school) before bedtime with my dad when he checked on the boilers, those big giants fascinated me! And the second was my sister who threatened me not to go to college for Biology but I had to go to her school, SDSM&T until she graduated. So now I am an engineer with over 20 patents.
3. What was first job in HVAC industry? At Honeywell in Minneapolis as a Product Manager in engineering department for commercial and residential gas ignitors and controls. Eventually led to global Product Management of HVAC controls, e.g., airside economizers, damper actuators, sensors, etc.
4. Describe industry at that time: No CAD, no computers, all design was hand drawn. All records for revisions were on index cards that tracked changes and indexed where the drawings could be found. My first drawing came back from the tool shop with K.I.S.S. written across it in huge red letters, I had to redo the design. So much for tool design classes in college.
5. How did I get started in ASHRAE? Back in 1990s I attended the AHRI show every January to work in the Honeywell booth. In 1998 one of my colleagues asked me if I wanted to go to the ASHRAE meetings at the headquarters hotel - I was curious and met with another Honeywell colleague in the hall and he invited me to TC 7.6. I kept going every year and one meeting they recognized I had been at past meetings and invited me to sit at the table versus on the side against the wall where visitors sit. The next year the out-going chair asked me to be secretary of the committee. From there I was hooked.
6. ASHRAE experience: Society – TC 7.6 from 2004 to present, TC 7.2 from 2007 to present, TC 6.3, TC 9.5, Guideline 16 writer , Standards 100 writer, 105 writer, 207 writer, Energy Position document (past chair and current member), Electronic Communications committee, TAC Section 7 head 2012-2016, Standards 2016-2018, (SPLS liaison for Guidelines 27 and 37, Standards 35, 37, 78, 84, 52.2, 200 and 229), Director at Large 2020 – 2023 Voting member of the BOD, Ex-O for Res Buildings Committee 2020-2021, Tech Council voting member 2020-2021, Documents Review Committee voting member 2020-2021, and Appointments roadmap committee 2020-2021.
7. Advise I would give to young person entering the field – definitely attend not only the AHRI show BUT attending the seminars and committee meetings at ASHRAE are a great experience. Get involved in committee work, someday they will invite you to sit at the table but definitely speak up in the meetings. Today young engineers do not stay with a company as long as engineers did in the past and attending the committee meetings will be the best networking opportunity for you in the industry. You will meet the most influential people in the industry and learn from their experiences. These individuals will become lifelong friends. There will always be buildings all over the world in your lifetime and they all need HVAC equipment and design. If you are good and have the right contacts you can write your ticket to any job you want.

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