Engineering spotlight: Craig Freeden: Q&A with Alaska Business Monthly.

• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Engineering & Architecture

Mechanical Engineer Craig Fredeen, PE, LEED-AP, was named last February as the 2015 Alaska Engineer of the Year after being nominated by the Alaska Chapter of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating and Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers). With nearly twenty years of experience, Fredeen has designed everything from single family homes in remote Alaska to the $120 million Anchorage Airport renovation, in locations throughout Alaska and Antarctica. He is known for providing his clients dependable, innovative design solutions with a hyper-focus on reducing long-term operational costs through energy conservation, simplified design, and system maintainability.

Fredeen actively encourages students to embrace math and science through classroom presentations, career fairs, and helping to establish and grow the now statewide FIRST robotics programs. As a member of the Anchorage Downtown Rotary club, Fredeen is a regular math tutor at Central Middle School as part of the club's 90% by 2020 program. On the civic side, he is the mechanical engineer on the Anchorage Building Board and a past eight-year member of the Alaska State Licensing Board for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors. Fredeen splits his off-work time between family, home improvements, and restoring his 1946 Chevy truck.

A resident of Alaska for more than thirty years, Fredeen received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University in 1996. He has extensive design and construction experience in HVAC, plumbing, power generation, controls, fuel systems, and fire protection systems on an eclectic mix of projects including commercial, institutional, utility, residential, and industrial facilities. In 2011, Fredeen was nominated and won two separate "Top Forty Under 40" awards, one through the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and the second through the Consulting Specifying Engineer national magazine.

Craig's projects have allowed him to experience most of Alaska first hand in Arctic, sub-Arctic, and marine climates. This brings him a better understanding of how projects impact the community and the end user. Alaska Business Monthly asked him about his work, dreaming big, and being an engineer.

ABM: What attracted you to engineering?

Fredeen: I really liked making things better. With engineering, you're improving people's lives through tangible objects whether that is a safer car or a more energy efficient building. We directly impact the community.

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