Portsmouth, NH Petersen Engineering has hired Gabrielle Tobin to join the firm as electrical project engineer. Tobin is the firm’s tenth hire in 2020 – a year in which many engineering firms nationwide are contracting in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tobin joins Petersen Engineering as the firm’s first fully remote employee, after having spent eight years as an electrical project engineer with MEP Engineering, Inc., in Centennial, CO. She has project experience in education, public transit, churches, clinics, office/retail and multifamily residential. She enjoys the multidisciplinary coordination that goes into each project and loves working with and meeting new people. 

“I joined Petersen with zero hesitation and total excitement. It was evident from early conversations that this was no ordinary group of people. I am thrilled to be joining a team of respected professionals that has a wealth of technical knowledge and a passion for contributing and impacting the world around them,” said Tobin.

“Gabi’s strong technical background, as well as her excellent people skills are exactly what we need right now to round out our electrical engineering department,” said James Petersen, founder and principal. “We have been fortunate that demand for affordable, multifamily housing has continued to grow during the COVID-19 crisis, and we’ve had the opportunity to staff up to meet that demand.”

Simultaneously, the firm announced the promotion of Keirstan Field, EIT, to design manager. Field joined Petersen Engineering in January 2019 after receiving a bachelor of science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in summer 2017, and a master of science in Management in the winter of 2018. 

“Keirstan let us know from day one that she was interested in management within Petersen Engineering,” said Petersen. “She is a great ambassador for the firm, having helped us recruit many of our recent hires. She’s also been instrumental in developing effective onboarding processes for our staff at all levels. This promotion is nothing more than a formal recognition of much of the work she had taken on through her own initiative.”

Petersen Engineering has doubled in size over the past two years, to help meet the growing demand for engineers with strong expertise in energy efficiency and resiliency in the commercial building sector. This growth started with the firm bringing its electrical engineering work in house in 2019 rather than subcontracting it out. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, this growth has continued and has even accelerated.