National Co-op Student of the Year Thrives in Clean Energy Career
Two co-op experiences helped Kelly O’Connell, E’16, civil engineering, finetune her career focus to energy systems, which led her to adjust her coursework, select a minor in mechanical engineering, and complete a final co-op in her chosen field of sustainable energy.
When Kelly O’Connell, E’16, civil engineering, completed co-ops at a large construction company and a water resources engineering firm, she realized her true passion was not with either of those pursuits, but was instead in sustainable energy systems.
With determination that she could pursue her dream career, she shifted her civil engineering focus to include a minor in mechanical engineering, which would provide necessary knowledge for building science and sustainable energy systems. She opted to take more courses on energy in place of traditional civil engineering courses. Finally, she worked closely with the co-op program to find a third co-op in the energy industry.
Today, O’Connell is the director of building science at Radiant Labs, which is a startup focused on creating automated energy and financial models to support the residential decarbonization transition.
“Co-ops helped shape me into the person I am, as a student, a professional, and an adult,” says O’Connell.
She initially completed co-ops at Barletta Heavy Division and Environmental Partners Group. She sees both as beneficial experiences because they helped clarify her thinking about her career path.
She sought guidance from a Northeastern co-op coordinator who focused on mechanical engineering to ensure that her third co-op would provide her with work experience in the energy field.
Because of these efforts, she landed a co-op job at Energy and Resource Solutions, which she called her dream job and notes that for the first time she was able to say, “I love my job,” while she was at work.
After graduation, O’Connell worked for nearly five years at Energy and Resource Solutions, starting as a project engineer, a job that, among other responsibilities, involved inspecting and evaluating heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems and energy management systems in the commercial, agricultural, and industrial sectors. She was promoted to project engineer II status, which gave her management responsibility for a team of 13 engineers and subcontractors.
In her current position at Radiant Labs, O’Connell is leading the development of the company’s automated energy modeling API and oversees their data pipeline and quality assurance efforts.
“Without my co-op experiences teaching me more than many classes have, I would have ended up going through my entire education blindly following the premade, traditional path and would have never ended up where I am today,” O’Connell says.
In 2016, she was selected as Co-op Student of the Year by the American Society of Engineering Education, a prestigious national student award that recognizes an individual who demonstrates the significant impact of a co-op education. She is one of only two Northeastern students who have received this award since 1997.
During her time at Northeastern, O’Connell was also active with Engineers Without Borders, travelling twice to Uganda to work on water projects. She held various leadership positions in the student organization, including serving as the group’s president, overseeing projects in Uganda, Honduras, and Panama with responsibility of an annual budget of more than $100,000.