Building systems engineer helps lessen climate impact of Sandia’s campuses

Robin Jones, manager of building systems engineering at Sandia, makes a daily effort to only use the resources she needs. Energy efficiency is her lifelong passion, and it shows — from her exuberant discussions about reducing waste, to her desire to make Sandia campuses more energy efficient, Robin is driven by a calling to waste nothing and make use of everything. In addition to her manager role, Robin is part of a team working to make the Sandia/California campus net-zero, which refers to an equal balance of greenhouse gases emitted and removed from the atmosphere.

Robin attended New Mexico Tech for her undergraduate studies and Stanford University for graduate work, where she obtained a master’s degree in environmental engineering. Prior to her work at Sandia, Robin worked in sanitary sewer maintenance at the Compton Field Office of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. She then designed systems that cleaned up various contamination elements, namely diesel fuel and chlorinated compounds, from soil and drinking water. In 2009, Robin joined Sandia as a large-construction project manager before transitioning her work into capital investment planning and then nuclear weapons. In 2018, Robin accepted her current role because it allowed her to return to her passion of conservation and apply her education to solve heavy-hitting energy issues.

Read Robin’s interview to learn more about her projects in New Mexico and California, her entry into environmental engineering and her take on how to recruit others to join the fight against climate change.

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