Bob Streets, a Senior Mechanical Engineer in Industrial Design, has been named the recipient of the 2022 Engdahl Award, given annually to a Haskell team member who has provided leadership and made significant contributions to design excellence.
In his 48 years with Benham, a Haskell Company, Streets has earned a reputation as a knowledgeable and innovative problem solver and has served as a valued mentor to scores of younger engineers.
“I, like many others within this organization, have come to know Bob through his deep technical knowledge and servant leadership within projects,” Chief Mechanical Engineer Matt Ford wrote in his nomination letter. “Bob leads in action with the correct words wisely spoken to complete the job. He is the culture that I want the entire mechanical team to embody and promote throughout the organization.
“As a testimony to his mentorship, there are many accounts of him putting their career and needs in front of his. Bob has shown a servant’s heart by putting others first. Many have come to me praising him for helping them with their career and projects. This is a generational impact beyond Bob’s tenure that will outlast any project.”
Streets carries several patents for clean-in-place and other process systems. One of note was a technique to recover expensive nutraceuticals, often thick and sticky, left in process piping. He led a team to develop a method to recover product before cleaning, to save as much of the product as possible.
One notable anecdote demonstrates his expertise across disciplines.
“For a project in Russia, he met with the client’s project team, with each discipline specialty represented: compressed air, HVAC, plumbing, piping, controls, etc.,” Chairman, CEO and President Jim O’Leary recalled during the award presentation. “There were a dozen people sitting on one side of the table, and they were taken aback when Bob was the only one sitting on the other side. They soon realized that he was the only person we needed, answering each discipline’s questions about the project.”
Streets has made a practice of imparting that knowledge to Haskell team members, even producing a video series titled Bob’s Brain. He said his greatest satisfaction came from collaborating with colleagues to solve clients’ challenges.
“All I can say is that it's never been boring,” he said. “That's the thing that has kept my curiosity up. And I love the challenge, especially if I have a client that comes to us with a few ideas and asks us to take those and flesh them out and make them successful. That kind of curiosity, the imagination it requires and then getting the team excited about something like that. My whole career, I’ve found people that were excited about it, and wanted to try something and then, when it turns out to be successful, it just makes it very worthwhile, and everybody on the team gets the congratulations. They all enjoy what happened and get excited about trying something else.”
The Engdahl Award recognizes a Haskell employee who has provided leadership and made significant contributions to design excellence. Nominations are judged on design leadership, creativity and innovation, client service, staff development, contributions to quality processes/outcomes and the furtherance of integration.
Previous Engdahl Award Winners
The Engdahl Award is named for Dave Engdahl, Haskell’s former Chief Architect and AE Practice leader. It was established upon his retirement in 2007 to honor his 28 years design leadership. Here is a list of past winners:
- 2008: Peter Skirbst
- 2009: Ted Moore
- 2010: Roland Udenze
- 2011: Jimmy Barber
- 2012: Antonio Valdivia
- 2013: Mike Byron
- 2014: David Schoening
- 2015: Eric Lycke
- 2016: Bela Jacobson
- 2017: Frank Brooks
- 2018: Tom Reel
- 2019: Jeff Pearse
- 2020: Matthew Ford
- 2021: Chris Flagg
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