Blog

Jon Hilyard, P.E. My dad was an engineer and he liked to say that being an engineer is about doing for a nickel what any fool can do for a dollar. I guess only an engineer would think that is a great sales pitch for being an engineer. But I think it is true. BeingRead more

Andrew Wiegand, P.E., LEED AP Engineering, in general, means taking an idea and making it a reality. Any fool can come up with an idea, (especially bad ones), but not every fool can make it reality. The more thoughtful and imaginative the idea, the more exciting tackling the reality will be. Life as an Engineer

Scott Siefkes, P.E., LEED AP For me, being an engineer fits my personality. I like understanding how things work, why they work the way they do, and I like figuring out how they might work better. EE fits well in that it offers broad access to lots of different engineering problems, including how to makeRead more

Jeff Ihnen, M.S., P.E. I went to a tiny rural-area school with no career planning.  I never heard of engineering in high school, but I took what came naturally to me my freshman year in college: calculus, physics, chemistry.  There I learned about engineering and that jobs are in high demand and the pay isRead more

Zack Thompson, E.I.T. To me engineering simply means identifying a problem and finding a solution, i.e. problem-solving! This can be through designing or building something or through tweaking the way something already works. I don’t think someone becomes an engineer just through formal education. It’s the way someone thinks, either with a math and scienceRead more

Rob Parker, P.E. I like to solve complex problems. I enjoy figuring out how things work and how to get from where I am to the end result. Engineering gives me the opportunity to do this every day. We take big problems and break them down into smaller ones on our way to big solutions.Read more

Aaron Conger, P.E. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an engineer. Well, that’s not quite accurate. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved solving problems and creating solutions. Word puzzles, math exercises… you name it, I love to dig in. Luckily I found out early on that there’sRead more

Sorry, it’s not Whitney Houston, or Jeff Ihnen, writing this week’s Rant. It’s Kristin Laursen filling in while Jeff puts his feet up, sips martinis, and listens to 90s love songs (at least two of the three of those are true). Last week in Jeff’s Rant, he told us that consumers rule and drive everything,Read more

June 1, 2017.  Does that ring a bell?  To many, it is a day of infamy – the day Trump bid adieu to the Paris climate deal, accord, treaty, or whatever (Paris).  Since then, I have read many an article, LinkedIn posts, and Tweets filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Was Paris that good? Read more

Guest blog alert! Kristin Laursen and Teri Lutz here, filling in for Jeff while he relaxes somewhere in the middle of Iowa, sipping martinis and riding tractors (for real, we couldn’t make this up). So if you disagree with anything in this Rant, you’ll have to wait until Jeff returns and take it up withRead more

Michaels Energy Named a Hot Firm for Third Consecutive Year La Crosse, WI – July 25, 2014 – Michaels Energy was named a “Hot Firm” on The ZweigWhite Hot Firm List for the third consecutive year. The ZweigWhite 2014 Hot Firm List recognizes the 100 fastest-growing architecture, engineering, planning and environmental consulting firms in anRead more

Michaels Energy Expands Ownership La Crosse, WI – April 25, 2014 – Michaels Energy is excited to announce it has expanded company ownership to include three key employees – Scott Siefkes, Bryce Dvorak and Ryan Kroll.  These Department Managers join majority shareholder, Dave Waffenschmidt, and the planned successor, Jeff Ihnen, in company ownership. The ongoingRead more