Six weeks ago, Kelli Osterloo sat at a desk to begin the two-part open-book exam on the principles of engineering. Eight hours and 80 multiple-choice questions later, she finished it with waiting the only thing left to do.
Even that’s over now. On May 25 — which just happened to be Kelli and Tim Osterloo’s fourth wedding anniversary — Kelli learned she had passed the exam. She now has the initials “PE” behind her name, joining the “LC” that signifies she already is Lighting Certified by the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions.
Kelli now is a second-generation engineer. Her father is a civil engineer who works for a manufacturing company in her hometown of Columbus, NE.
“He was pretty excited for me,” Kelli says. “He didn’t take (the exam) until he had three kids, when we were little. I remember him studying for it, and probably being way too loud.”
Kelli joined TSP five years ago this month. She developed in interest in architecture and design in high school, but her father opened up the world of architectural engineering to her. Since she also was interested in math and science, Kelli decided that would be a better fit.
She attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha but obtained her five-year master’s degree from Lincoln since that is where it was based. After taking lighting design classes, Kelli decided to focus on the electrical section of architectural engineering.
“It’s one of those things that most people don’t notice, but really bad lighting can have a really bad effect on your architectural design,” Kelli said. “It’s something that you want to get right.” Her master’s thesis explored the effect lighting can have on babies in neonatal intensive car units. TSP health-care projects such as Rapid City Regional Health allow her to continue a focus on lighting’s effects on the human body.
During college, Kelli interned at HDR in Dallas, then moved there full time. She and Tim met in Dallas. When they decided to move closer to family they settled on Rapid City, Tim’s hometown.
Kelli joins nine other electrical PEs with TSP. Congratulations on this accomplishment!