Meet Pat Hogan

What’s your favorite part of your role?

What I love about my job is that there's always a new challenge to address and every day brings a new problem that must be solved. It keeps you thinking and necessitates teamwork to find creative solutions. For the research facilities I support, it is crucial to work with our clients as an integral part of the team, because you can encounter some unique challenges that may not come up in conventional buildings.

I remember working on the Materials Design Laboratory where one of the science labs was designed to house a device that creates a very strong magnetic field, strong enough to magnetize ferritic type steel like regular carbon steel rebar. Working closely with the research scientists, we realized  this presented a problem, as the device was to be placed in a reinforced concrete pit about four feet below the regular lab floor, and the magnetized rebar could throw off some of their more sensitive measurements. From my graduate course work in materials, I was able to propose the use of stainless-steel rebar which is austenitic steel and would not become magnetized. Fiberglass rebar would have also resolved the concern but could not be obtained in time to support the schedule. It’s working with our clients to solve these kinds of problems that gets me excited to go to work every day.

What was your biggest takeaway from your 21 years working with Argonne?

Twenty-one years is a long time, so I’m not sure I have just one takeaway. I gained so much knowledge and understanding of what it takes to successfully design and construct a research facility, from funding challenges to radiation shielding requirements to handling extremely stringent vibration, acoustic noise, and temperature constraints. We had a great safety record there, too. I am particularly proud of our first and our last projects, both of which had zero recordables. We started strong and finished strong, so safety is definitely a big takeaway and a great memory of Argonne. I’m also grateful for the relationships I developed with the people I worked with over the years there. Just a great group of people. Argonne became like a second family to me, and I still maintain those relationships today.

What has been your key to success working with the DOE?

The key to success is a true partnership. We come in wanting to put our best efforts forward to help ensure their projects are successful, and we’re excited to be part of ensuring that success. It's not transactional for us – we're passionate about science and technology, too, and we realize that successful projects are fundamentally important to achieving the DOE science mission. 

Shared values are also a major key to success. For me, that starts first and foremost with safety. Jacobs is passionate about safety, I am passionate about safety, and the DOE and its national labs are passionate about safety, so all we share that common core value.

What is the biggest challenge in your market?

For federal projects, specifically complex research facilities, one of the biggest challenges is the funding process. Funding can be slow and impacted at times by delays such as federal budget continuing resolutions. This is not only a challenge for us, but for our clients, who have critical mission objectives to meet in the face of these constraints and uncertainties. However, this is more than balanced by the amazing scientific projects and facilities that only the federal government would fund – one-of-a-kind projects with a return on investment that is measured by advancements in basic science.  Whether a synchrotron light source that creates X-ray beams like at Argonne or Brookhaven National Laboratory, or a new particle accelerator at Fermilab, the federal government is willing to fund exciting projects in the billion-dollar scale that involve real technical challenges that demand the proper design and construction techniques to deliver incredibly complex facilities.

What excites you about the future of the construction industry for science and technology?

There is a lot of exciting work ahead, as our world’s technology and science intensive future requires advanced new buildings and energy infrastructure. Much of those buildings are on the commercial side, like data centers and life sciences research and manufacturing facilities. But the neat thing about working with the DOE is that they’re doing research that won’t make it to the commercial world until five, ten, or twenty years from now, because they're looking at even more advanced technology. And while the facilities are sometimes not as large as those for commercial applications if they’re supporting bench-scale research, they can have even more stringent facility requirements that have to be met, so that amplifies the technical challenge.

Can you share one piece of advice?

Strengthen your strengths, as they are your competitive advantage. Your strengths are going to set you apart, help you get noticed and help you achieve your goals. Add to this hard work and good people skills because, at the end of the day, pretty much everything you want out of your career, and your life, is going come through people. 

When you aren’t working, what are we most likely to find you doing?

Spending time with my family, exercising at the gym, golfing, fishing, and traveling. We have a boat we keep in a harbor on Lake Michigan, and we enjoy salmon fishing. My oldest son is in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany, and I went over there to visit him recently. We traveled to Bastogne, Belgium and toured several WWII Battle of the Bulge sites, including the Band of Brothers Easy Company foxholes in the Ardennes Forest. 

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

I can’t stress enough how much I value Jacobs’ focus on safety. I’ve been part of Jacobs’ BeyondZero safety culture since its inception, and it has changed how I think about life. Safety gets factored into everything I do, both in and out of work, even in how we raised our kids – Dad is the “family safety guy”.