PENC Member Spotlight

Meredith M. Allen, PE, PMP

Project Optimization and Interface Management New Plants Engineering (NPE), AREVA NP Inc.


PENC was happy to welcome Meredith Allen to our membership last year. As a new member, Meredith immediately got involved as Chair of the Professional Development committee. Her tireless efforts and acute organizational skills were instrumental in the committee's ability to put on one of PENC's most successful fall seminar series. Members have never been more satisfied and excited about PENC professional development offerings. We can't wait to see what the Summer Conference will bring!


Why did you become an engineer?   Originally, I had intended on becoming a Biomedical Engineer and at the time  in order to become a Biomedical Engineer you were expected to have an undergraduate degree in either: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Chemical Engineering so that you could do your graduate level work in Biomedical Engineering. So, I chose Mechanical Engineering with the expectation of going into the Biomedical profession.  However,  due to some unforseen family situations it was required that I start my engineering profession right after graduation from NC State. 

What is your proudest engineering accomplishment?    My project team managed and led the design, engineering, constuction and startup for a DCS retrofit and Material Handling equipment for one of  Progress Energy's  largest fossil fuel boilers.  There was a 48 day window to remove all of the existing DCS equipment for the boiler and install the new DCS then check out approximately 9,000 I/O and  startup the boiler. Notably, the boiler had the best startup with the new DCS equipment that historically it had ever had.  And, this project received Emerson's Project award for 2005 (DCS vendor). This was an extremely difficult project due to the fact that there was no room for error, and no extended down time for the boiler, and the boiler prior to this was known for having startup issues after outages.  So, this project was very gratifying due the level of  difficulty and also, due to the welcoming feedback from project team members that project management and a great project team can make a difference since originally,  they were very doubtful.

What is the most pressing problem engineers of the future face?  The training and mentoring of young engineers.  As the need for engineers becomes more significant with the growth of the Nuclear Industry, Software Engineering, and IT, etc. our engineers may be put into positions beyond  their experience or not in alignment with their experiences in order to provide the much needed engineering resources.   


What is the best thing about being a PENC member?  PENC has provided me an opportunity to give back to the engineering community by assisting with the professional development committee.  Additionally, it has provided me an opportunity to meet and work with a lot of other engineers in different industries and arenas.


What are your interests outside of engineering? I love most sports, but in particular tennis, sailing and horseback riding.  I used to be an avid Flying Scot and Lightning sailboat racer, but now I teach beginning sailing at Davidson College to stay with the sport.