Craig Zimmerman

Faculty
Electrical

He is grateful for the mentors who supported his journey. So when Craig had the opportunity to teach at his alma mater, the decision was clear. It was his turn. Craig was thrilled to step up to the challenge, share his building automation experience, and help others excel in this rewarding field.

Leading the Way

Q&A with Craig

WHAT'S YOUR DEFINITION OF BUILDING AUTOMATION?

We control buildings. Whether it is a data center, office building, college campus, or museum, a building automation system (BAS) is used to control and interact with lighting systems, HVAC systems, access control systems, and life safety systems. Aside from controlling the building, a BAS is also utilized to manage energy usage, so we can keep occupants safe, comfortable, and healthy in an efficient manner. A BAS is invisible. Many people don’t even know they exist, yet they benefit from them every day.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE FIELD?

There is such a variety every day. I liked the idea of leaving for work in the morning knowing that nothing is set in stone. I might meet with an owner about optimizing a chiller plant, then I may go program that strategy. In the meantime, there may be some integration involved with electrical metering. After lunch, I’m at the office working on a solution with other engineers, and after that, there may be some graphics that need to be done. Let’s not forget things break, and now I have some troubleshooting to do. Being able to do all of these things with tools that fit in a backpack and inside your head really interested me.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TRANSITION FROM INDUSTRY TO EDUCATION?

I am fortunate to have had great mentors both in industry and while I was a student. As I progressed, I wanted to do my part as a mentor. While in industry, I trained customers and fellow employees, and would work with interns. I enjoyed every second. I was lucky to have gained experience with a variety of systems, buildings, and customers that I can share with others. When the opportunity to teach at Penn College became available, it was exciting because it provided me with the opportunity to use my experience to prepare students to be successful in their careers.

HOW MUCH OF THE BUILDING AUTOMATION PROGRAM CONSISTS OF HANDS-ON LEARNING?

Over 80% of our courses have labs. The other courses are introductions to systems and controls, which include visiting mechanical rooms and labs to piece it all together. If students don’t understand the fundamental concepts of the building systems, they aren’t going to understand how to automate them once in the lab and field.

HOW DOES THE PENN COLLEGE BUILDING AUTOMATION LAB MIMIC WHAT STUDENTS WILL SEE IN INDUSTRY?

Our industry supports this program and its labs. They keep us up to date with equipment, devices, and software. What we have in our labs is an exact representation of what students are going to see and work with in the field. Our juniors go into internships with the ability to be productive for the employer, and our graduating seniors hit the ground running as they start their career paths.

WHAT ARE THE CAREER PROSPECTS FOR BUILDING AUTOMATION GRADUATES?

There are opportunities all over the world in this field. Building automation companies range from large corporations down to those with just a few employees and everything in between.

Graduates also have opportunities with hospitals, university campuses, and government agencies such as the NSA. Those who decide to be more field-focused are often provided roles as field engineers, where they work on construction projects overseeing installation work, performing system checkout and startup, and training the customer. There are opportunities working in existing facilities where they would maintain, modify, and optimize existing systems. There are opportunities for them to do programming and integration work, as well as engineering control systems where they would have a mixture of field work and office work. Some go into sales, project management, commissioning, or energy management.

While this field is a niche, it provides many career paths for graduates.

Leading the Way

"I am proud to be teaching building automation at Penn College. It is rewarding to see students progress at Penn College and also as professionals. This program has alumni all over the country. Every year, we have more companies interested in our students, many through word of mouth. This program has a good reputation, and I’m just happy to be a part of it and help where I can."

Craig Zimmerman

Hands-on Learning

Always innovating

Thanks to solid industry partnerships, you can rest assured knowing that the skills you'll learn at Penn College will give you a competitive edge after graduation. Two recently launched automation programs were designed to prepare graduates with the skills to take on a variety of in-demand positions. Plus, they’re supported by a new lab that’s home to four Kuka robots with vision systems complete with both Allen Bradley and Siemens PLCs.