Karpinski Engineering Promotes Two Engineers to Associate

Nov 09, 2021

Karpinski Engineering has promoted engineers Natasa Cekic and Katie Lee, PE, to Associate. At Karpinski, associates work closely with the firm’s principals. They help implement the firm’s strategic vision and are leaders in client service.

“We are fortunate to have Katie and Natasa as part of the Karpinski team,” said Karpinski President Jim Cicero, PE, LEED AP. “They are incredibly supportive of our clients. From a technical quality standpoint, you know they’re going to get it right. They are great mentors, and they make everybody around them better.”

Natasa Cekic

Natasa Cekic
Natasa Cekic

Natasa Cekic, who joined Karpinski in 2008, is an electrical engineer based in Karpinski’s Cleveland office. She specializes in healthcare engineering, with projects ranging from new outpatient facilities to major hospital renovations.

“Natasa excels at her job,” said Principal Rocco Gallo, LEED AP. “Beyond just her technical capabilities, she is calm under pressure and does what it takes to get the job done. Our clients want her on their projects. She’s gained their trust and they love having her on the team.”

Cekic calls consulting engineering the “perfect balance” of technical work, field work, and human connection. She has contributed to some of the firm’s landmark projects, and she was the lead electrical engineer for the firm’s first Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) project, Cleveland Clinic’s Lakewood Family Health Center. As a healthcare engineer, she appreciates creating healing environments that have a positive impact on the lives of patients and caregivers.

When the firm adopted the design software Revit, Cekic became one of the first members of Karpinski’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) Core Team. She helped develop foundational BIM and Revit tools that the firm uses today. She continues to work behind the scenes, contributing to tools that increase design efficiency, standardization, and quality.

Cekic earned her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from The University of Akron. She served as a board member for the IES Cleveland Chapter, and her lighting design for the North Royalton Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library won an Award of Merit in the 2014 IES Illumination Awards.

Katie Lee, PE

Katie Lee
Katie Lee

Katie Lee, who joined Karpinski in 2006, is a mechanical engineer based in Karpinski’s Cleveland office. Like Cekic, Lee specializes in healthcare engineering. She has contributed to hundreds of healthcare projects, with a focus on designing new systems for legacy buildings.

“Katie brings technical knowledge, a passion to get things right, and attention to detail,” said Principal Matt Morgan, PE, LEED AP BD+C. “But more than that, Katie is truly selfless. She puts others first every time, and she makes everyone she engages with better.”

Lee has a deep knowledge of the complex world of healthcare facility codes and standards. She is an expert in ventilation for healthcare facilities, a topic she has presented on both nationally and locally. As an engineer, Lee particularly appreciates the challenges involved with renovating imaging rooms and surgical spaces.

Her favorite project, though, has personal significance. While pregnant with her third daughter, Lee was involved with the renovation of a Labor, Delivery, Recovery, Postpartum (LDRP) floor for a local hospital. Though Lee always considers how people will interact with a space, this time was different. She was thinking about it from the perspective of someone who might eventually use the space. A couple years later, Lee’s sister and newborn nephew were patients in one of the rooms she designed. When Lee came to visit, she got to see her sister enjoying the room – and wow her young daughters, who were impressed that their mom helped design the space.

Lee earned her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio Northern University. She is a member of ASHRAE, the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), and the Northern Ohio Society for Healthcare Engineering (NOSHE). Lee has presented at ASHE’s Annual Conference and to ASHRAE chapters, and she has authored an article on ASHRAE filtration requirements for surgical spaces.

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