March 8, 2018

As an engineer in FirstEnergy’s rotation of assignment (ROA) program, Mackenzie Johnson has already worked at two of our company’s fossil stations. Her most recent assignment, however, isn’t at a plant – but it will provide plenty of opportunities for her to utilize knowledge she’s acquired while working at them over the past few years.

“My current role, which I started earlier this year, is in the corporate Environmental group located in Greensburg,” said Mackenzie. “I’m tasked with projects involving air, water and waste regulations, as well as our facilities’ individual state environmental regulations. Having safe, environmentally compliant operations at each of our facilities is so important, and something I’ve witnessed firsthand in the field.”

Before graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 with a Chemical Engineering degree, Mackenzie started her FirstEnergy career as a co-op in Sammis’ Technical Services group. She spent two semesters at the station, learning about power generation and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) systems, before accepting a ROA position at Fort Martin upon graduation.

“I was placed with Fort Martin’s Technical Services department for two years, continuing to work with WFGD systems. My focus areas were absorbers, reagent preparation, dewatering and waste water treatment,” explained Mackenzie. “The work consisted of process optimization, improvement and maintenance projects, as well as outage work with WFGD systems and environmental projects – all good preparation for my current assignment.”

As for safety, she’s proud of the great lengths FirstEnergy employees go to ensure safe work practices are implemented on every job every day.

“Working in an environment where your coworkers are concerned for the safety of their peers is very important in this industry, and something we take seriously at FirstEnergy,” she added. “So much goes into ensuring our units are reliable and cost effective, but the most important element of any job is always safety.”