Rosendin

Rosendin, the nation’s largest employee-owned electrical contractor, hosted a career day event in February for 40 students from five Arizona high schools to encourage them to consider a STEM career in construction.

The virtual event was designed for future engineers participating in the Racing the Sun learning program at the five schools, including Shadow Ridge High School in Surprise and Peoria High School.

Rosendin provided a high-resolution video walking tour of its Tempe regional office, warehouse, prefabrication area, and training center. The live tour included Rosendin’s new Building Information Modeling office with a demonstration of how they use virtual reality systems like Oculus Quest/ Rift and HTC Vive to design and analyze construction projects.

“Racing the Sun students are future leaders in engineering. Our industry partners give the students an up-close look at a variety of career paths related to their project of designing, building, and racing their own solar-powered go-karts,” stated Julie Euber, CEO of Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation, in a press release.

Utilizing innovative technologies, Rosendin demonstrated how they are shaping the future of construction and contributing to the development of Arizona. The $2 billion company is an early adopter of new technology and just opened a new Technology and Analytics Department in Tempe that is developing proprietary tech tools to cut costs and streamline projects.

“Innovation is critical to designing and building Arizona’s future, and we will soon look to the next generation to carve a new path, but first we have to convince them that construction is cool,” said Ben Mlinar, Division Manager at Rosendin. “We support efforts to introduce young people to all STEM-related career paths, whether they decide to go on to college or join an apprenticeship program after high school.”

Rosendin has contributed to the Racing the Sun learning program in Arizona since 2016. It is run by SARSEF, the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation, which centers its efforts on serving underrepresented student populations, including minority, female and families from rural settings.