Robert Chapman: Engineering Hall of Fame - 2012

Retired, Senior Vice President CH2M Hill,  Vancouver, Wash. 

In the mid 1930s, three Oregon State College students studied under Fred Merryfield, an enthusiastic civil engineering professor. A decade later, the quartet formed CH2M, an engineering design firm based in Corvallis, Ore. A merger in 1971 changed the company’s name to CH2M HILL, and it has grown to become one of the world’s largest engineering firms, with projects spanning the globe.Bob Chapman was fortunate to benefit from Merryfield’s mentoring, both on campus and off. “I had a three-hour class in sanitary engineering design from Merryfield when I was in graduate school — there were only 11 of us on the graduate program at the time,” says Chapman. “We’d have sessions at his house on the patio, and conversations would drift from sanitary engineering to ethics and philosophy.

It was a good time to be coming out of school.”Chapman benefited not only from the eclectic inspiration of Merryfield and the absorption of sound fundamentals from Oregon State, but also from a cooperative program between the university and the City of Corvallis. The program employed engineering students to run its water treatment plant on the Willamette River during peak demand in the summer. “I was really fortunate to be one of the students hired to operate that plant,” he says. “It was my first experience in water treatment and I really enjoyed it.”Chapman’s link with Merryfield proved fortuitous. “Never once did he say anything about offering me a job,” says Chapman, but CH2M hired him in 1966 and he worked for the company until he retired.

When Chapman joined the small regional engineering firm, the company employed 200 people; today it employs more than 25,000 people around the worldChapman’s forty-plus years with the company included a wide variety of project assignments and management positions. Having developed expertise in design-build-operative project delivery for clients around the country, he retired as senior vice president of the company’s Water Business Group.Chapman says he felt well prepared to “tackle the world” after his Oregon State education. “I benefited from a first-class faculty in structural engineering, hydraulics and environmental programs,” he says. Chapman also benefited from Oregon State’s willingness and ability to find summer jobs and internships for students in their specific fields of study.

“First-hand work experience and some background in business principles is extremely valuable to students graduating today,” says Chapman. “I am so impressed by how articulate most of these young, aspiring engineers are. As you get out into the real world, you need to present your thoughts well, reach out and network and promote — it is important to be able to differentiate yourself from others just having technical skills.”