Engineers Week Spotlight: Brenda Barger Guides Project Management at NAVFAC Washington
19 February 2021
WASHINGTON - Brenda Barger, project manager technical discipline coordinator, is representing Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Washington for Engineers Week. She serves in the Design and Construction Business Line at NAVFAC Washington’s Core in Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON - Brenda Barger, project manager technical discipline coordinator, is representing Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Washington for Engineers Week. She serves in the Design and Construction Business Line at NAVFAC Washington’s Core in Washington D.C.
Barger grew up in Delaware County, Pa., and was always goal-oriented. Learning to play the piano, spending time in stage crew and working on art projects were her primary occupations as a child. After high school, she was accepted at Virginia Tech to pursue civil engineering.
“Through college, I began to see the differences between Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and their suburbs, and I developed an appreciation for the city’s infrastructure,” Barger said. “These experiences led me to pursue land development as a civil engineer during the construction boom in the early 2000s.”
Barger began working for NAVFAC Washington in 2016 as a project manager (PM) before transitioning to her current role just two years later. As a Project Manager Technical Discipline Coordinator, she provides PM guidance and training for her teammates in the Design and Construction Business Line and shares knowledge and experiences to help make the team more productive and agile. In addition to that responsibility, she also continues to serve as a PM on multiple projects, including the MQ-25 Integrated Test Team Hangar at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
The MQ-25 Stingray is an aerial refueling drone and the hangar being built is an approximately 80,000 square foot facility that will consist of shops and maintenance administration, squadron administration, and operations and hangar bay spaces.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work on notable design and construction projects within the NAVFAC Washington area of responsibility, seeing them through from concept to completed construction.”
The engineering field is fantastic for those who are goal-oriented, but Barger reinforces that the profession is especially suited for innovators and creative thinkers.
“Each project is driven by specific site conditions, budget constraints, and downstream impacts, which allows engineers to create opportunities in any direction they wish to pursue.”