Michelle Dionello, 
PE, CEM, BEAP, 
LEED AP BD+C, 29

Senior Engineer, Arup, San Francisco

Cornell University, 
BS Mechanical Engineering

If Michelle Dionello hadn’t become a successful engineer, she would have opted to be a professional boxer. But her career outside the ring holds a similar punch, stamina, and drive as her boxing skills. Dionello is the technical team project manager for the Commercial Building Partnership on Grand Valley State University’s new campus library, which is a Dept. of Energy-funded program promoting 50% energy savings. The partnership includes Pacific Northwest National Lab, which will use this case study to implement successful energy measures across the country. On the Singapore Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) project, Dionello designed the 400,000-sq-ft mechanical infrastructure, providing the space for future labs to be built out for leading global researchers. She led a team of engineers to complete retro-commissioning projects at UC Berkeley last year. She was also the lead mechanical project engineer on the Newport Beach Civic Center, a 100,000-sq-ft city hall building with under-floor air distribution, radiant floors, and motorized operable windows scheduled to open this year. Dionello is currently in the construction-administration phase of a new grocery store in her hometown of Austin, Texas. Her energy-efficiency work reflects her passion for creating construction solutions with an emphasis on a long, sustainable building life. Dionello hopes to inspire young engineers to follow in her footsteps as the Golden Gate committee chair for the Young Engineers in ASHRAE.

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