Our People: Robert Knotz

Can you share a little bit about your journey and what motivated you to become an engineer?

When I graduated high school, I actually had no idea what to go to college for or what the future would hold, because I had a lot of interests. It was extremely difficult to decide what to do, especially next to my brother and sister who were single focused. My sister went to acting school and my brother went to architecture school. Right out of high school they knew exactly what they wanted to do. Whereas I contemplated many things such as culinary school, golf, science and music. From age fourteen to twenty, I caddied and worked at a country club gaining a real passion for golf and considered golf professional as a career. I grew up in a music family, my mom is a professional pianist, so my brother, sister and I played the piano from about three years old until we each chose our own instruments at thirteen. I chose to play the drums at that age. I was extremely interested in music throughout that time in my life, and music was such a large part of my family. But my siblings and I also excelled in school in math and science. We were all in honors courses and clubs and were above the typical level of study throughout grade school and high school. We all had a knack for math and science.  

From high school, I ended up going to Brookdale, the community college in Monmouth County, and my major there was music. I went with my band mates, but we soon found out that music was not going to be our careers. At Brookdale, however, I did take some chemistry, math, and physics courses during my first two semesters, and I really enjoyed them. After my second semester there, I looked into studying physics. I was accepted into Stockton University and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics.

At this point, the plan was to become a physics professor. The professor that ran the physics department at Stockton was very well-known. He had gotten me, and a couple of other students from my class interviews at various universities for graduate school as at that time, Stockton did not have a graduate program for physics. During one of my interviews, we discussed that physics is one of the hardest sciences to earn a PhD in, particularly developing a thesis required to obtain a PhD. They told me it was going to take about 10 years, which would bring me to my thirties, so that was a tough decision.

Growing up, my brother and I built lots of things like furniture and tinkered with a lot of other things like mechanical equipment. I discussed my future with an advisor at Stockton, telling him what was going on, and he said that based on your interests, maybe engineering is a path suited for you as a career. Then, I started looking into engineering and it definitely stood out as a career that would be satisfying for me. Stockton did not have an engineering program, so I ended up applying to Rutgers University. I spent two and a half years at Rutgers and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. So, that was a long journey, I was in school for six and a half years. But looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. They were all great experiences for me.

Can you tell me a bit about your background and how you came to work at FPA?

I always tutored students at Stockton because I thought I would be on the professor route. I continued to tutor in math and physics during my first year of engineering school at Rutgers, and during my second year I started looking for an internship in engineering. I was living in Middletown, and French & Parrello’s office was in Holmdel. I actually answered an ad in the newspaper. There was an ad out in the Asbury Park Press for an internship with the geotechnical group. I interviewed with Steve Tardy and Jim Heller in 2001. We discussed details of geotechnical engineering in that interview, and it was evident that geotechnical engineering has science, math and engineering bits to it. There is a lot of theory behind geotechnical engineering, there is a lot of research done by a lot of great geotechnical engineers throughout history; there is not always one answer to things which is very similar to scientific theories.   

So, I was very interested in geotechnical engineering and took the internship. I did a lot of field work during the internship, such as pile driving inspections and fill placement inspections, I got to know the guys in the soils lab, hung out with the gentleman who used to run the lab Ron Heller who was one of the first FPA employees. The internship went really well. After that I went back for my last semester at Rutgers and then took a full-time job with French & Parrello Associates. I’ve been here ever since, almost 23 years.  

Have you had any influential mentors or role models in your journey as an engineer? If so, how have they impacted your career?

Yes. Early on in my career, I worked very closely with Steve Tardy on a lot of interesting and challenging projects. We worked together a lot on different types of earth retaining structures; dams, retaining walls, sea walls, etc. Steve gave me a great technical background in geotechnical engineering. My technical ability definitely excelled from working that closely with Steve on a daily basis. I also took a graduate course that Steve taught at Rutgers, called Advanced Foundation Design, and it was one of the best college courses I ever took. Steve did an amazing job teaching that course and I am very fortunate to have had that experience.

On the business end, Larry French was an amazing mentor. I learned a lot from him about client relations and responsiveness to clients. That was very valuable because that is something that engineers do not learn in school. There was no business curriculum in the engineering or physics track. It turned out that I really enjoyed the business end of things, which I had no idea I would. That allowed me to excel in business development, growing my client base, and satisfying client’s needs. Larry played a big role in all of that.

What do you find most fulfilling about this industry?

The notion of passing along technical knowledge and business knowledge to the upcoming staff. That has been really fulfilling. Also, I’ve really enjoyed going to a job site for the first time, which is either a bare field, an abandoned building, etc., and turning that into a complete project. You get a lot of those experiences in geotechnical engineering where you start with the bare bones of a site and you’re involved all the way until the end, with a wide variety of challenges and different projects. What’s also fulfilling is the relationships that I developed with so many different types of people: employees here, contractors, developers, legal experts, other engineers in other fields, etc. Probably near a thousand people at this point.

What has been your best experience working as an engineer? Tell me about a time/project/etc. that solidified your passion for the engineering industry.

There is one project that comes to mind early on in my career. Steve and I and the geotechnical group were working on a project in the early 2000s in South Amboy on the waterfront, called Lighthouse Bay. It was a residential development. At the time, South Amboy was looking to revitalize itself. This waterfront development was a very difficult project in many ways. There were poor soil conditions, and not to get too deep into it, there were a lot of challenges for foundations to support buildings. We developed a lot of different geotechnical alternatives to allow for these buildings to be constructed. There were times where this project seemed not feasible, but we came up with some practical solutions to allow for this development to be successfully constructed. We also designed and oversaw the construction of a 20-foot-high steel sheet pile seawall that lined the Northeastern portion of the development to raise grade and to allow for construction of additional residential townhouses in that area, as well as a beautiful walkway around this development on the waterfront, and a new area for parking and fishing. We also designed and oversaw construction of a pedestrian bridge that connects to the pathway. This project took an old, swampy, eyesore piece of land and turned it into a beautiful development, really setting off the revitalization of South Amboy. It also opened the door for new business opportunities like the Ferry Terminal.

What do you enjoy most about working at FPA?

The variety of the types of projects that you get to participate in at FPA makes things very interesting. There is never a dull moment. The people that I’ve worked with, especially Steve, Drew, and the founding fathers, were open to allowing you to thrive. I was given the opportunity to find my path. I don’t think I would’ve gotten that experience at many places, if anywhere. The opportunities that I was offered here were amazing. Cliché, but the sky is the limit.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of FPA?

It’s extremely exciting times here. The focus now is expansion, but also there is much more focus on employee development, and the personal and professional needs of staff at all levels. The focus on these things has increased within the last 10 years or so and the FPA community is moving in a very, very positive direction.

The mentoring programs that we’ve been implementing are great. The new review program has been really positive and effective. These kinds of things have actually rejuvenated me to mentor people myself, after seeing how important it is and experiencing it myself.

Can you share a fun fact about yourself that your colleagues might not know?

I’m still very involved in music, and I still play the drums. I still play with my old bandmates on a regular basis.