A New Challenge Every Day
Posted on January 1, 2025
#MyFirstJob is a series focused on recent graduates of the University of South Alabama.
Mobile native Robert Greenwood’s decision to attend the University of South Alabama was rooted in something simple and deeply personal: home.
“I’d never realized there was such a beautiful college campus right here in my hometown,” he said. “Once I toured South, I was drawn in immediately by the campus and the idea of staying close to my family, which is so important to me.”
That sense of connection to place, to people and, eventually, purpose, shaped Greenwood’s college experience. Even though his family was a short drive from school, he opted to live on campus his first three years at South. Starting with a passion for math and science, he declared mechanical engineering as his major, mostly, he admits, because “it just sounded the coolest.”
But it turned into a genuine calling. During his first internship, he fell in love with engineering.
The firm where he interned, CMG Engineers (formerly Cowles Murphy Glover & Associates), is now where he works full-time. After spending two summers learning the ropes, he officially joined the company as a mechanical engineer shortly after graduation. He has worked on several projects at the Port of Mobile, including a revamp of a 60-year-old grain elevator, helping to oversee the construction of a dual barge shifter at a coal terminal and setting up a plumbing system at Middle Bay Port.
He also helped design a piping system for a cement facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi, that will allow for the transport of cement from a truck to a silo.
“I’m excited about that,” he said. “I mean, it may sound boring to some but it’s enjoyable. It’s a new challenge every day.”
The transition from college to career brought some surprises.
“Engineering work life is very different from engineering school life,” he said. “School gives you the theory, the ‘why.’ But on the job, you have to put that theory into practice. There’s so much on-the-job learning that happens, from understanding real-world systems to making sure everything aligns with codes, safety standards and the public good.”
When Greenwood looks back on his time at South, two faculty members stand out.
“Dr. Carlos Montalvo, who taught instrumentation, aircraft and spacecraft design, really pushed the limits of what I thought engineering could be. He’s one of the main reasons I stuck with it,” he said. “And Dr. Joseph Richardson's classes challenged us to think more deeply. That’s where I believe I learned the most.”
Naming a favorite project is a hard call. Greenwood spent his junior year working on unforgettable builds in instrumentation and design, but his senior project was his most memorable.
“We developed a prototype biomedical system for the Department of Defense that could potentially keep a soldier alive underground while continuously monitoring blood pressure,” Greenwood said. “It opened my eyes to the importance of biomedical engineering. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever worked on.”
Outside the classroom, he found a sense of community through the Southerners, the group of 28 undergraduate students who serve as South’s official ambassadors.
“Working with alumni and the president’s office gave me a new perspective,” he said. “Hearing alumni stories about why they loved this university helped me connect even more deeply to the place I was still discovering.”
His advice to future South students, especially those in engineering: “Be social. College is the one time in your life where you’re free to really get to know other people and yourself. Some of the best connections I’ve made, personally and professionally, came from just putting myself out there.”
Just months into his first job, Greenwood is doing precisely what he hoped he would: building systems, solving problems and making things work. But he’s still rooted in what brought him to South in the first place: the familiarity of home.
