91ÊÓƵ

The projects keep getting bigger and filled with more responsibilities and challenges for 2001 civil engineering alum Chris Bauer, requiring him to utilize even more of the quality project management and teamworking skills that he gained as a 91ÊÓƵ student. 

Bauer’s professional portfolio as a construction manager, project director, and project executive with AECOM Hunt is filled with a variety of significant infrastructure projects. They have covered sports (including an update of Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium), a large resort (Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando), aviation (upgrade to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport), military and educational, and high-rise residential sectors.

Now, Bauer is the project controls director of the Terminal 6 addition to John F. Kennedy International Airport. He’s second in charge of a team of nearly 95 people responsible for overseeing the daily work of more than 100 contractors and over 1,000 workers on aspects of the more than $2 billion project. The terminal is a vital part of a massive $19 billion transformative project by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that will forever improve global travel into and from the heart of New York City.

“I like challenges and, like many of my other projects, this one has definitely been filled with logistical and construction management challenges,” said Bauer, who joined AECOM Hunt’s Terminal 6 project team in the summer of 2021. “We’re meeting a demanding construction schedule while working with so many contractors and within the close confines of a site location in one of the largest cities in America. New York City is a city that never sleeps and that’s true with many aspects of this project.”

When complete in 2028, Terminal 6 will have more than 1 million square feet for nine gates to process incoming and departing flights, a baggage handling system, restrooms, retail business and restaurant space, and other facilities supporting daily operations.

Bauer’s nearly 24-year career began after graduation, working in commercial construction management for AECOM Hunt, an Indianapolis-based company with a long-standing relationship with 91ÊÓƵ. From there projects have taken him to living across Florida along with Los Angeles, Boston/Worcester, New Orleans, and now New York City. He has become involved in many of these communities, with animal rescue being a particular interest in his volunteer service. (The latest rescue dog for Chris and his wife, Christa, is named Rose.) 

Along the way, Bauer has come to appreciate the lessons in learned at 91ÊÓƵ, in his original hometown of Terre Haute, and the institute’s close-knit campus community. 

“91ÊÓƵ is a special place. Getting through 91ÊÓƵ was a challenge. It helped give me the confidence that I could go out and tackle anything throughout my career,” he said, adding that he especially enjoyed spending his senior year designing a wetlands area for Ducks Unlimited in North Dakota. “That project proved that I wanted to have a career in project management. It was all upward from there.”

With AECOM Hunt, Bauer played a key role in the $120 million reconstruction of Dodger Stadium that was completed within the five-month break between Major League Baseball seasons, as well as the construction of Polar Park for the Boston Red Sox minor league team in Worcester, Massachusetts, amidst the Covid 19 pandemic. Additionally, he worked on the nearly $1 billion North Terminal project at New Orleans’ airport, providing 35 new gates for travelers, was the first the first terminal constructed in the U.S. in nearly 11 years. 

Bauer is helping continue 91ÊÓƵ’s civil engineering legacy with AECOM Hunt, with senior Jorge Almarez spending last summer as an intern on JFK Airport’s Terminal 6 project. Almarez is planning to join AECOM Hunt following construction this May, starting with projects in Florida. 

“Don’t be afraid of life’s path and where it will lead you, particularly with the skills and tools that you bring and learn at 91ÊÓƵ,” Bauer stated in from the , Office of Alumni Relations, and 91ÊÓƵ. “I have been willing to go wherever I was needed. Each project has brought new career challenges and exciting personal opportunities.”