Karen Houseknecht Seward, ’82

Karen Seward earned her Bachelor of Science and her Masters of Engineering degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In 2004 as the Assistant Director of Facilities at Hudson Valley Community College, Karen led the design and construction of a co-generation power plant, allowing many of the college’s buildings to be heated and cooled using waste energy from the power plant, and from a generator fueled using gas released from an adjacent landfill. Under Karen’s direction as Director of Facilities Engineering at Albany Medical Center in 2013, this facility completed commissioning of a 4.5 Megawatt co-generation plant which was named Northeast Combined Heat & Power Initiative’s Project of the Year.  In 2022, Albany Medical Center received its first AHA/ASHE Energy to Care Award, recognizing her successes in reducing the facility’s energy consumption by more than 10%.  Karen subsequently continued her conservation efforts by enlisting the entire medical center into a community solar program, resulting in an additional 10-13% reduction in the operation’s electricity costs.

Karen serves as a Trustee for her church, visits elder members of the community as part of the Care Corps team, and coaches youth sports teams.