February 23, 2026
For Engineers Week, we're featuring two fresh faces to Koch Fertilizer. Randi Laverty and Casey Nolte both began as interns, continued as co-ops and were ultimately hired as full-time engineers — Randi in Dodge City, Kansas and Casey in Beatrice, Nebraska. Read on to find out why they chose engineering and how they put their expertise to work each day.
Reliability engineer in Dodge City, Kansas
I have always loved learning how things worked and I was pretty good at math and science. Growing up on a farm, I got to tinker around with my dad on whatever projects were going on and learned so much from the hands-on experience. My junior year of high school I joined a pre-engineering program through my local vo-tech and that really opened my eyes to what all was out there in the engineering world. I was still a bit unsure about it going into my freshman year of college, but I really fell in love with it as I discovered spaces where I could combine things I'm passionate about, like agriculture, with my classes and now, my work.
As a reliability engineer, I primarily help create solutions to various problems in the plant with our piping, pressure vessels and fixed equipment. I help plan preventative maintenance tasks, provide information and support for routine maintenance and put together work packages for long-term projects. Some days this requires being out in the plant a lot, working on different jobs and gathering information. Other days, it is a lot of desk time working on drawings and working through the engineering process to come up with the best solution possible. The job changes a lot, which is nice because I know each day will be different and have its own challenges. Never a boring day!
“Don’t be afraid to hop into something outside of your comfort zone.”
The best part of working here is really the people. I look forward to coming to work every morning, because I know even on the longest days when it seems like nothing is going right, my coworkers have my back. I like that the work I do, from small projects to big initiatives, is helping to improve the plant. Knowing the work I am doing is all part of a larger collaboration with everyone else at the plant is truly the best feeling.
Focus on learning your soft skills, like good communication and time management, just as much as your technical skills. I can’t say I have used statistics or calculus since leaving school, but I have spent a lot of time talking to people and learning from them, organizing project documentation and balancing a variety of different tasks at one time. Also, don’t be afraid to hop into something outside of your comfort zone. You never know what you might end up loving!
Production engineer in Beatrice, Nebraska
I’ve wanted to be an engineer for as long as I remember. I enjoyed building and programming all sorts of things growing up, and that interest continued to blossom throughout my education. I ultimately chose chemical engineering when I went to college, and I love applying the engineering principles I learned in school to real world situations.
As a production engineer, I am responsible for ensuring our plants produce as much product as possible, with the best efficiency possible, while operating safely and reliably. This entails optimization, plant health monitoring, project support, troubleshooting, safety reviews, engineering design, etc. I work with operators and other engineers every day to make progress on my projects.
“Do your best to soak up any knowledge you can in whatever endeavors you pursue.”
Our chemical facilities are complex operations, so there’s always something interesting to work on. Everywhere you look, you can tweak something to save time, money or energy, or make someone’s job easier, safer or more interesting. Being able to work on a team with other people who are motivated and working towards a common vision is incredibly rewarding.
Be ready to be a lifelong learner. School teaches you how to learn, but you need to constantly apply yourself to learning and developing in order to be the best engineer you can be. Do your best to soak up any knowledge you can in whatever endeavors you pursue.
