EC&M On Air

Our monthly special edition of EC&M On Air is back, featuring this year's class of 30 Under 30 All Stars! To kick us off, Managing Editor Ellie Coggins sits down with Shalina Gupta, electrical engineer with Design Collaborative in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Shalina, age 28, shares how she incorporates her passion for art/theater into her electrical engineering career and what good mentorship means to her. We also cover tackling tough challenges early in her career, finding your place in the industry, working cross-functionally with other electrical trades, and navigating a healthy work-life balance.

In this audio-only version of a past popular online article, Ellen Parson reads "NFPA 70E: Key Terms Electricians Should Know, Part 6," written by Electrical Consultant Mark Lamendola. This article addresses NFPA 70E requirements for establishing an electrically safe work condition and why it isn't always as straightforward as it may sound. 

Jim Lucy, editor-in-chief of Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing newsletter, joins Ellen Parson on EC&M On Air to discuss the industry's Top 100 electrical distributors and what those insights mean for electrical contractors, engineers, and facility personnel. Jim shares the big highlights from his report, including hot and cold market verticals, supply chain challenges, distributor acquisitions and their impact on the Top 100 reporting, product pricing, and more. 

Do you know what an electrically safe work condition entails based on the definition found in NFPA 70E and how to properly apply it to electrical job sites? In this episode of EC&M On Air, Ellen Parson reads an audio-only version of a popular past article, originally published online in February 2026 by Mark Lamendola as part of a series on key NFPA 70E terms all electricians should know. 

In this episode, EC&M Editor-in-Chief Ellen Parson is joined by Michael Catalano, high school guidance counselor and master electrician from Saugerties, N.Y., who has been instrumental in recruiting young electricians through the programs offered within his school district. He explains the BOCES program and how a unique partnership between high school electrical students and Habitat for Humanity is both helping develop their skillset in a real-world capacity and benefit the local community. 

As the skilled labor shortage continues to impact the electrical industry and other trades, insights into how to best recruit and educate electricians — starting in high school or even earlier — is paramount. 

In this episode of Next-Gen Insights, part of the EC&M On Air podcast series, Editor-in-Chief Ellen Parson passes the torch to Managing Editor Ellie Coggins, who will be taking over as host for the Next-Gen series, and shares what to expect from the upcoming class of 30 Under 30 All Stars. 

 

As AI demand accelerates, many data center operators are turning to brownfield upgrades to deploy capacity faster than greenfield construction allows. This conversation looks at how data center teams are unlocking AI performance from existing facilities—navigating electrical, cooling, and operational constraints while phasing upgrades to protect uptime and reliability.

For electrical engineers and electrical contractors, these projects represent both opportunity and risk. This episode explores where they fit into brownfield AI upgrades, how to get involved early, what makes these projects different from traditional data center work, and whether they’re worth the time, effort, and complexity.

Rather than focusing on “winning projects,” the discussion centers on how the industry is extracting AI capacity from existing facilities—managing constraints, executing phased upgrades, and integrating power, cooling, and monitoring systems in live environments.

In this episode of EC&M On Air, Trevor Ottmann, owner of 3/0 Electric in Bennet, Neb., joins Ellen Parson of EC&M to discuss the Everyday Electrician! In case you haven't heard of Trevor, he is the face behind the Everyday Electrician video series, which we publish on our Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channel, where he shares tips/tricks and what a day in the life looks like as an electrical contractor. In this conversation, we learn more about his work running his own business and take a deep dive into a few of his most viral videos. 

In this special edition of EC&M On Air, Nada Adelfattah joins the podcast to share insights and advice on how to grow your career as an electrical engineer and young electrical professional! She is an electrical engineer III with Mott MacDonald in Iselin, N.J. 

ICYMI, this is an audio-only version of a popular past article that ran online! Narrated by EC&M Editor-in-Chief Ellen Parson, this article was originally written by Mark Lamendola, electrical consultant, and covers the five types of boundaries required by NFPA 70E.