Congratulations to Bruno Portes, Recipient of the Robert T. Armistead Memorial Scholarship

May 19, 2025
Pictured: Brian Helm (JRGF President), Kane Armistead (Armistead Mechanical, Inc., VP of Operations), Gina Carnovale (Recipient), Bruno Portes (Recipient), Kevin Armistead (Armistead Mechanical, Inc., President & CEO), and Rick Gopffarth (MCAA President).

Congratulations to Bruno Portes, one of two recipients of the Robert T. Armistead Memorial Scholarship. This $5,000 scholarship was established in 2024 by Armistead Mechanical, Inc. and the family of Robert “Bob” Armistead to symbolize his leadership, dedication, and impact on the mechanical contracting industry. In honor of Bob’s service as MCAA President, the selected winners are required to have served in the role as their local student chapter president.

Bruno is a Mechanical Engineering student at Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduating in May.  He is an active member of his student chapter, served as President, Vice President, and Recruitment Chair, and interned at MCAA Member, Mid-Atlantic Mechanical.  Post-graduation, Bruno will be continuing on at Mid-Atlantic as a full-time Project Engineer.

“Mechanical construction, unlike many other industries, offers a variety of roles to apply yourself. There’s so many roles within mechanical that helps me as a young adult not be so worried about picking a career and being afraid of regretting it. As a future mechanical engineer graduate, I can use my skills to be a project manager, an estimator, part of scheduling, and even go into management in the future if I would like.

This sort of flexibility allows for me to grow into a career that I will be happy to be in. Moreover, many of the “engineer” things that I find cool like reading drawings, discussing solutions, and building things are all part of it. I could be part of bidding, drawing, and building something. That’s like the best of three worlds and I love that!

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Bruno on this prestigious scholarship and thank Armistead Mechanical, Inc. and the family of Robert T. Armistead for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

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