2022 Engineering Leader Under 40: Rekha Basra, 32

Rekha Basra, Controls + Automation Engineer, Hargrove Controls + Automation, Houston, TX

By CFE Media September 6, 2022
Rekha Basra, Controls + Automation Engineer, Hargrove Controls + Automation, Houston, TX

Rekha Basra, 32
Controls + Automation Engineer
Hargrove Controls + Automation
Houston, TX, United States
BS Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Why Rekha is an Engineering Leader

Rekha Basra is an integral part of the Hargrove Controls + Automation team. She is a consummate professional in all of her engineering duties and goes above and beyond expectations to support her team, customers and Hargrove’s mission. Rekha recently took on a technical project leadership role, driving ISA88: Batch Control in projects, and has been a valuable resource ensuring the best quality of product for customers. She is a well-respected process control and safety-certified engineer that leads by example and mentors other engineers to fulfill their potential.

Achievements, Advancement & Career-related Industry Contributions

After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rekha roamed with the buffalo in Cody, WY, to work in upstream oil and gas. Longing for the beach life, she moved to Pensacola, FL, to work in the chemicals industry as a process engineer. While working as a process engineer, Rekha found herself enjoying the controls projects. A controls position opened in Boston, MA, and Rekha took the opportunity to move home to be closer to family. The controls industry brought her to Hargrove in Houston in June of 2019.

Rekha is a TÜV Rheinland-certified Functional Safety Engineer and has been fortunate to work almost exclusively on batch process projects. Finding them to have a unique set of challenges, Rekha is able to flex her problem-solving skills. Rekha, a true process engineer at heart, understands that a robust control system is imperative to sustaining a healthy process for her clients. On these projects, she is able to harness the capacity of controls and automation to improve batch cycle time, safety for the operators and quality of the product.

Non-work-related Activities & Hobbies

Rekha is a volunteer docent at the Printing Museum in Houston, TX. The Printing Museum has a fully functional letterpress studio, and Rekha has been learning the art of letterpress using the museum’s extensive collection of antique metal and wood type. She provides guided tours on the weekends and oftentimes leads one of the museum’s most popular monthly events, Ink and Drink, where the community can try their own hand at letterpress.

Interesting Details

  1. Rekha’s life goal is to do a hike in every National Park.
  2. You can always find Rekha with her nose in a book, and she also likes to write poetry and short stories.

Why Rekha chose this career

Rekha finds control systems are often under-utilized when solving common manufacturing problems. Processes are not stagnant and often become limited by the physical equipment in the field. The control system can frequently be used to overcome these limitations, usually with creative and out-of-the-box thinking. This career path offers many mentoring opportunities, and Rekha seeks to close the knowledge gap between process and controls engineering through teaching and coaching.


Author Bio: Since its founding in 2010, CFE Media and Technology has provided engineers in manufacturing, commercial and industrial buildings, and manufacturing control systems with the knowledge they need to improve their operational efficiency. CFE delivers the right information at the right time around the world through a variety of platforms.