Experts in Civil Engineering

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It is a difficult task to attempt to narrow down the leaders in an industry such as civil engineering. The majority of projects are worked on in teams of highly skilled designers, otherwise the work and calculations that go into them could take multiple years to complete. I have picked out a few different engineers that went above and beyond the expectations in their fields to cover in this post. Finally I'll take a look not at the pinnacle of civil engineering, but at the beginning of a career.

William F. Baker

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE

Born in the rural town of Fulton, Missouri, the tallest buildings surrounding Baker were usually churches. This could make it a surprise that he is the structural engineer credited with designing three of the ten tallest buildings in the world. Alongside the international architect Adrian Smith, Baker designed the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Zifeng Tower in Nanjing, China, and the tallest man made structure in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Creating the tallest building in the world is no simple feat though. He developed what is known as a buttressed core and used a Y-shape structure to make the base of the Burj Khalifa. This design will lead to a new era of enormous sky scrapers. The Kingdom Tower, already under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will become the new tallest man made structure and the first to top one kilometer if completed.

Elattuvalapil Sreedharan

A map of the Konkan Railway

Known as the "Metro Man," Sreedharan has become a national celebrity due to his work on the metros and railways throughout all of India. After being recognized by the Indian government for his brilliant work on repairing the Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu, he was given the responsibility of designing the Kolkata metro, the first one in India. After working in the private sector in infrastructure engineering for many years, he retired in June 1990.

The government had other plans though. After telling him that he was too important in the infrastructure of India, he was named the chairman and managing director of the Konkan Railway. Under his leadership the project was completed in seven years. Following this success he was named the managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. After completing this entire project in time and within budget, he retired in December 2011. The Indian government of course still calls on him for words of wisdom though.

Anne Setian Kiremidjian

PSHA map of California

Although it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when talking about civil, Kiremidjian has been a leader in the evolution of earthquake engineering. She is most known for her work with probability seismic hazard assessment (PSHA). She holds four U.S. patents related to wireless sensor development and damage detection algorithms. She has designed PSHA maps for California, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatamala. 

Aside from success in the private sector, a majority of her time is spent teaching undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford University, which is viewed as one of the world's most prestigious institutions in earthquake engineering. She also believes in promoting female engineers and the idea of international collaboration of research and ideas. 

A New Engineer

Now that I've introduced three people who are already prominent in civil engineering, I would like to talk about an almost brand new engineer. His name is Nathan Amick, and he is a water resources engineer at Ackerman-Estvold Engineering in Minot, ND. He worked at Ackerman as a seasonal intern from 2009 until he graduated from North Dakota State University in the spring of 2014.

When I asked him about what types of things he does as an entry level engineer, he told me he mostly only works on storm water drainage rather than designing whole projects. Although he only works on a small part of a design, he is in contact with nearly everyone involved. Emails are the primary form of communication between his colleagues, his superiors, the client, and the contractor. They are fast, formal, and brief because the delivery of the information is the main purpose for the message. "The only long writing I do involves project reports," he explained to me. These reports are usually 12-13 pages long and are submitted to the city for approval. 

Each one of the three engineers previously listed all started where Nathan is now. Without these entry level designers that can focus on smaller parts of the project and do more area specific calculations, structures such as the Burj Khalifa wouldn't exist. No engineer can do a large project by themselves, which is why its important to remember that civil engineering is the combined effort of a team. With a strong leader such as Baker, Sreedharan, or Kiremidjian, the abilities of these teams can truly shine.