We design huge, elaborate projects. Everything requires a very creative solution and a lot of analysis, because it’s never been done before. There’s no precedent.  (Deirdre works at Thornton Tomasetti, an international engineering firm in New York City that has built some of the world’s tallest buildings.)

I have a lot of friends from engineering school who are in med school now, or consulting, or doing finance, or they’re in law school, or they’re engineers. I think it really prepares you as far as problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and some intangible qualities you get with the education.

Sometimes I explain to people that if an architect drew a picture of a body, I’d be the one who goes in and designs the bones.

I like it when people, especially guys, ask me what I do. They're kind of stunned when I tell them I'm a structural engineer. They'll say, 'what, you . . . you do that?'  I guess they are just surprised that ideas for such big structures come from such a petite girl!

B.S. in civil and environmental engineering, from the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.