Degenkolb Seattle Design Engineer, Bianca Casem, has been honored as a 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers New Face of Civil Engineering! Each year, ASCE bestows this extraordinary honor to 10 engineers across the nation who are making a difference in the first decade of their careers.

The Phillipines-born, Seattle-raised engineer is making her mark on the engineering profession not only within our firm but outside of it as an advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion in the field and mentor to younger engineers. She is an active member of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington and president-elect of the ASCE Seattle Younger Member Forum. Learn more about Bianca’s story and how diversity and resilience helped shaped her path as an engineer and New Faces honoree in the interview below.

 

Civil Engineering Source also interviewed Bianca in Resilience personified: New Face honoree thrives through adversity.

From the article:

It’s a story of resilience in keeping with Casem’s entire life and career. She was born in the Philippines and spent the first 10 years of her life there before moving to Seattle with her family. She spoke English well but still remembers those transition years as difficult.

“It was definitely a culture shock, that’s for sure,” Casem said. “The first year I was here my mom says I would say I just wanted to go back, that I didn’t feel like I belonged.

“I remember how kids would make fun of my accent. It was that sense of imposter syndrome, I think. It definitely took some time to adjust.”

Two decades later, she’s working as a design engineer for Degenkolb Engineers in Seattle. An active member of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington, she’s also president-elect of the ASCE Seattle Younger Member Forum. She helped set up an ASCE career fair for students at her alma mater, Seattle University, in addition to other mentoring and outreach volunteer work.

Continue reading the full article here.

The entire Degenkolb team congratulates Bianca on this tremendous accomplishment!