Laura Whitehurst
Age: 31
Senior Associate
Walter P Moore
- Alma Mater: Cornell University (BS), Stanford University (MS)
- Something people may not know about me: As a kid, I regularly competed in oyster eating contests (never won though)
- Favorite book: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
- Favorite TV show: Breaking Bad
- Favorite movie: Dr. Strangelove
- Favorite hobby(s): soccer, running, playing violin
Laura Whitehurst says her grandmother was her inspiration for her career choice. “My grandmother was a structural engineer in the 1950s when it was unusual for women to be in that career,” she said. “She loomed large in my childhood. I loved playing with Legos and making drawings of buildings as a child.”
What is the most enjoyable part of Whitehurst’s job? “That’s pretty easy. It’s seeing a concept we come up with on paper being built in the real world,” she stated. “And we get to see people use what we create. Plus we’re making the world a safer place one building at a time.”
The air traffic control tower at San Francisco International project has been Whitehurst’s biggest project so far. “It was a great project to work on because the tower is important for the community. If there’s an earthquake or some other disaster, the city would need the airport working and the tower operational, but it’s also an important place to do business.”
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) named the new tower at San Francisco International Airport the 2016 Grand Conceptor award-winner, signifying “the year’s most outstanding engineering achievement. Whitehurst is a team leader on one of Walter P Moore’s major projects in a seismically active area, a project for which she developed an innovative structural optimization program for the seismic-load-resisting system.
Her devotion to engineering extends beyond her job at Walter P Moore. She serves as a director for the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, an advisor for FEMA’s search-and-rescue program and as vice president of the Engineers Alliance for the Arts. “The alliance sends design professionals into local schools to teach 10-week classes on design arts and aesthetics,” she said. She also plays soccer and is a violinist in a local orchestra.
If Whitehurst were in charge of airports, she said she would emphasize the importance of resiliency, “San Francisco is leading the charge with designs that will allow it to be resilient after a natural or manmade disaster, since the airport is an important part of the community,” she said.
