MEMBER PROFI LE Dr. Sissy Nikolaou, P.E., D.GE: Ambassador and Role Model for the Industry Nikolaou soon arrived in America, Seeds of an engineer were planted in Dr. Sissy Nikolaou's brain at a very young age. Growing up in Greece, Nikolaou's grandfather, a construction manager, had a big influence on her decision to pursue an engineering career. She loved travelling with him to construction sites every summer, and the payoff for early wake-up calls was seeing a dam or stadium come to life from the ground up. These experiences fascinated this young girl, who was encouraged by both grandparents to ask questions and dream of creating a skyscraper one day, just like the ones in New York City they would see in movies. Greek ancient art, mythology and mathematics played a big role in her upbringing, enhancing her imagination and cul t ivat ing her approach to engineering “as an art form (that) can be carved using proper tools to create future cities and safely sustain existing communities” — an idea she shared during a recent TEDx talk. Her journey began at the prestigious National Technical University in Athens (NTUA), earning a five-year diploma in structural engineering. The late Professor Dimitri Papastamatiou's engineering seismology course had a profound influence on her career path, connecting ancient history to seismology, and eventually to seismic hazard predictions and design. It ignited her curiosity, satisfied her problem-solving interests, and sparked her fascination with human evolution, history and art. earning a master's degree and doctorate in geotechnical and earthquake engineering from the University at Buffalo (UB). At UB she worked with Professor George Gazetas in his pioneering research on soil-pile interaction, which has been incorporated into design codes. Gazetas recalled Nikolaou as an “excellent, outstanding, very well- organized student and selfless individual.” Nikolaou described the presence of Gazetas in her professional life as “catalytic,” leading to her recent recognition as a distinguished alumna of NTUA during the school's 130- year anniversary. She serves on the UB Advisory Board of the Dean of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Dr. Liesl Folk. Nikolaou's passion for the next generation of engineers impresses Folks finds her to be “a role model who never fails to give a hand to those around her to help them step up to the next level,” as she does by connecting UB graduates to large firms. Folks regards Nikolaou as the “epitome of enthusiasm for doing good in the world and using her skills and talent to improve the lives of others.” Folks invi ted her to del iver the Distinguished Alumna Commencement Speech for the 2017 UB School of Engineering Class. Work and Teaching An adopted New Yorker, Nikolaou started working in the City more than 20 years ago as a geotechnical engineer. At a time when New York had just started enforcing a seismic code, Nikolaou paved the way to the regional geotechnical earthquake engineering practice by transferring West Coast knowledge to the unique geologic and seismic challenges of the East. Addressing growing demands to incorporate resilience into engineering designs, she took the leading role of the AUTHOR Lucky Nagarajan, Geotechnical Engineer/Business Development, Skyline Steel DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2018 • 69 multi-hazard practice of WSP USA in the firm's Geotechnical and Tunneling Tech- nical Excellence Center (GT TEC), where she is the WSP Technical Fellow of Earthquake Engineering. She works with WSP's buildings and infrastructure sectors to create innovative solutions for complex projects and to provide decision support to clients through the WSP global platform, SPEED. Two WSP colleagues, Frank Pepe, director; and Dale Moeller, east manager of the GT TEC describe her as a technically exceptional person and a big picture thinker who impresses clients and under- stands both the business and engineering sides of WSP, with an enthusiasm that is contagious to her colleagues and the rising engineers she mentors. Christopher LaTuso, transportation program manager at HDR, fellow engineer, client and collaborator, calls Nikolaou an “industry expert, valuable friend and true leader. I have never met a person more passionate about their work than Sissy. Her support of earthquake engineering and research on resiliency are not just for the good of her organization and her client, but really benefit people.” Education and Outreach Nikolaou strongly believes in outreach and enjoys teaching geotechnical earthquake engineering at Manhattan College. She feels when she interacts with her students she learns almost as much from them as she teaches. She has also created interactive pro g r ams on NYC g e o l o g y and underground infrastructure for K-5 students, her “toughest crowd.” Nikolaou was able to establish the NY- Northeast (NYNE) Regional Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), the go-to organization for earthquake awareness and risk mitigation advocacy. NYNE has grown into an
