Benesch’s Amelia Harris Receives Prestigious Engineering Alumni Award

PITTSBURGH, PA—Amelia Harris, PhD, PE, a Technical Manager at Benesch, has been awarded the 2024 Outstanding Alumni Service Award by Carnegie Mellon University’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Awards Committee. The award recognizes her significant contributions to furthering opportunities for women through her involvement in WTS, an organization focused on promoting the advancement of women in the transportation industry.

“Receiving this award is deeply inspiring,” shared Amelia. “It reaffirms my commitment to making a meaningful impact on the next generation of students.”

Amelia earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 and 2009. Since graduating, she’s maintained strong ties with the university. Last year, Amelia returned to Carnegie Mellon University alongside fellow alumni to speak to students. She shared insights about her professional journey, projects she’s worked on, challenges she’s faced and what she enjoys most about working in the engineering industry.

As for her involvement with WTS, Amelia is currently serving as Treasurer of the Pittsburgh chapter and is a member of the scholarship committee. She actively promotes the organization’s initiatives and encourages undergraduate students to apply.

Amelia joined Benesch in 2011 as a designer; today she is a Technical Manager within the company’s Pennsylvania Division specializing in structural bridge design. Her expertise includes substructure design, steel and concrete superstructure design and finite element modeling of complex structures.