Kristen Lee

Why I Chose Duke Engineering

What I loved most about Duke, and Civil & Environmental Engineering in particular, was that the engineering students were bright and motivated, yet down-to-earth and collaborative. Several other engineering programs that I visited seemed to have a culture of everyone for themselves, at the expense of their fellow students. I also appreciated that Duke’s CEE program had many other female engineering students.

Before Duke Engineering

I came to Duke from a county-wide magnet school that emphasized math and science. My desire to pursue engineering was due to several family members who are civil engineers. Childhood often involved stopping at construction sites on the way home to check project progress.

After Duke Engineering

Duke did a great job of teaching us how to think. We learned how to reason through difficult problems and come up with viable solutions and I drew on that education daily as a transportation engineer before deciding to become a stay-at-home mom. My roles included proposal preparation; construction inspection; designing roadways from rural to heavy highway, signalized intersections, downtown streetscapes and parks; and serving municipalities as town engineer or consultant to their in-house engineer. My favorite part of the job was interacting with local residents and helping them to understand and feel comfortable with the projects that were going to be done in their neighborhoods.

My biggest recommendation for incoming college students is to get involved beyond the classroom. Join a club, a sports team, a sorority or fraternity. Become a member of a musical group or write for the newspaper. Give campus tours. Study abroad. Work at one of the dining halls. Attend a local house of worship with friends. The experiences you have investing time and heart in activities outside of the classroom will be ones you can use to augment your education and treasure for a lifetime.