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Arup’s young professionals recognized across industry

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Jackie Wei Green Jackie Wei Green Americas Head of Communications,Los Angeles
2 October 2019

At Arup, staff across all experience levels have the freedom to push industry boundaries. Our community of talented people move beyond the tried and tested to shape a better world. This year, several Arup staff have been awarded for their deep technical knowledge, strategic thinking, and new ways of solving complex challenges. 

King's Cross Coal Drops Yard

Melody Ablola "Building Design + Construction" 40 Under 40

Melody is an associate principal at Arup, a skilled industrial and systems engineer, and a leader for our logistics business throughout the Americas region. She is a thought leader in urban freight with extensive experience in facilities layout planning and systems simulation modelling. Well-practiced in delivering a high caliber of operational performance in large capital projects, she continues to drive operations research to develop sustainable solutions. She is equally passionate about bringing out the best in junior staff members — unlocking industrial engineering and transportation planning potential to create better cities.

Outside of office hours, Melody is aptly musical. Learning piano at a young age and later playing guitar on stage, Melody’s love for music and performance has persisted throughout her career and travels across the globe. Melody has played drums and bass in a bluegrass band in New York, keyboard and synth in London, and currently plays ukulele and DJs events in the Bay Area.

Watch here as Melody describes the King's Cross Coal Drops Yard project.

The Chrysalis at Symphony Woods

Lauren Wingo "Civil + Structural Engineer" Rising Stars

Lauren is a senior structural engineer in our Washington DC office. Her experience includes both traditional and new structural materials, with a focus on incorporating sustainable strategies into structural design. She has worked on a number of large-scale renovation projects, further influencing the sustainability of projects by adaptively reusing existing structures. She is an expert in and an early adopter of whole building life cycle assessment. She advocates for considering environmental impacts embodied within structural materials equally alongside operating impacts when evaluating the overall sustainability of a project.

Lauren has also been closely involved in developing the Structural Engineers 2050 (SE 2050) commitment initiative. The goal of SE 2050 is to inspire structural engineers to progress the global vision of zero carbon buildings by 2050 and measure progress towards that vision.

Autonomous vehicles strategy

Melissa Ruhl "Mass Transit" 40 Under 40

Melissa is a senior transportation planner in our San Francisco office, where she manages transportation innovation strategies. Partnering with cities and transit agencies, she helps communities plan for tomorrow. Melissa frequently speaks in California and nationally on autonomous vehicles and the future of cities. She has published several articles and book chapters on the future of mobility, including most recently a chapter on mobility as a service in “Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow.”

“Improving transit improves the world. It may sound grandiose, but it’s true. Our progress helps address a long list of challenges including local inequities and global emissions. There’s always more work to be done and more improvements to be planned, which gets me up and downing my coffee every morning.”

Second Avenue Subway

Robert Accosta Jr. "Society of Fire Protection Engineers" 5 Under 35

Robert is an associate and part of the leadership team for the fire and life safety practice in our New York office. He is principal member of the Fire Protection Technical Committee for New York City Construction Codes Revision and the American Council of Engineering Companies New York Metro Region Fire Codes Committee, as well as an alternate member on the National Fire Protection Association 72 Technical Committee on Notification Appliances for Fire Alarm and Signaling Systems. Since joining Arup, Robert has been responsible for managing multidisciplinary projects and delivering holistic solutions related to fire and life safety strategies, fire protection system design, and code consulting from project inception through beneficial occupancy.

Robert has been a volunteer firefighter in his Connecticut town for over 17 years. He has held ranks as high as Assistant Chief and leveraged his knowledge of building codes, fire codes, and NFPA standards to help mentor the department.

The TWA Flight Center

Maria Theodori "Society of Fire Protection Engineers" 5 Under 35

Maria is a fire and life safety engineer specializing in wildfire risk and resilience in our San Francisco office. Currently she is most focused on the research and development of transdisciplinary and integrative solutions that aim to reduce the negative impacts of wildland fires and improve the resilience of communities and organizations. Maria is passionate about supporting the advancement of the fire protection industry and volunteers her time as committee co-chair for the Emerging Professionals of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. 

She is most excited about the opportunity to shape the future of the profession, bridge communications and knowledge across generations of fire specialists, and collaborate with others who are also dedicated to fire protection. Being a part of the new guard of the industry allows her to be a voice for her peers and positively influence the status quo.  

Earlier this year, five Arup staff members were also awarded as Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine’s 40 Under 40 winners.