Samantha Brummell.
Samantha Brummell, 31
Senior Project Engineer at Thornton Tomasetti
Samantha Brummell manages a half-dozen projects at a time for engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti while also mentoring those coming up behind her.
Her projects have included one at 345 Park Avenue South, which involved repositioning existing levels, a roof terrace and amenity space as well as executing an extensive mechanical overbuild; and a 400,000-square-foot new ambulatory care facility for Brooklyn-Methodist New York Presbyterian Hospital.
It’s this variety, in a city teeming with it, that inspires her work the most.
“No two repositionings will ever be the same, especially in a city like New York, where the structures are from different periods, and the past and future programming of the spaces are always different,” said Brummell, who earned a bachelor’s in civil engineering and a master’s in structural engineering from Cornell. “I’m able to use the problem-solving skills and knowledge I learned from other projects in unique ways.”
Other projects Brummell has worked on include renovations for NYU Langone at 1111 Franklin Avenue in Long Island City, Queens; designing a 23-story office building at 141 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn; and residential construction at 4790 Broadway in Inwood area of Manhattan.
While Brummell relishes the impact of these projects, she reserves some of her greatest pride for her mentoring work.
“We work in design teams. It’s never one individual,” Brummell said. “Putting in the extra effort to make sure that some of the people I work with progress in their careers and learn from others is important. Mentorship has been important to me and gotten me where I am. So to be able to do that for other people is important to me.”—L.G.
