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February 5, 2024

Engineer of the Year

Kathy Cox-Czosnyka
Tetra Tech

Kathy Cox-Czosnyka’s remarkable career in engineering, combined with her dedication to service, leadership and innovation exemplifies excellence in the field, according to ACEC.

Cox-Czosnyka

Cox-Czosnyka currently serves as a vice president for Tetra Tech’s Water Division. Her responsibilities span leading operations, risk management, and managing a diverse range of staff, teams and projects in water resources, environmental and infrastructure design. Cox-Czosnyka’s leadership has been instrumental in driving the transformation of critical infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest, and advocating for the engineering profession through her work with ACEC. With an impressive 38 years of experience, Cox-Czosnyka consistently demonstrates strong ethics, outstanding character, technical expertise, and managerial skills in delivering transportation and water-related facilities. She fosters a culture of “project first thinking,” prioritizing client service through effective communication, client needs, and thorough documentation. Cox-Czosnyka’s career includes mentoring and supervising project managers, and she has managed history-defining transportation and water projects.

“Kathy’s passion and vision for technical excellence is clear and a gold standard for the industry. However, I’ve found some of her most remarkable qualities to be those that foster that ever difficult, yet ever important, human component of engineering. She is exemplary in her ability to inspire and nourish growth in colleagues,” says Renee Vandermause, Water Resources Group manager at Tetra Tech.

Cox-Czosnyka is a licensed professional engineer in Washington state, where she has dedicated 30 years of her career. She holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with highest honors from Northwestern University, and a master’s degree in structural engineering, earning the Cabell Fellowship for graduate studies. Her career began as a bridge engineer before ascending to project management and leadership positions.

Among Cox-Czosnyka’s notable achievements was her role as project manager for the Seattle Central Waterfront Program. This ambitious initiative, revitalizing downtown Seattle’s waterfront after the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, involved more than a dozen capital projects. Cox-Czosnyka’s leadership was pivotal in coordinating a design team of 60 firms.

Cox-Czosnyka also served as principal project manager for the Port of Seattle program management support at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. She led a multidisciplinary team, overseeing the design of a consolidated rental car facility, demonstrating her strategic planning and coordination expertise in executing this complex project.

Cox-Czosnyka’s dedication to the engineering community is evident through her extensive involvement with ACEC Washington. Cox-Czosnyka joined the ACEC board of directors in 2012 and her service spanned a decade — both at the local and national level. She served in roles as national director, chair, vice-chair, chair-elect and Washington director. She has advocated for every major ACEC issue and was instrumental in helping update the ACEC Statewide Strategic Plan.

“Kathy has been a staunch advocate for the industry, championing and advocating for those issues and values that have improved the profession while pushing back on the things that would look to erode and diminish the essential value that the engineering profession brings to society,” said fellow ACEC board member Scott Woerman of Landau Associates.

Cox-Czosnyka’s passion is to advance the AEC profession and advocate for its practitioners. She actively contributes to various committees, including the WSDOT/ACEC liaison committee and the WSDOT/ACEC bridge and structures committee, where she served as co-chair.

Cox-Czosnyka’s passion for engineering, her invaluable contributions to the AEC industry, and her commitment to advancing the engineering profession make her an outstanding Engineer of the Year.


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