New faculty: Meet Jessica Kaminsky

Jessica Kaminsky has become a globetrotter over the span of her personal and professional life. Born in Australia, she grew up south of the Wolfpack in Auburn, Alabama. Kaminsky joined the construction group at CCEE in August as a professor, previously serving as an associate professor at the University of Washington. Over the past year, she spent time in Costa Rica on sabbatical. 

“I am delighted to be coming back to the South, and to Raleigh in particular,” Kaminsky said. “I am most excited to collaborate with the many excellent faculty at NC State.”

Kaminsky, who earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Rice University and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder, studies the social sustainability of infrastructure. 

“At the moment, most of my research and teaching efforts are focused on decarbonizing infrastructure,” she said. “I also work in water, sanitation, and hygiene in lower and middle-income communities.”

Kaminsky received the American Society of Civil Engineers Halpin Award for Scholarship in Construction in 2021 and won the Engineering Project Organization Society’s Levitt Young Scholar Award in 2019. She will teach CE 263 Introduction to Construction Engineering in the spring semester.