Helene Brennan Awarded Member of the Year 2018 for the Philadelphia Chapter of Women's Transportation Seminar

On, November 29th, 2018, Helene Brennan (BSCE 2003), PE LEED AP BD+C, ENV SP was awarded the Member of the Year 2018 for the Philadelphia Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).

For over 15 years, Helene Brennan has been an active leader within WTS for both the Philadelphia and Baltimore Chapters. She has served on many committees over her tenure, including event photographer and archives management. In the past, she served as Interim Treasurer for WTS Philadelphia. In 2009, she received a Professional Achievement Award from Urban Engineers in recognition of her leadership and support of WTS. In Baltimore, she was the WTS Chair of Scholarships and was recognized in 2014 with the WTS Baltimore President’s Award for Outstanding Service. Ms. Brennan currently serves as the WTS Philadelphia Chapter Student Outreach Chair. In this role, she is responsible for the Transportation You (TrYOU), Scholarship, and Student Chapter subcommittees. Along with the Subcommittee Vice Chairs and over 20 volunteers, Ms. Brennan has spearheaded the growth of WTS Philadelphia’s initiatives and mission. Her focus on advancing the mission of WTS has spurred the Chapter’s interest in showing young women opportunities in the transportation field. Some of the activities that she helped plan were field trips for 13-18 year-old girls, resume workshops for college students and “firm crawls” for students to visit potential employers.

Ms. Brennan is a senior civil engineer at STV, Inc. Her transportation experience includes designing highways and roadways geometry and realignment, transit projects, bike/pedestrian design, utility relocation, traffic control plans, and stormwater management plans. She has designed projects for the City of Philadelphia, the City of Baltimore, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).  She is a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts. She is a LEED AP BD+C and an Envision Sustainable Professional (ENV SP). Her primary professional interest is “green” infrastructure.

While a student at Northwestern, she was a four-year member of the AISC student steel bridge team and co-president of the NU ASCE chapter her senior year.  She was a legacy NU Civil Engineering student. Both Helene and her father, Jim Brennan (MSCE 1972), were students of Prof. Joseph Schofer. Ms. Brennan is a former president of the NU Club of Philadelphia, and she continues to encourage students to apply to Northwestern as an alumni interviewer. In 2015, she and former classmate Bridget Bush (BSCE 2003) attended the Northwestern Alumni Association Panama Canal trip with Prof. Joseph Schofer.  

“I am honored to win this award,” says Ms. Brennan, “and to enable students to have great experiences.”