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insights Engineering Water Resource Projects in the US

woman in high visibility vest and hard hat smiling

Meet Sydney who joined Atkins shortly after graduating in 2018.

Q: What is your role at Atkins?

A: I’m an Engineer I in the Water Infrastructure Group.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your professional background?

A: I graduated from Clemson University in Dec. 2017 with a BS in Biosystems Engineering. I then moved to Austin, TX to live with my now-husband and joined Atkins in March of 2018. I joined the Atkins water team and initially worked on Water Resources projects around the US. At the beginning of 2019, I began getting more involved with my Infrastructure group and projects. 

Q: What is the coolest thing you are working on?

A: I have 2 projects that I always like to talk about:

1. The I-70 from Veterans Memorial Tunnel to Floyd Hill out of Denver, CO. I really enjoyed working on this project because I had the opportunity to design multiple miles of roadway drainage. This project is unique because the existing roadway was between a mountainside and Clear Creek. In order to expand the road, there were two options: drill through the mountain or go over the creek and cut into the hill on the other side. I helped design both alternatives in the latest design software (Bentley OpenRoads). We submitted the 30% design to Colorado DOT this past month. 

image of the i-70 in Denver

2. The current project I am working on is with the City of Houston – FEMA Disaster Recovery from Hurricane Harvey. There are multiple stages to this project: damage assessment of flooded wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and lift stations (LS), onsite mitigation, offsite mitigation and diversion. We have completed the first two stages and are now in the third stage. We are working with 4 other engineering firms to consolidate Houston’s WWTP from 32 to 13 and design tunnels and WWTP that will be built and used for the next 100 years. 

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: I have a one-year-old corgi name Kovski (short for Tchaikovski) Criminski. All the dogs in my family have composer/musician names.

image of Sydneys dog Kovski

Q: What is your motto in life?


A: The only time you truly fail is if you give up or refuse to try.


Join the AtkinsRéalis Group

Are you thinking about joining AtkinsRéalis , and our Atkins and Faithful+Gould businesses? With growing populations, climate change and pollution, we're seeing our clients face increasingly challenging projects. We’re continuing to build diverse teams so we have a mix of thinkers, like Sydney, who can help us tackle these challenges with innovative solutions.

If her story has inspired you, why not learn more about our water market and browse our latest roles. Whether you're looking for a drainage engineer, civil engineer or project manager job - or something more niche - we could have the opportunity that is right for you.

About our Water Market:


Our clients in the water supply and quality industry not only work with one of the most complex, ever-changing resources – they work with one of the most important. Simply put, water sustains all life, which is why we’re proud to bring together the best expertise and latest innovations to meet the challenges facing our clients – and the wider world – head on. 

Humans and water have a complicated relationship. We need to protect and nurture it, but also understand that it can be a dangerous and destructive force. Our water management experts recognize this, and make sure sustainability and safety are central to every project we deliver.