Rachel DeSombre Receives 2024 Women in Construction (Engineer of the Year) Award

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Rachel DeSombre, P.E., raSmith senior transportation project manager, was named among The Daily Reporter’s 2024 Women in Construction and honored as the Engineer of the Year. These awards are given to groundbreaking women who support building projects through construction, marketing, law, communications, engineering, architecture, executive roles, and other professional services.

Throughout her 26-year career (18 at raSmith), DeSombre has led a variety of transportation design projects for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), county highway departments, and local municipalities in southern Wisconsin. Her experience includes drainage and stormwater management for freeway interchanges, the design of multi-modal projects such as bike paths and bike share facilities, pavement management and design, utility coordination, preliminary and final design of roadways, cost estimating, and preparation of PS&E (plans, specifications, and estimates) documents.

Additionally, DeSombre has served in numerous organizations such as the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) and Transportation Improvement Conference (TIC) planning committee organized by WisDOT and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Wisconsin. Her responsibilities at raSmith have expanded in the last several years to include training, mentoring, and overseeing a team of engineers who work on transportation design projects. DeSombre also enjoys opportunities to inspire young women to explore a career in civil engineering or other STEM careers. 

“Along with the raSmith team, I am proud of Rachel for receiving this well-deserved honor,” said John Elkin, P.E., raSmith director of transportation services. “Her dedication and hard work are evident through all of her projects as she provides engineering excellence to our clients and contributes to the ongoing success of raSmith’s transportation division. Congratulations, Rachel!”

DeSombre was recently honored at The Daily Reporter’s annual Women in Construction awards event in Milwaukee, Wis.

About raSmith

raSmith is a multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firm established in the city of Brookfield, Wisconsin, in 1978. Our services are focused on our public and private sector client needs in planning, design, and construction including site planning and design, structural engineering, municipal engineering, transportation and traffic, surveying, development management, ecology, landscape architecture, LiDAR (3D laser scanning), UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), construction services, and geographic information systems (GIS). We work on projects nationwide from our seven locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California. The firm employs a staff of 220. For more information about raSmith, visit www.rasmith.com.