Jessica Wakeman, PE, SE, has spent the past decade and a half helping deliver thoughtful, detailed, and lasting structural engineering solutions across a wide range of project types, including office, high-rise and podium residential, mixed-use, renovation, hospitality, education, tenant fit-out, and parking garage projects.
Jessica is known for her strength in concrete design and detailing, along with attention to detail, responsiveness, and a collaborative mindset. Another one of her strong traits is communication. Whether internal within the firm or external, oral or written, the communication is always clear, concise, thoughtful, and timely. Jessica has grown from being an entry level project engineer in the firm to a very experienced senior project manager, a great mentor, and licensed SE. In her own words, she was drawn to structural engineering because she has “always been very interested in how buildings looked and how they were able to stand” and loves the idea of designing things that will last and be used for generations.
Over the years, Jessica has contributed to many notable and award-winning projects, including Midtown Center, Brookland Press, Atlantic Plumbing Site, Press House, the Turkish American Community Center, The Residences at Tide Lock, Twinbrook Quarter Phase I, and Washington Post Tenant Fit Out.
Among her most memorable projects, Jessica notes the Turkish American Community Center, a unique collection of buildings that includes a mosque and Turkish bath and showcases both steel and concrete construction. She also points to Tide Lock in Alexandria, an adaptive reuse and vertical expansion of an existing steel building, as one of the most challenging and rewarding projects she has worked on in recent years. Through that project, she has expanded her experience with steel design, strengthening, and retrofitting existing steel and concrete structures.
Jessica was born in California and raised in New Jersey before heading to UVA for her undergraduate degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia. She then earned her Master’s in Structural Engineering from Lehigh University. Outside the office, Jessica enjoys traveling, reading, fitness training, concerts, theater, trivia nights, and hiking.
Jessica, thank you for 15 years of thoughtful engineering, steady collaboration, and meaningful contributions to SK&A’s work and team.
