Trailblazers: Isabella Karallas

SBJ photo by Wes Hamilton

13%
Percentage of female engineers

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The daughter of a homebuilder, Isabella Karallas discovered her love of construction early in life growing up in Indiana. The technicalities and intricacies of building design fascinated her and resulted in her decision to earn an engineering degree from Valparaiso University in her home state.

“I wanted to know more about the technical side of building, and I wondered how bigger projects worked,” she says. “I had an interest for learning all those things and more about construction, and engineering fell into that.”

Out of a class of about 30 engineering students, Karallas was one of four women who graduated in 2017. She completed her internship at Trekk Design Group LLC, where she ultimately became employed as a civil engineer, mostly involved with water collection, sewer systems and transportation engineering.

“People don’t notice all the things we’re doing to improve everyday life,” Karallas says. “It’s nice to know we’re helping in that way.”