Engineering the next success story

Catherine Houska has reached the pinnacle of her profession.

She’s recognized internationally as an expert in architectural and structural metallurgy, a career she launched after graduating from Carnegie Mellon with an engineering degree in 1982. As an undergrad, Catherine was every bit as busy as she is these days, taking classes beyond her engineering curriculum, serving as chair of Student Senate and as a Tridelta officer and working.

Working was a necessity. Catherine came to Pittsburgh from Blacksburg, Virginia, where her parents were professors. While the family was comfortable, they were still faced with the costs associated with a college education.

“I worked the entire time I was at Carnegie Mellon, whether it was internships, working for my department and a little waitressing,” Catherine says. “The reality is that paying for a top-tier education can often stretch families that don’t qualify for financial aid. Young people end up working. That can be hard to balance with classwork, and many need that extra help to fill in gaps.”

That was the thinking when Catherine recently created a gift via her estate plan to endow a scholarship for middle-income engineering students at her alma mater.  

“I’m excited about it,” she says. “I thought about all that I could potentially do with my money and helping the next generation achieve their dreams with less of a struggle, which in turn helps society, seemed meaningful.”

Catherine runs Catherine Houska Consulting, a Pittsburgh-based diverse consulting firm that specializes in working with architects and engineers using metals like stainless steel both during design and when failures occur. She is also an internationally recognized expert on structural and sustainability standards.

Catherine had a hand in many high profile buildings, structures and memorials around the globe, including 9/11 memorials, and Gateway Arch in St. Louis, where she served as metallurgist for the monument’s 50-year inspection. She’s broken ground for other women as well; she was the first woman awarded the Construction Specifications Institute’s Society Technical Award for her individual contributions to the field and the first person to receive the award twice.

And, she says, there’s no question that the investment in her CMU degree has opened many doors for her.

“I work in the metals industry, which is still male-dominated throughout much of the world,” she says. “Early in my career, I regularly met with senior industry professionals in parts of the world where female engineers could not get jobs working in their field. I was introduced based on my CMU degree and experience. It made them decide to listen as I might have something important to say. So it’s served me well.”

Establishing a scholarship fund wasn’t at the top of Catherine’s mind when she began talking to CMU’s Office of Gift Planning about her plans. But when she found out she could easily do that through the trust she was creating, she jumped at the chance.

“Carnegie Mellon was already one of the beneficiaries, but I specifically wanted a continuous flow of money to support students through their time at CMU,” she says. “I made a call inquiring about whether that was possible, and CMU helped me match my goals by suggesting an endowed scholarship fund.”

The scholarship was just one facet of Catherine’s estate plans, but as it turned out, it was an important piece of her overall thought process.

“When you're thinking about your legacy or what you would like to happen with your money, I think it's important to think about where it can have the most impact,” she says.

Catherine also says she was pleasantly surprised by how simple the process was.

“The Office of Gift Planning at CMU was very informative and easy to work with,” she says. “It wasn’t hard at all.”

And best of all is the notion that she could be helping the next Catherine Houska navigate her way through a Tartan education.

“I would like to help remove financial hurdles so that young people feel like they can achieve that dream.”