CATHERINE CHIA-CALABRIA, PE

Senior Manager, Structural Engineering

Where’s the most interesting place you’ve been?
Three Gorges Dam and the 5-tier ship locks on the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China. What an amazing engineering feat! To navigate the river at the dam, seagoing vessels go through several levels of ship locks to traverse a vertical distance of about 400 feet at the dam. There are two set of locks, one for upstream and one for downstream travel. Each lock is quite narrow, allowing two vessels to go through side-by-side in the same direction.
What’s something someone would be surprised to learn about you?
I was named Structural Engineer of the Year by ASCE Philadelphia chapter in 2003.
What’s something you’d like to learn?
Play mahjong – I feel like it should be in my DNA.
What are three things you can’t live without?
Family, friends, and a good Saturday night pizza – sometimes all three at once!

Bio

Catherine, a Senior Manager in our Structures Group, joined McCormick Taylor in 1996 and has more than 35 years of experience. She currently manages bridge/structural projects, supervises the design team, assists clients with the preparation of construction bid packages, and provides support services during construction.

In her role at McCormick Taylor, Catherine enjoys interacting with the project team to solve problems and helping clients achieve their goals, which ultimately, improve the lives of ordinary citizens. Currently, she is working on the $15M BR 1-159 on James Street over the Christina River Project in New Castle County, DE. The project includes the replacement of the existing bridge within a very constrained area making the design and construction challenging. Catherine enjoys the challenges of a project like this and feels it will make a difference for the town of Newport while also helping the Delaware Department of Transportation remove another structurally deficient bridge from their list.

Over the years, Catherine has participated in many of McCormick Taylor’s social events and gatherings. One of her favorite memories from those events was a pre-pandemic shuffleboard tournament. She was excited that she scored a “guiggan”, which is when the puck lands on the McCormick Taylor logo. This was a proud achievement for her since she doesn’t consider herself to be good at sports and prefers cheering from the sidelines.