Engineer Spotlight: Oksana Wall
As a 13-year-old girl from Venezuela, Oksana Wall visited Disney World in Florida, and the Magic Kingdom immediately cast a spell on her. “I knew I wanted to work for Disney,” Wall says. “It was such a happy place.” Her father was an engineer, and she was good at math and science, so she was already leaning toward an engineering career. “But that trip made up my mind.” Fast-forward 17 years, and the now 30-year-old Wall has worked for three years as a project engineer for Disney’s Ride & Show Engineering Group. She’s worked on such attractions as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Splash Mountain, and Fantasmic. More recently, she helped with the installation of the Mini-Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh at Disneyland in California. Of course, Walt Disney Resort theme parks aren’t the only shows in town. There are many other theme parks around the country that require top-notch engineering skills, as well as many engineering firms that specialize in amusement-park attractions.
Wall received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology. And she’s been cited by the National Society of Professional Engineers as one of the “50 Engineers You Should Meet.” She encourages young people to consider an engineering career, especially women and minorities. Engineering, Wall says, allows her to use her knowledge, experience, and creativity. “I have a blast at my job.”
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Filed under: Civil, Explore Engineering
