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Michelle Martucci (B.S. civil engineering, 2013) likes work that asks a lot of questions at once. As a project manager with The Walsh Group, she leads construction inside busy airport terminals where every decision touches travelers, airline partners and operations. Success is simple to describe and hard to deliver: solve problems, keep people safe, and finish so smoothly that no one in a security line ever knew you were there.

She credits Drexel’s co-op with shaping that mindset. Her first rotation with AMEC Earth and Environmental taught scheduling and professional basics. The second, with the City of Philadelphia, showed how a public agency runs a job site. The third proved decisive. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed her in geotechnical work, and she spent time reading boring logs and joining dam inspections. She enjoyed the position so much that she stayed on part time through senior year.

“That third co-op clicked immediately,” she said. “I liked geotechnical work from day one, and the responsibility I had there set me up for what came next.” The experience led to a full-time geotechnical role with YU & Associates. “That first job built my technical base,” she said. “It gave me the confidence to take on bigger problems.”

The pivot to major aviation work began at LaGuardia Airport and started across a construction fence. “I was working on soil borings for YU on Terminal C when I saw heavy pile rigs on the Terminal B redevelopment, which was being managed by Walsh,” Martucci recalled. “I struck up a conversation through the fence, shared my resume, and realized I was ready to move into construction.”

The leap felt bold and necessary. “It was a scary transition to leave what I knew, but it was the right move for my career,” she said.

She spent six more years at LaGuardia Airport and wore many hats, including Design Manager and Superintendent before relocating for a project at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, where Walsh delivered a record setting modular build for an expansion of Terminal C. The team fabricated six 450-ton steel modules off site and moved them into place on self propelled modular transporters, threading cramped spaces; in one case, a module had just seven inches of vertical clearance under a light rail overpass. In six moves over 10 days, an 80,000 square foot concourse arrived while terminal operations stayed up.

“What stays with me is how exact every step had to be,” she said. “We planned every inch so passengers never felt the work, and it taught me how coordination can make something that complex look simple.”

Relocating once again to Florida, Martucci led a full replacement of the outbound baggage handling system and delivered a new checked baggage inspection room with supporting spaces at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. The work ran in phases inside an active terminal, sequenced around airlines and TSA testing, and it finished ahead of schedule, on budget, and without safety incidents.

“It was the first project I led as a project manager, and I am still proud of it,” she said. “The client was collaborative, the team chemistry was strong, and bringing a complex system online while the terminal stayed open showed me how good planning and clear communication can carry a job to the finish.”

The project at Sarasota led to yet another opportunity for Martucci: overseeing growth for Walsh’s aviation group in the Southeast. Late last year, the firm was awarded work at Charleston International Airport to add a third explosive detection system machine, increasing checked baggage capacity. In Florida, the team just broke ground on a five gate terminal expansion at Pensacola International Airport that will also double the size of the security checkpoint.

As the growth of her portfolio takes off, Martucci remains grounded in the things she loves about her work.

"Construction is a people business, even more than a technical one,” she said. “When you know how to work with designers, everything goes more smoothly because it is a 'help me help you' relationship. When you add in operations, security, badging and precisely-phased construction, it becomes a satisfying puzzle that takes a strong team working together to solve.”

Working on that puzzle time and time again has given her a kind of x-ray vision.

“When I walk into an airport, I have a good sense of what is happening behind the walls,” Martucci said with a laugh. “I follow the wires, trace the ductwork and try to figure out what the crews are doing and how we might do it differently.”

For Martucci, the appeal is equal parts precision, teamwork and public impact. “Being an engineer is not about being the smartest person in the room,” she added. “Drexel taught me to use every resource available to solve a problem, and that mindset is exactly why I love this work.”