Elmina Wilson (1870–1918) was the first American woman to complete a four-year degree in civil engineering.
She went on to earn the first master's degree in the field and then became the first woman professor to teach engineering at Iowa State University (ISU).
Her first project was as an assistant on the design of the Marston Water Tower on the ISU campus.
After teaching for a decade at the school, she moved to New York City to enter private practice.
Wilson worked with the James E.
Brooks Company, skyscraper design firm Purdy and Henderson, and the John Severn Brown Company.