Crawford, now 57, became a bridge engineer with Steinman Boynton Gronquist Birdsall in 1981. Her progress was rapid. In 1997, she became the first female chief bridge engineer at the New York City Dept. of Transportation. As she moved up, Crawford notes, the leaders felt more comfortable promoting women throughout the ranks.

She spent two years with Parsons Corp. before Mysore Nagaraja, then Transit Authority chief engineer, picked her as his deputy in 2001. "If you are good at managing, whether it's a bridge, transit, et cetera, the same principles apply," says Nagaraja, now chairman of Spartan Solutions. "She's results-oriented—that's what counts."

With programs like NYC FIRST and the Transportation Diversity Council, Crawford aims to inspire women, minorities and youth the way she was inspired. "That panel was a full day of these women talking about what they do. You're solving important problems and making the world a better place. Who wouldn't want to do that?"

By Aileen Cho