Aspasia “Sissy” Nikolaou named 2025 Engineer of the Year

By Elizabeth Egan 

The University at Buffalo Engineering and Applied Sciences Alumni Association (UBEAA) named Nikolaou the 2025 Engineer of the Year, which is awarded to a school alum or closely affiliated person with distinguishing activities in alumni, community, business and professional affairs. Nikolaou’s accomplishments have ranged from strengthening infrastructure to helping communities recover after natural disasters and more.

“Aspasia ‘Sissy’ Nikolaou’s resume and career experience are truly impressive and show just how much of an impact she has made in her engineering field,” said Nate Bolt, UBEAA president. “Sissy stands out amongst other candidates based on her generous alumnus participation, support for the new generations of engineers and career achievements. The committee is very proud to honor Sissy with this well-deserved award.”

Nikolaou was honored at the school’s 2025 Pledge to Professionalism Ceremony on Feb. 19. During the event, SEAS seniors are invited to show their commitment to promoting the ethical and moral behaviors required of engineers and computing professionals as they prepare to graduate and begin their careers.

In her address, Nikolaou discussed being driven by a strong desire to help communities to recover and grow stronger after natural disasters.

After completing her undergraduate degree in civil-structural engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece, Nikolaou moved from Greece to the United States to attend UB, where she earned her master’s degree and PhD in geotechnical and earthquake engineering in 1995 and 1998, respectively.

She said that the highly regarded program in earthquake engineering at UB made pursuing her graduate degrees in SEAS seem like the natural progression to her career.

After graduating from UB, Nikolaou spent 25 years working at consulting firms in New York City, where she worked on lifeline systems, critical facilities and high rise buildings worldwide. Many of her projects focused on advancing innovation related to resilience-based design, including assessing the seismic design of the Queensboro Bridge, an engineering monument that she noted was a particular fascination of hers growing up.

Only a few years after completing her PhD, Nikolaou joined the response and recovery work of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She also led reconnaissance efforts after earthquakes and hurricanes around the world, including Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In 2020, she came across a new opportunity to serve as the leader of the Earthquake Engineering Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which also supports the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).

“When I looked at the job description, it was like reading an essay by me about what I wanted to be when I grew up,” said Nikolaou.

Following the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, in 2021, she was made the project lead investigator under the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act. Nikolaou contributed to investigating the cause of the collapse and making recommendations for buildings across the U.S. to prevent future collapses.

Her current work is focused on the development of decision-support frameworks as a better-than-code approach to the design and retrofit of transportation and other lifeline networks. The frameworks consider life cycle, multi-hazards, and climate impacts through the concept of functional recovery. Under Nikolaou’s leadership, the work is bridging the gap between engineering, climate change, and financial investment prioritization.

Nikolaou and her team are being recognized for their work on functional recovery with the highest honor of the U.S. Department of Commerce, its 2025 Gold Medal. Nikolaou has also been recognized with the Prakash Prize for Excellence in Earthquake Engineering, and she is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She has received two invitations to the White House to discuss earthquake resilience and holds leadership board positions in multiple professional societies.

Passionate about supporting and inspiring new generations of engineers, Nikolaou is also involved with organizations that enhance the inclusion and equity of women and other underrepresented groups in the architecture, engineering and construction community.

Since graduating, Nikolaou has remained involved with UB, serving on the advisory board for the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, and returning to UB in 2017 to deliver the Distinguished Alumni Speech to the SEAS graduate student class of 2017.

Before being presented with the Engineer of the Year Award, she spoke with students at UB’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Coffee and Conversations event.

Nikolaou concluded her address by saying, “I want to thank UB for making my American Dream a reality.”