Caitriona Lambert – Senior Executive Engineer in South Dublin County Council
Caitriona graduated from DIT Kevin St in 1980 with Hons BSc (Eng) in Electrical Engineering. She worked in IT
for a short time and then went on to British Aerospace in UK to design electrical power systems for spacecraft.
Afterwards she moved to GE Space and Communications in USA to do same. After returning to Ireland in early
90’s she joined Guinness Peat Aviation as a Technical Project Manager. Caitriona then moved to South Dublin
County Council in mid 90’s to join their Electrical Section where hermain focus was lighting design for roads and
architectural projects. She then moved to work on civil engineering projects for the Roads Design and
Construction Section.
She is currently at South Dublin Co. Council, working in the area of Roads Maintenance as a Senior Executive
Engineer and completing a master’s degree in civil engineering.
Dr Kirsten Foy – Engineering Consultant
Kirsten Foy is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer.
She graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2002 and has worked designing rocket engines and cranes. She
completed a PhD in Dublin Institute of Technology in 2004-2007 and has been working as an engineering
consultant since then. Her area of expertise is carbon capture and storage, which is a method of reducing
carbon emissions from burning fuel. When not working, Kirsten enjoys dancing to loud music, Tae Kwon Do
and science fiction.
Carole Smillie BE MSC MIEI, Director of Bennett Construction Ltd.
Carole graduated from NUI Galway in 1993 with an honours degree in Civil Engineering and then continued her
studies in Trinity College where she graduated in 1994 with a Master Degree in Science (Civil Engineering).
Carole has been working for Bennett Construction Ltd for the past 18 years and is a member of the Board of
Directors. She began her career as a graduate engineer and quickly progressed through the ranks of site
manager and project manager to her current role as Director in 2001.
Carole has completed more than 25 construction projects and has extensive commercial experience having
worked on a variety of mixed development projects which include High Tech Laboratories, Hospitals, Hotels,
Office Blocks, Apartment Complexes, Factories and Heritage Projects. Her role as Construction Director allows
her to work predominately outdoors where she works directly with the site staff and subcontractors.
Dr. Norah Patten
Dr. Patten developed a love for space at an early age and set her sights on a career in this area. She studied
Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Limerick, graduating in 2006 with a first class honours degree.
During this time, she spent eight months working in the Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington, USA. She
continued her studies at the University of Limerick and completed her PhD in aerodynamics. In 2010 she
participated in the Space Studies Program (SSP) at the International Space University. Norah returned to SSP in
2011 as Teaching Associated and in 2012 as Emerging Chair for the Space Management and Business
Department (SMBD). Currently Norah is the Chair of the SMBD and works at the University of Limerick as a
post-doctoral researcher in the Irish Centre for Composites Research (IComp).