Shona O’Dea was always an inquisitive child. Her high school math professor — among many others — once accused her of asking too many questions. The daughter of an engineer, her dad seemed to always have the answers to her endless questions and always encouraged her to ask more. It was this curiosity that led O’Dea to pursue engineering at the Dublin Institute of Technology and ultimately land a career as a building performance analyst with the DLR Group.
“I feel fortunate that I’m paid to do what I love,” O’Dea said. “If I were to win the lottery, I would probably use the money to develop ultra-high-performing buildings and make sure that the energy efficiency measures we recommend do not get value engineered out of the project.”