Faye (Muyinat) Majekodunmi, Temple University College of Engineering alum and director of catenary engineering at Amtrak, has been named the 2026 Delaware Valley Young Engineer of the Year by the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia. 

The award recognizes an engineer age 35 or under who has demonstrated leadership, technical excellence and meaningful contributions to the profession within the Greater Philadelphia region. 

Presented during Delaware Valley Engineers Week, the honor celebrates not only professional achievement but also mentorship and service, qualities that have defined Majekodunmi’s career. 

"I was shocked when I found out,” Majekodunmi said. “It’s an incredible honor, and it really reflects the investment my mentors have made in me over the years.” She cites their guidance and the lessons she learned through making mistakes as helping shape who she is today.  

Her path to transportation engineering began as an undergraduate student at Temple.  She was an active member of National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), serving as academic excellence chair and fondly recalls the comradery from her classmates. “We would sit around sharing ideas and talking through how to tackle certain problems,” she remembers. 

Being in a diverse and collaborative environment at Temple has helped her be more flexible in her career. “I am open to what other people think and how they think. That is legitimately the Temple way,” Majekodunmi states. 

After graduating from the College of Engineering with a bachelor of science in civil engineering in 2012, she went on to graduate school at the University of Maryland and began her career as an entry-level engineer. Over the years, she advanced through engineering and leadership roles at Amtrak and as a consultant before returning to lead catenary engineering initiatives. 

Majekodunmi has played a key role in modernizing critical electric traction infrastructure along the Northeast Corridor and Harrisburg Line. In her current role at Amtrak, she leads strategic efforts to improve reliability, safety and service continuity for millions of passenger rail users. 

Throughout her career, she has maintained a leadership style rooted in collaboration, openness, and continuous learning, encouraging a learning environment where junior engineers are not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes. 

"Sometimes you have to learn the hard way, but there is always a solution. Instead of focusing on fault, we focus on understanding what happened and how to move forward,” she explains. 

Beyond her professional work, she has been actively involved with the Philadelphia Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) since 2014. Through initiatives such as TransportationYOU, she has helped introduce high school girls to careers in transportation engineering and STEM. She has high hopes for continuing to inspire young women in the future. “Creating opportunities for students to see what’s possible and helping them imagine themselves in these roles is incredibly important to me.” 

She advises current engineering students and junior engineers, noting, “in engineering, you have to keep yourself open to any opportunity. The foundational theories you learn in college will show up in ways you may not have expected later on.”  

By staying open to new opportunities, Majekodunmi has been able to immerse herself in some unexpected ways in her career and hopes to encourage others to do the same. She travels often, which fuels her passion for transportation and learning how other cities work, sharing, “If you really love what you do, you will find a way to get more perspective on it.” 

She remains actively engaged with Temple as a board member of the College of Engineering Alumni Association and currently serves on the dean search committee for the College of Engineering, continuing to give back to the institution that helped shape her path. 

Read more here from the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia: https://www.engrclub.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=386597&module_id=316452