Elsie Eaves (May 5, 1898 – March 27, 1983) was a pioneering American female engineer, the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a founding member of the American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International; the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering). Early life and education Eaves was born in Idaho Springs, Colorado and earned her civil engineering degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1920. In 1918, Eaves was elected as the first female president of the school’s student engineering society, the Combined Engineers, such an unusual occurrence that the news received national coverage in engineering publications. She supported Lou Alta Melton and Hilda Counts in creating the American Society of Women Engineers and Architects in 1919. At the age of 22, she was the first woman to earn a degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Eaves began her engineering experience before she received her university degree. Career Eaves was a draftsman for the United States Bureau of Public Roads in Denver, Colorado, and then the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company. She joined the Women's Engineering Society (at the time the only organisation for women engineers in the world) in 1925, and continued as a member throughout her career. In 1926 Eaves started working for McGraw-Hill in New York City for the Engineering News-Record (ENR) Department. She was also a publication and sales manager of the McGraw-Hill Construction Daily. In 1927, she was the first woman admitted to full membership to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 1945, she became the manager of Business News. In 1929, Eaves originated and compiled the first national inventory of municipal and industrial sewage disposal facilities. Next, she compiled statistics on needed construction, which helped revitalize the construction industry during the Great Depression. After World War II, Eaves organized and directed ENR’s measurement of “Post War Planning” by the construction industry that was used as the official progress report of the industry. In total, she was associated with McGraw-Hill's Engineering News-Record, a weekly trade publication, for 37 years. She retired in 1963 but continued practicing as an adviser to the National Commission on Urban Affairs on the subject of housing costs. She advised the International Executive Service Corps about construction costs in Iran. In 1967, Eaves attended the second International Conference of Women Engineers and