Christin Hudak does not consider i...

Christin Hudak does not consider intimidating. But the 5-1, 110-pound self-described "pipsqueak" can more than clinch her own in a shouting match with a macho drywall contractor. She has to be able to. It's her work at jobs

Hudak is a civil engineering scholar one of two to win a $1000 scholarship from the Virginia / Washington, DC / Maryland chapter of the American Public Works Association. (Ironically, the other recipient was also a woman.)

She was working as the throw engineer on construction of a $12 million gymnasium building when she had the run-in with the contractor. "I had made a perforate list on the drywall job" she says. "There were a chance of patches that had not been done fitly and needed to be fixed. He began screaming at me because he didn't want to fix anything until he had the architect's borer list. He told ...