26 of the most powerful women engineers in 2016

Nearly every element of our modern lives is a direct result of the work done by some engineer: running water, electricity, and the internet, as well as our buildings, cars, phones, computers, televisions - even our dating apps.

Humanity's engineering feats are really pretty astounding when you take a minute to think about them, and as February 21 - 27 is National Engineer's Week, it's a good time to ponder these wonders.

Sadly though, engineering has historically been an inhospitable profession for women. The industry is trying to change that, and while you can argue that it isn't making enough progress, one thing is true: many women did shrug off the haters and pursued their passion to build stuff anyway.

And they found themselves in fabulous careers.

So it's time for a shout-out to the women engineers with powerful careers who are leading important technologies at their companies or being pioneers in other ways.