Diversity reboot

Krystal Shorts is an active-duty Navy wife, mother of three, and a Structural Engineer working for Burns & McDonnell in their world headquarters in Kansas City, MO. Within her company, she is a part of an Employee Resource Group called VETS (Veterans Empowered to Serve) where she hopes to grow military spouse initiatives as well. While born and raised in Southern California, her parents immigrated from American Samoa and the Philippines. There they raised Krystal and her four younger siblings.

Her military life began in Hawaii after meeting her husband, Sam, a Navy Supply Officer. During the last eight years the military has brought them from Hawaii to California, Virginia, and Kansas. After having her first child, Krystal resigned and stayed home full-time. She remained home for 4.5 years and then began her journey back into the professional world. She is currently studying for her Masters in Civil Engineering at the University of Kansas.

When not working or studying, Krystal enjoys exploring the area with her family and envisioning a brighter future in sustainable and equitable communities. She often dreams of creating an organization that will advocate and build these communities with the utmost spirit of investment in people and collaboration of stakeholders. Concepts from her faith, engineering, urban planning, and sociology have fueled her passion to remain involved in whatever city the Navy takes them. While in Virginia, she volunteered and joined a one-year Carnegie funded project that worked to design and innovate collaborative efforts for the public schools district that serves over 60,000 students. Krystal currently volunteers to support students through STEM competitions like Battle of the Brains, organizations such as KC Scholars and a unique city collective, KC Global Design.

Krystal's wide range of perspectives brings a helpful framework to partner with others in building spaces and solutions for the community around them.