She is a structural engineer with an expertise in structural and computational mechanics, and gridshells. Dr. Malek completed her Ph.D. and S.M. in Structures and Materials at MIT. She was then the 2012 Marshall-Sherfield Fellow and completed her post-doctorate at the University of Bath Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Dr. Malek has practiced as a structural engineer at Thornton Tomasetti, NYC and consulted on gridshell projects for Atelier One, London. Her research interests include computational methods in conceptual structural design, gridshells, and biomimcry in architecture and engineering.