You know Adolph Rupp, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Mark Pope, Saul Smith — even Secretariat. But there's one name from UK that's cooled your game-day experience: Margaret Ingels. She didn't hit the court, but as the first woman to earn an engineering degree from UK in 1916, she helped shape the indoor climate of Kentucky sports venues—and the fan experience—in ways we still feel today.
Breaking barriers & inventing comfort
Born in 1892, Paris, Kentucky, Ingels became UK’s first female engineering grad when she earned her BSME in 1916. She went on to earn the nation’s first professional Mechanical Engineer degree in 1920 and joined Carrier Engineering in 1917.