Balancing act
Alumna Kameryn Furman finds success in engineering and ice skating
Ice skaters rely on the fundamentals of physics to complete the moves that make the sport so popular — their every slide, spin and jump made possible by momentum, force and friction.
McKelvey Engineering alumna Kameryn (Truman) Furman discovered her love for both ice skating and physics at an early age and pursued both with equal enthusiasm. Today, she’s a business development manager in the Oil, Gas and Chemicals division of Burns & McDonnell, and director of synchronized skating for Line Creek Figure Skating Club and KC Momentum.
Furman, a native of Webster Groves, Missouri, began skating at the age of three with the Saint Louis Synergy Synchronized Skating organization. She became a Midwestern Sectional Champion, a Silver and Bronze Medalist, and a two-time National Bronze Medalist.
Long before Furman attended WashU, her parents — both WashU alumni — worked at the school. Her older brother also earned a bachelor’s in civil engineering from the Engineering school.
“Choosing WashU was an easy decision — it was in my blood,” she said. “I grew up on campus, and the goal was always to follow in their footsteps.”
She entered WashU in Arts & Sciences with the plan to become a physics teacher, but soon decided to pursue a mechanical engineering degree.
“I loved that engineering is applied physics,” she said. “It was taking a subject I already loved and applying it in so many interesting ways.”
Her experiences in the classroom gave her confidence in her decision.
“Guy Genin was a very influential instructor for me,” she said. “He did a great job not just teaching course material but showing how it would be applied in the real world.”
Furman juggled the academic demands of engineering with her synchronized skating commitments. Although she aged out of junior-level skating competitions while a student at WashU, she became an assistant coach for the Saint Louis Synergy Junior team as they represented the U.S. as Team USA at the Mozart Cup in Austria. She coached the Synergy teams as they became U.S. National Silver Medalists.
The following summer, an internship with Burns & McDonnell led to a career opportunity, and after earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from WashU in 2016, she joined the firm as an assistant mechanical engineer in the Power division. She would soon transition to the Oil, Gas and Chemicals team due to market considerations.
Settled in Kansas City, she quickly found a way to continue skating, joining the KC Illusion (now KC Momentum) synchronized skating team as a coach. By 2018, she was named director of synchronized skating. During her time with the club, it has grown to include more than 125 members; Furman’s adult and masters teams qualified for the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships, and the masters team became National Medalists for the first time in program history.
Furman’s career continues to flourish as well. After her promotion to staff engineer at Burns & McDonnell, she accepted a new opportunity to work in sales, encouraged by a manager who noted her ability to communicate well with clients.
“I really enjoy being able to speak in technical terms while still being client facing and learning more about how the business runs,” she said.
Furman was named business development manager shortly after the firm’s Oil, Gas & Chemicals team expanded into Canada in 2022. That same year, she led the KC Momentum synchronized skating team to its first adult national competition in the U.S. Figure Skating Synchronized Championship Events.
Her contributions to the sport — and the Kansas City community — have earned her recognition, including the 2023 WIN for KC Women in Sports Leadership Award and an appearance on the cover of HERLIFE magazine.
Furman moved to Calgary in June.
“It’s such a beautiful area, but ask me again after winter!” she said.
She spends the five-day workweek in Canada, then flies home to Kansas City for the weekend. It’s a compromise that allows her to continue her skating activities in both locations.
Furman recently joined Solstice Synchro, a synchronized skating team in Calgary which competes nationally at the Open level. She was also named co-captain of a skating team that will represent the U.S. at an International Adult competition in Germany this spring.
And she is keeping her eyes on another goal — getting synchronized skating added to the ballot as an Olympic sport.
When things start to feel overwhelming, she says her engineering background helps keep her on track.
“With the project management side of engineering, you’re managing time, money and resources,” she said. “You learn to prioritize, do what’s most important first, and understand how tradeoffs work.”
