After working 38-1/2 years at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Ms. Cooper retired. She was the first Black women hired in the engineering field for the Division of Highways (currently Caltrans) in Los Angeles. She is the first African American woman in California to earn her Professional Engineers License in Civil Engineering in 1978. Lois is also a Fellow in the SWE. When Lois retired, she was a Project Manager in the Project Development Services Branch of Caltrans, responsible for the oversight of many of the consultant projects in the Los Angeles/ Ventura County areas. Prior to this position, Lois had been a Project Manager for a portion of the Glenn Anderson (I-105) (Century) Freeway and the liaison between Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (currently MTA), the Agency who constructed the Light Rail System in the median of the I-105 freeway. She has participated in the design of many of the freeways in Los Angeles and Orange County areas, such as the San Diego freeway, the Long Beach Freeway, the San Gabriel River Freeway and the Riverside Freeway. Lois joined the Los Angeles Council of Black Professional Engineers (LACBPE) in 1971, in which she served as the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of the from 1973-1976.