SEAONC Past President Interview
Colin Blaney
colinblaney@gmail.com,
cblaney@buehlerengineering.com
SEAONC president: 2013-2014
Highlight one thing you worked on during your time as SEAONC president.
Launch of the new SEAONC website with lots of support, of course. I learned that a website is not unlike a building – while it should look good and be easy to visit, it needs structural support in order to function properly.
Why did you become a structural engineer?
I was always fascinated by buildings and especially how they were constructed. My father was a well-read Scottish immigrant, a former merchant marine– and became a milk man in Santa Barbara, delivering dairy products to some of the nicest homes in Hope Ranch area of Santa Barbara. As a teenager, I would go out to help him on his route – he liked the help and I enjoyed spending time with him – and I remember us driving past many construction sites as the sun came up, watching the progress of building going up each day and the crews working early (though not as early as a milk man!). During our short breaks on the route, I liked walking around and looking at the housing developments. My initial fascination was timber construction but I soon found myself intrigued with all other materials. I had a great love for architecture but found myself giving the bones or structural systems as much thought and attention. I sometimes wonder, if it weren’t for my dad and his milk route, would I have ended up in engineering?
Who were some of your mentors?
Well, my dad and mother of course. My mother was a German immigrant who had a huge love for math and music and was very technically inclined. She would stay up until morning completing any extra credit math problems I gave up on. My father was more of a poet and world traveler – but he always supported my interest and even my ambitions to “build” things. When I started my career, I had a lot of mentoring early on from Patrick Crosby, Moisey Fraynt, and John Shipp through some large projects that had peer review. In later years, James Malley, Davis Bonowitz, Andre Filiatrault, Kelly Cobeen and many other peers. But there are so many more – and I’m always learning from others. Ours is a profession built on relationships and collaboration, and we get so much out of listening and working with others.
Why did you become so professionally active?
I was working for a good small firm at the time and felt I lacked the rich peer to peer experience necessary for continued technical growth. Getting involved with SEAONC and especially participating on technical committees was extraordinarily beneficial to my growth as a structural engineer. I believe you never stop learning especially from your peers and even from your younger engineers. I had heard about how collaborative and approachable our organization was, especially our technical committees, but was both surprised and excited with the camaraderie and support that existed. The culture is fun, supportive and enriching. And I found that the more I put in, the more I got out of it – it has been personally and professionally rewarding to do more than just “show up” for meetings. These benefits have spilled over into my day-to-day project work. If ever I encounter an interesting challenge or question, I always know that there’s someone in my SEAONC network I can call who will have expertise or advice.
What do you consider some of your greatest accomplishments?
I have always believed that a structural engineer can make a huge impact on the success of a project including the pursuit or competition phase for say design-build, progressive design-build or similar types of projects. I have been fortunate to have some really nice opportunities on very large and challenging ones and believe I have probably won more than my share of pursuits with that “we as structural engineers can make a difference” attitude. Probably the most significant was the design-build win of the California Health Care Facility for the State of California where the structural solution was critical to the success and a primary reason our team was selected. It then included a 2-year design and construction timeline for the 1.2M square foot facility. Those were probably two of the busiest years of my life, but it was very successful for all parties!
What was the most challenging/fun project in your career?
Perhaps my most memorable and certainly enjoyable projects were actually a series of large building renovations that I had the great fortune to work on in Yosemite Valley. They included substantial work at Yosemite Valley Lodge (Basecamp), Degnan’s Deli which is not that well-known and over by the Grocery store and the entire complex of structures at Curry Village. While the initial scope of structural services was initially perceived as minimal for each, the unusual conditions we discovered necessitated far more substantial structural work. The scope of earlier alterations, lack of existing drawings and unforeseen conditions added lots of challenges and necessitated lots of site visits, selective demolition and some material testing over the course of several years. I have always enjoyed working with existing buildings but being part of improvements to theses historic structures in a place of almost unparalleled California history and beauty was incredible. There is something so intrinsically rewarding in helping preserve and protect some of our most iconic and treasured landmarks – as a structural engineer, we get to do the right work that will sustain building legacy for the millions who love and visit them. Oh, and the “site visits” were epic! Nothing beats the beauty of Yosemite year-round – and, adding to these memories while I was in the Valley, was the flood in 2018, fires in 2018, and emergency damage assessment in 2019 due to historic Valley snow fall. When you are there, nature really reminds you who’s the boss.
Tell us something about yourself that isn’t on your professional resume?
I almost became an architect as I had 4 years of high school architecture classes in Santa Barbara, including meeting weekly with a practicing architect and entering four design competitions. I finally won my senior year and the judges’ comments were something like, “well, the other competitors certainly have more beautiful rendering for their entries but we must say that you’re the only contestant that followed the stated criteria each year.” They then mentioned that I always put as much emphasis on the structural systems and maybe I should consider structural engineering. They also mentioned there was more money there… I’m not really sure that is true, I think they may have just been “grass is always greener” architects!
Provide one little known fact about yourself.
On the first day of receiving my temporary driver’s license, I got pulled over and had to see a Judge… yeah, it wasn’t a good scene, but it wasn’t my fault. (Insert 16-year-old voice here ☺)
Why have you been in the structural engineering profession for as long as you have?
Changing professions is something I never really thought about before probably because I was lucky enough to land in a profession that I genuinely enjoy. I am as challenged by it now as I was when I graduated college. Not only do I get to see why ideas and structural solutions get designed and built, but I get to work in a highly collaborated environment and have developed a number of life-long friends along the way. Over three decades, the journey has been and continues to be so rewarding on all levels.