News / Press

Disaster Emergency Services

Committee Chairs: Amy Inhofer and Jack Wegleitner

Throughout the year, the DES committee worked hard to achieve significant milestones in various areas. Firstly, we successfully recruited new committee members, expanding our active membership to a count of 40 individuals. Additionally, our efforts were directed towards enhancing the Volunteer Reserve Corps by collaborating with CalOES to streamline the database and initiating the transition of the database to the SEER server, thereby unifying the SAP evaluator database between the state and national systems.

Another notable accomplishment was the completion of the Building Occupancy Resumption Program (BORP). We presented the final report summary of the 2019 BORP drill to SF DBI, effectively concluding our involvement in assisting the implementation and development of the local volunteer inspection program. Looking ahead, we plan to deliver a comprehensive presentation on BORP to local jurisdictions in the Bay Area, incorporating updated recommendations from FEMA P2055-1 to promote the adoption of similar programs throughout the region.

In terms of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), we made significant strides by establishing key contacts within CA Task Force 3 - Menlo Park and CA Task Force 4 - Oakland. Moreover, we successfully recruited four new members for Menlo Task Force and initiated the process of creating an index of all Search and Rescue teams nationwide. Over the next fiscal year, our goal is to conduct an interview series, highlighting SEAOC USAR members, while also serving as the main point of contact for all eight task force teams in California.

As an Organizational Liaison, we actively collaborated with the Communications committee on the Disaster Response Plan and are preparing for a presentation in the upcoming month alongside the Continuing Education Committee, focusing on the community response to the Ferndale Earthquake.

The ATC-20 Training, a recurring event held every 18 months, is planned to be held in November 2023. We have begun the search for a suitable physical venue and aim to finalize its selection by early June.

Or largest committee task this year was working on the Disaster Response Plan, and we are on track to publish the SEAOC Disaster Response plan by the end of June. Our collaborative approach involved coordinating with other MOs to create a unified plan that operates at both the state and MO levels, thereby promoting the integration of disaster response efforts across local, state, and national scales.

Finally, we took on the responsibility of implementing Fire and Infrastructure charges within the DES committee, demonstrating our commitment to addressing critical issues and promoting resilience in these areas.

Overall, the DES committee has made significant progress in fulfilling its mandates throughout the year, exemplifying our dedication to the field and our commitment to fostering collaboration and preparedness in the face of disasters. Contact des@seaonc.org for more information or if you’d like to get involved.

Structural Engineering, Engagement and Equity

Committee Chairs: Kaat Ceder and Priscilla Nguyen

Over the past year, SE3 has organized several events and made progress on a number of initiatives as part of our commitment to fostering a more inclusive workplace and providing resources and workshops for engineers of all levels to feel supported in their professional careers.

We relaunched the Long-Term Mentorship program, which garnered tremendous participation with nearly 100 individuals involved. The launch event for the program was attended by over 60 participants, who got a chance to meet their groups and network. In addition, we organized a virtual speed mentorship event as part of the Fall 2022 University Series, providing mentorship opportunities for students and new professionals.

We hosted a virtual panel discussion titled “Innovate your Career” to provide insights from several structural engineers about non-traditional structural engineering career paths, encouraging individuals to explore diverse avenues within the industry.

We continued our research efforts on the civil engineering pipeline by publishing the final two topic briefs from our Civil Engineering Student Experience Survey at the end of the summer. These reports are now available at www.se3project.org. The results from this survey and some of our previous research on the CE pipeline were presented at the NCSEA Summit in November 2022, at the January SEAONC dinner meeting, and to UC Berkeley graduate students at a seminar, widening the reach of the work.

We crunched the numbers from our 2022 Non-Salary Benefits Survey of Northern California SE firms. Based on these findings, we composed a comprehensive report that will be published in June 2023. Furthermore, the abstract for this report was accepted for presentation in the non-technical track at the 2023 SEAOC convention.

Finally, we continued to publish monthly DEI Spotlights in the SEAONC Post, and host bi-monthly Racial Equity Book Clubs, fostering a space for open dialogue and learning among SEAONC members and beyond.

SE3 is always looking for new passionate members. In 2023-2024 we hope to host an event about balancing parenting and a career, dive into California-specific data from the 2020 NCSEA SE3 survey, and keep our mentorship programs going strong, amongst much more! Contact se3@seaonc.org for more information or if you’d like to get involved.

Business Forum

Committee Chairs: Jeffrey Zhang

The main Business Forum was in a planning mode this last year with a shift towards helping structural engineering firms with better preparing their engineers with their careers. Our premier event was a co-hosted event, with the SE3 committee, called “Innovate Your Career” where experienced members of SEAONC shared their career experiences and how structural engineering could be applied to various fields.

In the future, the Business Forum is looking into other events focused on marketing (co-hosted with the AIA-SF) and an event called “How to have a successful Internship.”

Contact us at business@seaonc.org for more information or if you’d like to get involved.

Outreach

Committee Chairs: Martina Sbicca, Leena Kibriya

The Outreach Committee has been busy over the past year. Outreach has continued to develop informative and educational programs in collaboration with Mola Models, with the goal to expose youth from all backgrounds to the structural engineering profession. As part of this effort, we ran activities with local high schools, where SEAONC members were able to present in-person, engaging activities so that they understand what we do as structural engineers.

Building on last year, where Outreach first reached out to groups, such as Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Jr. (SHPE Jr.) and National Society of Black Engineers Jr.(NSBE Jr.), we expanded our efforts to additional organizations.

In June, Outreach continued and expanded our work to make AEC Experience Week a signature event. We worked on planning to potentially make the event bi-annual or even quarterly. The events would include new teachers and new host firms, to reach more teachers and schools in addition to providing a more diverse experience. The year’s event continued in conjunction with Ignited and was hosted by SmithGroup, KPFF Structural Engineers and Hensel Phelps was another huge success.

We continued our efforts to organize more social events for our committee members, to provide a chance for the committee to mingle outside of our planned events. We successfully orchestrated two Rebuilding Together Events in October and April, garnering significant participation, excitement and a sense of accomplishment from the volunteers.

We continued to build our presence in local infrastructure or science related events, such as “Stem Frenzy” and sent groups to attend various Earthquake Fairs. We looked into a potential event to remember the 1906 Earthquake anniversary and stayed active with these bay area groups. The committee will strive for future events where we can stress the impact and importance of structural engineers.

Outreach is always looking for new members who enjoy connecting with their communities. In 2023-2024 we hope to build on our success with AEC Week, reaching the public outside of the education sphere and focus on helping our communities with San Francisco Community Emergency Response Teams, Science Fairs and other events. Contact us at outreach@seaonc.org for more information or if you’d like to get involved.

Seismology

Committee Chairs: Solmaz Jumaluliyeva

The main Seismology Committee focused on various technical topics with key presentations to inform our SEAONC members. To present these topic, Seismology organized multiple mini-series for the Kahramanmaras Earthquakes in Turkey/Syria, a recap of the changes and updates for the 2022 California Building Code for HCAI, and presentations on current topics from the BSSC Provision Updates Committee (PUC) Investigation Teams(ITs). In particular, Seismology focused on the ITs focusing on engineering creativity and base isolation. In addition to the main committee, the Seismology sub-Committees kept themselves very busy.

The University Research Program (URP) had another successful year. In its third installment, the program sponsored and coordinated four research projects at 3 different northern California Colleges and Universities. To culminate the research the students presented their results to the Seismology Committee at our June meeting and will also showcase their research as part of a 45-min session presentation at the SEAOC Convention in Maui.

The wood sub-committee has been looking at best practices as our profession incorporates Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) into our structures. The committee is focusing on how best to model the stiffness of panel-to-panel connectors of CLT diaphragms and will issue a paper in the future. The concrete subcommittee also focused on educating our members, with the chair joining the SEAOC/NCSEA presentation on coupled wall lateral system design. This example was developed by the subcommittee produced a few years ago.

The Ground Motion group organized their own mini-series with discussions on non-ergodic ground motions: what they are, how to calculate them, how they impact the overall hazard at a site, how to implement them in practice, and how to apply them if required by the code. The Nonstructural group focused on revisions to the “Practical Guide to Nonstructural Anchorage and Bracing,” considering and incorporating rigorous comments from both external and internal peer reviews. The updated guide will be shared with the SEAONC members once it has been sent to the Board of Directors and final review comments have been incorporated.

Contact us at seismology@seaonc.org for more information or if you’d like to get involved.

Young Members Forum

Committee Chairs: Hagen Tam, James Gaitan

The YMF had another busy year as we worked on events to bring our younger members together. Our events were a combination of big and smaller social events, with a common goal of increasing member activity, encouraging networking and the development of friendships within SEAONC. For bigger events we continued the traditions of a ski trip, camping trip and a Spring Picnic. We also organized Committee Involvement night to encourage the younger members to join the SEAONC Committees. After this event we reached out to Committee Chairs to come to YMF events to foster and encourage connections with the younger members. We continued our efforts to encourage the younger members to attend committee activities, dinner meetings and the annual SEAOC Convention.

On the education front, we provided young and continuing members assistance with their PE and SE exams. The YMF provided information packets to ease the registration and preparation for the exams. The YMF also hosted technical and non-technical presentations, presented by the younger members, to help new presenters practice their public speaking and gain experience presenting to the SEAONC community in a less formal setting.

Our efforts did not stop within SEAONC. The YMF also reached out to similar committees in the AIA SF, ASCE and SEI. These combined social events allowed our members to foster relationships with professionals in other industries and professions, providing a unique experience for members of the YMF.

Contact us at ymf@seaonc.org for more information on what we have planned in the next year.