President's Message

Emily Guglielmo, SE, PE, F.SEI

2023-2024 SEAOC President

Dear SEAOC Members,

The upcoming SEAOC Convention offers a unique opportunity to reflect upon the legacy of those who have shaped our profession while looking forward to the future. This moment of reflection is especially poignant this year as we honor Nabih Youssef, a SEAOC Fellow, who passed away last month. Nabih was more than just a pioneering engineer; he was a visionary whose contributions have left an indelible mark on our field. In serving as Chair as the Chair of the Vision 2000 Committee and the Seismology Committee for SEAOC, Nabih contributed to the enactment of performance-based design, a major conceptual advancement for the engineering community. His passion for innovation was matched only by his commitment to the next generation of engineers.

Nabih’s dedication to young engineers was evident in his ongoing support for their participation in the SEAOC Convention. He believed deeply in the SEAOC Convention opportunities to inspire and educate. His sponsorship of young professionals to attend the Convention has had a lasting impact on our community. In the spirit of Nabih’s remarkable legacy, we are proud to welcome a record number of young members and first-time attendees to the Convention next month. This achievement is a testament to the partnerships and initiatives we have fostered, including our collaboration with CSI on the young member discount, resulting in a more accessible event for emerging professionals. See story below for more on Nabih.

The 2024 Convention offers a unique opportunity to honor our past while engaging with the pressing challenges of today. One highlight is the closing plenary session, in which a distinguished panel of SEAOC Fellows will guide us through a journey of seismic design evolution, building codes, and the Association history. This session will include an interactive Jeopardy-style game show format, in which our Fellows share their impressive knowledge and history.

PEER Hosts Seismic Isolation Conference

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center / PEER is organizing the 19^th World Conference on Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures (in short, 19WCSI) at UC Berkeley, on 15-19 September 2025. This biennial conference is a key activity of ASSISi, the international society committed to the advancement and promotion of seismic isolation and energy dissipation technologies. The WCSI conference series started in 1989 in San Francisco, and with 19WCSI returns to the Bay Area for the first time in 36 years.

Current supporters include SEAOC, SEAONC, an array of notable university institutions, Caltrans, HCAI/OSHPD, the California Geological Survey, and the National Research Council Canada. We are currently reaching out to EERI and ATC as well as discussing with the U.S. Dept of Energy, FEMA, FHWA, NIST, the California Office of Emergency Services, and the transportation agencies of Washington, Oregon, and Nevada and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and a number of state structural engineers associations.