This year the Board of Directors determined that a yearly report should be initiated to provide our members a review of the year’s activities, accomplishments and items remaining “On the Boards”, yet to be completed.

From a strategic perspective, this year was spent discussing ways to ensure the association

had the capacity to fulfill its mission. These discussions were informed by a Strategic Framework which enabled the Board and the Committees, in conjunction with the Association’s Management, to develop a collaborative structure between the different parts of the organization.

We encourage you to review the Annual Report and hope you will recognize the good work that has been done, but also the important tasks yet before us.

Click Here to Read the Report

Please take a few moments to help ensure we are serving you as you serve your clients and communities. Visit our Survey Page. Currently, our active Survey's are: Events, Existing Buildings Committee, Wood Committee, and the 2020 NCSEA Structural Engineering Cirriculum Practitioner Survey.

Derek Beckman, Derek Beckman Structural Engineering

Kyle White, MHP Structural Engineers

Celalettin Can Simsir, Walker Consultants

Amy McCall, DuraFuse Frames, LLC

Jonathan Lo, Miyamoto International

Amber Sutherland, Lionakis

To maximize your membership, we encourage you take advantage of the many of the member benefits intended for you and these are shown in our Make an Impact membership flyer. One of the benefits available to SEAOSC SE and PE members for a fee is the ability to participate in the online SEAOSC Member Search service. This service is intended to help the public find Structural Engineers and Professional Engineers specializing in a particular area of structural engineering.

The Membership Committee has been working to plan fun and tasteful events every year since the beginning of SEAOSC. This year the pandemic has thrown a wrench into normalcy and we have to get creative Virtually. We know the importance of bringing together our community of engineers and want to make sure we can have some old-fashioned fun and continue to have a strong community! The idea has been thrown around of having a virtual comedy show, and we think what’s better than a virtual happy hour and some good clean comedy! More information will be coming in the next month.

We also would like to gather and receive your feedback when it comes to future scheduled events and events that have occurred in the past. Any suggestions and recommendations for future/past events will be gladly received through this new survey system on our SEAOSC surveys page. This can be done Anonymously as well. There is also an option to select if you would like to be involved with other committees as well, as a more direct line of communication, if something interests you.

In other News the 2020 SEAOC Convention will be virtual this year. The dates of the convention will be December 2^nd to the 4^th this year and will be occurring online. In the end we hope that you are staying safe and busy during this tough time and we will see you soon!

Dear Members,

It is with great honor, and even greater humility, that SEAOSC has embarked on a very special journey that will change the course of our profession. For years, the lack of diversity within our profession has not gone unnoticed, but little has been done to change it. The Black Lives Matter movement that stretched the globe last summer after the death of George Floyd forced us to look around and ask ourselves the tough questions that for too many years we have ignored or avoided.

Nationwide, like many other organizations, the structural engineering community responded with a Call to Action. Locally, SEAOSC established an ad hoc task force. Over the summer, we have been trying to understand how we, as an association, can be better and lead the structural design community to a more diverse and inclusive environment - one that reflects the community at large and profoundly improve the profession.

The discussions were tough to start and manage. As engineers, we try to get to the root of an issue but, of course, there are many roots extending in many directions. We wanted to develop goals and milestones, but first we had to look in the mirror and face brutal facts that make us uncomfortable. We had to strip the topic down to the very definition of diversity. We needed to understand our resources and fully grasp our limitations as a member-run, member served, not-for-profit association. While we are far from completing a strategic plan, we are eagerly underway!

As we explored different ways that our industry can improve, we kept circling back to the pipeline of engineers entering the workforce. As a professional association, we had to recognize our lack of outreach efforts. We realized that we must make students aware of our profession, our core role in the built environment and influence students to become structural engineers.

In high school, did you know that you would be an engineer, or even a structural engineer? In breaking down the confines of system barriers, we understood that many children, including children of under-served communities, do not know that our profession exists.

To improve diversity in our profession, we need to create a path for students in high school - maybe even younger, if possible - and for those entering community colleges and universities. For this, we are discussing and developing partnerships with organizations with demonstrated experience supporting and guiding students of under-represented groups in the AEC and STEM fields. These organizations include ACE Mentorship, NSBE, SHPE, MAES, AISES, and MESA Engineering Programs throughout countless Southern California schools, to name a few.

Despite the obvious challenge presented by the current COVID-19 crisis, and as our first step, we reached out to and began working with the local ACE Mentoring Program. SEAOSC has supported and sponsored ACE Mentorship Program since their beginnings in Southern California , and many of you have served as ACE Mentors and Directors. The overall goal of Ace to “attract high school students into pursuing careers in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering industry” closely aligns with our more specific goal. Now, we wish to take this long relationship to another level of support through content and coordination.

In addition, we created an alliance with an LA Community College program called Careers by Design LA. As we roll out more information and solicit participation from members, we plan to provide speakers and content that support their educational programs and design projects.

Looking forward, we have started discussions around designing our own annual competition and extended mentor program - one that supports students throughout their journey to becoming structural engineers. We haven’t figured out the details yet, but conceptualizing this pipeline support is when we have the most fun! And we are determined to do this!

SEAOSC WiSE Committee as well as the SE3 committees at NCSEA and SEAONC led the charge on equity and engagement for some years, particularly as it relates to gender equity. Both groups are also expanding their effort to respond to the broader discussion. Currently, NCSEA released Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion webinar series that speak to creating a multicultural organization. The first two of these webinars were recorded live and available free for viewing. The last session of this DEI series, “How Do We Progress Toward Racial Equity in the Engineering Community?” will be held during the NCSEA Engineering Summit.

With engagement and inclusivity in mind, we asked ourselves, how often do we highlight the diversity that we do have? Perhaps it’s just not our style, or perhaps, we cannot see how it does or should benefit us as engineers. As we unfold the layers of this topic, let’s start shining a light on our members who demonstrate diversity and inclusion within the broader structural engineering community!

We will be featuring members under a series called SEAOSC STORIES: Celebrating Diversity. While we develop content and determine details, please let us know who you just thought of at nominate an individual! We know you are as excited as we are. So, please feel free to encourage nominations on social media by including the link and hashtags: https://forms.gle/HARXikSwUhg4b8fV6 #SEAOSC #NCSEA #Diversity #Inclusion #AEC

Finally, a result of the initial ad hoc committee, we established a full committee dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. Member participation is crucial for success. You now have a glimpse of the journey ahead, but there are many ideas that need to be developed and we know you have ideas that need to be shared. There is work to be done, but not all at the same time and not all by one person. There are roles, large and small, for anyone sharing the vision of this committee.

We created a volunteer classification chart to help you understand and manage time and expectations:

Volunteer - volunteer at a single day, or 2-day event: typically, runs registration table or exhibit booth, or speaker

Regular Volunteer, as needed - somebody who is dependable to help preparing

for events or at events or participate in outside committees such as NCSEA SE3

Committee Member (Develop content, events, programs, relationships)

Committee Leadership*: Committee member, Chair, Co-Chair, Task Force Leader

* potential Board Transition]

Please send an email to diversity@seaosc.org to let us know you are interested in creating an everlasting impact on the future of our profession!

Stay healthy and be well,

Committee on Diversity and Inclusivity:

Charles Terry Dooley

June 24, 1930 – September 27, 2020

We celebrate Charles “Terry” Dooley who led a full life of service to family, career, and community. Born in Hammond, IN, Terry spent much of his childhood in South Bend, IN, where he became a life long Fighting Irish fan. He was the oldest of five siblings.

Terry received a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s University in Minnesota in 1951, also the year he married the love of his life, Kathleen Hughes Dooley. They moved to Champaign, Illinois, where they started a family while Terry completed his BS in Civil Engineering in 1954. Accepting a job with Bethlehem Steel, the family moved to the west coast where Terry spent the next 26 years in Bethlehem’s construction divisions. He was involved in the erection of bridges in California, and the Pacific northwest, with high voltage transmission towers across Arizona, and helped pioneer seismic construction technologies with the building of the earliest ductile moment-resisting space frames in reinforced concrete in Los Angeles. He received his ME degree from UCLA in 1969, in the Executive Engineering Program. Kathy and their six children fondly remember peering into construction holes, admiring bridges, and road trips to the national parks.

Starting in 1981, Terry spent 21 years with Morley Builders of Santa Monica. Highlight projects included the Powell Library seismic upgrade and architectural restoration project at UCLA, the seismic base isolation of Rockwell (now Boeing) Building 80 in Seal Beach, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Each had a significant seismic performance component.

When the cathedral was dedicated in 2002, Terry retired from Morley Builders and founded the ACE Mentor Program in Southern California, where his leadership and passion for helping students led to the creation of 27 inner-city high school teams each paired with a half-dozen mentors from the southland’s top firms in architecture, construction and engineering. In addition to the vibrant field trips and construction challenges, thousands of students have received college scholarships.

Terry was a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the co-winner of its 1991 Awards for Innovation in Civil Engineering for Rockwell Building 80. He was an Honorary Member of the American Concrete Institute, and received its Corbetta Award for “contributions to the advancement of construction techniques in seismic repair and retrofit.” He was also an Honorary Member of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California. Terry participated in many industry organizations and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and chaired its Construction Industries Committee.

Kathy and Terry have been active members of St. Cyril’s Catholic Parish in Encino since 1960 where Terry sang in the choir for many years. They have also been Oblates of St. Andrew’s Benedictine Abbey in Valyermo. His passion for choral music led to strong support of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Terry and Kathy have been role models for social justice for their children, grandchildren, great grands and the community through their active support of MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity), and their active leadership of the Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley since the 1960s. A highlight of Terry’s work for civil rights was his participation in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 Selma march.

His dedication and care for family, upstanding character, work ethic, and enthusiasm for live music performances and ice cream will be missed. Terry leaves behind his wife of 69 years, Kathy, six children Beth Virani, Brendan Dooley (Linda), Jeanne Reinelt (Doug), Nina Dooley (Craig South), Paul Dooley (Caroline), Martha Dooley, twelve grandchildren Lisa, Neil, Tina (Rob), Cindy, Ryan (Bita), Matt (Naomi), Katie (Chris), Heather (David), Eric, Erin, Michael, Kathleen, and eleven great grandchildren Damon, Lily, Noah, Sage, Grace, Colin, Alyssa, Aiden, Olivia, Emma, and Dean.

Services are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to ACE Mentor, MEND or St. Andrew’s Abbey.

Chairs: Kerry Regan / Christian Cody

Chairs: Michelle Kam-Biron

Chair/s: Jessica Chen / Sikandar Porter-Gill

Chair: Maria Mohammed communications@seaosc.org

Chair: Siddharth Awasthi

Chairs: Colin Kumabe / Michael Ciortea

Forming - Contact President if Interested president@seaosc.org

Chair: Ashwani Dhalwala

Chair: Zizhao (Zee) He

Forming - Contact President if Interested

Chair: Dragos Ursu / Nils Fox

Forming - Contact President if Interested

Chair: Timothy Saenz

Chairs: Laura Basualdo / Doug Litchfield

Chair: Lorena Arce

Organized through Codes & Standards

Chair: Daniel Wang