NCSEA Response to the Condominium Collapse in Florida
Our thoughts are with the families and community of Surfside, Florida in the aftermath of the collapse of the Champlain Towers Condominiums. NCSEA offers its support to Florida so we may work together to understand the causes of the collapse and contribute to the discussion regarding how to avoid a tragedy like this again. NCSEA leadership is monitoring the situation and available to assist as we seek understanding of the issues that affected this building.
|
|
The Special Awards are annually presented to NCSEA members who have displayed outstanding service, exceptional dedication, and notable commitment to the association and to the structural engineering profession. These prestigious awards include the NCSEA Service
Award, the Robert Cornforth Award, the Susan M. Frey NCSEA Educator Award, the James Delahay Award, and now the Susie A. Jorgensen Presidential Leadership Award. This new award was created to honor the late NCSEA Board President and advocate for the
profession, Susie A. Jorgensen, who passed away in November 2020. Click here to learn more about NCSEA's Special Awards. Nominations are due July 16, 2021.
|
|
The NCSEA Diversity in Structural Engineering Scholarship was established by the NCSEA Foundation in 2020 to award funding to students who have been traditionally underrepresented in structural engineering. NCSEA is proud to announce the first recipients of this program who each received a $3,000 scholarship and have been invited to attend the 2021 Structural Engineering Summit as a guest of NCSEA. Learn more about the recipients here. Congratulations!
|
|
Aime Nacoulma
Oregon State University
|
|
Jessica Brown
University of Southern California
|
|
Jessica Gonzalez
University of Texas at San Antonio
|
|
Juan Vera-Bedolla
Rowan University
|
|
|
On June 12, 2020, NCSEA, in partnership with SEI and CASE, issued a Call to Action to denounce racism and commit to improved diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the Structural Engineering profession. In addition to the Call, NCSEA publicly pledged to
actionable DEI goals. While the Call to Action represented a critical step to establishing a vision and a commitment, it is actions that lead to meaningful progress. On the 1-year anniversary of the Joint Call to Action, NCSEA is proud to report on our progress in collaboration with our SEA Member Organizations. Read more
|
|
Welcome to this installment of Read.Watch.Listen: a monthly forum hosted by the NCSEA SE3 Committee to share and promote conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion within the structural engineering profession. Each month, we will curate a series of articles, audio-visual and digital media to facilitate self-education in matters that affect our professional practice as structural engineers. Whether you choose to read, watch, or listen (or all three!), we hope you will join us in this important conversation.
Homeownership is often considered one of the pillars of the American Dream. However, the United States has a long history of restricting homeownership access for large swaths of the population. Starting in the early 20th century, policies such as redlining and racial covenants made it difficult for People of Color to secure loans and purchase homes. Without the opportunity to purchase homes, People of Color were denied decades of wealth accumulation, making it difficult to improve their quality of life. The resources below explore these policies, their consequences, and how design teams can make a positive change.
To learn more about how racist housing policies impacted your city, we recommend exploring Mapping Inequality, which houses redlining maps from cities across the U.S.
|
|
READ
This piece from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture reflects on the evolution of public housing in the US. In it, the author discusses how federal policies morphed public housing projects into structures that reinforce systemic racism.
|
|
WATCH
This clip from the TPT documentary, “Jim Crow of the North” explains the history behind the creation of redlining and racial covenants in the US. Experts interviewed describe how these practices impacted POCs.
|
|
LISTEN
A panel of architects and developers discuss the role that the design team can play in addressing inequities in housing and housing policies. *If you have limited time, consider skipping ahead to roughly 1:10:00 for the beginning of the Q & A session with the presenters.
|
|
The 2021 Structural Engineering Summit will be an immersive in-person and virtual event. The In-Person Summit will host attendees in New York City at the Hilton Midtown on October 12-15. The Virtual Summit will span from September 27 to October 21. Attendees at both events will have access to an industry leading Trade Show, NCSEA’s unrivaled educational options, and unique networking opportunities.
Join us for this one-of-a-kind event that draws the best of the structural engineering profession, highlights structural engineering innovation and ingenuity, honors outstanding service and commitment to the organization, and illuminates the necessity of the practicing structural engineer.
|
|
June 30, 2021
July 8, 15, 22 & 29, 2021
2021 SEA of NC Virtual Conference
July 13-14, 2021
SEA of SC 16th Annual Conference & Trade Show
July 29, 2021
|
|
NCSEA's Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards program annually highlights some of the best examples of structural engineering ingenuity throughout the world. Projects are judged on innovative design, engineering achievement, and creativity in eight categories:
- New Buildings < $30 Million
- New Buildings $30 Million to $80 Million
- New Buildings $80 Million to $200 Million
- New Buildings Over $200 Million
- New Bridges or Transportation Structures
- Forensic/Renovation/Retrofit/Rehabilitation Structures < $20 Million
- Forensic/Renovation/Retrofit/Rehabilitation Structures > $20 Million
- Other Structures
|
|
The NCSEA Resilience Committee seeks to provide a multidisciplinary collaboration platform to formulate recommendations and innovations to enhance resilience in the built environment. In an effort to further the Committee’s goal to educate the structural engineering community on resilience approaches to planning, design, and construction, the following resilience-focused content addresses strategies, practices, and ways of thinking to meet the challenges of designing in a multi-hazard environment. Acknowledging that resilience-thinking is cross-disciplinary, the content highlighted will be from many different perspectives and disciplines intentionally.
- The Biden Administration recently announced a plan to double the amount of pre-disaster hazard mitigation funding available via the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. This increases the investment to $1 billion for states, local communities, tribes, and territories to support planning and projects that reduce risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. The BRIC program is a National Infrastructure Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program established under the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (2018). Inaugural grant applicants from 2020 anticipate notification of award in July 2020. Then, applications for the new grant cycle (2021) are expected to be released shortly thereafter. This is an exciting time for communities to reap the benefits of federal-level support for resilience projects.
- The Royal Academy of Engineering published case study research called “Critical Capabilities: Strengthening UK Resilience” in support of the UK national resilience strategy. This report asserts that engineers can help governments understand, from a systems perspective, ‘critical capabilities’ needed to improve emergency response. ‘Critical capabilities’ are defined as the people, infrastructure, and assets needed to effectively respond to a disaster. By applying an engineering mindset, the case studies “highlighted instances where the systems’ boundary didn’t go wide enough to consider all of the relevant stakeholders or interconnections within weren’t strong enough or leveraged effectively at the onset of the emergency”. Through a cross-cutting lens of networks and coordination capability, themes and lessons pertinent to public, private, and third sector organizations emerged to enhance resilience to emergencies.
- A multi-stakeholder project by Resilience Shift, the International Coalition of Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI), and in collaboration with Arup, called ‘Infrastructure Pathways’ is looking for technical reviewers and user panelist. This initiative endeavors to bridge the gap in available guidance, tools, and standards across the lifecycle of climate resilient infrastructure projects. Guidance exists but is sometimes confusing and fragmented. ‘Infrastructure Pathways’ will publish stakeholder-tailored guidance that will act as a tool and resource for professionals as they incorporate resilience in plans and policies, prioritization, feasibility and preparation, financing, design, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning. Sign up to volunteer on their website!
|
|
The Sustainable Design Committee aims to promote sustainable design practices within the profession of structural engineering through leadership, advocacy, outreach and education. The primary objectives of this committee are as follows:
|
|
- Advocate for the inclusion of sustainable design within the practice of structural engineering
- Advocate for the role of the structural engineer in sustainable design
- Support the formation of sustainable design committees on the local SEA level and regularly correspond with local SEA committees
- Share/disseminate educational material, white papers, presentations, etc. created at the local level to all SEA Member Organizations, as well as materials produced by complementary organizations
- Partner with complementary organizations such as the SEI Sustainability Committee to share information, develop best practices, and coordinate activities
- Advocate for the structural engineering community with respect to policy and code development
|
This committee is chaired by Kelly Roberts, P.E., S.E., LEED AP BD+C. Kelly is a Principal and Project Manager at Walter P Moore with structural design experience ranging from educational and healthcare facilities to high-rise office towers. She leads WPM’s Sustainable Design Community of Practice for the structures group; specializing in Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment and the use of sustainable and salvaged materials.
If the Sustainable Design Committee isn't the committee for you, NCSEA has a variety of committees that work to further the association’s mission to constantly improve the level of standard of practice of the structural engineering profession throughout the United States, and to provide an identifiable resource for those needing communication with the profession. Click here to learn about the rest of the committees.
|
|
Upcoming Webinars
July 20, 2021
Gary J. Klein, P.E., S.E.
August 5, 2021
Ben Nelson, P.E.
August 19, 2021
Gwenyth Searer
|
- At least 30 high-quality, live webinars
- An unlimited number of free CE certificates
- 24/7/365 access to the Recorded Webinar Library
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|