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  • March 04, 2024 2:39 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    I recently read an article about decision making. How many decisions do you make each day? Just getting out of bed as you wake up (decision #1), you probably make 10 or more. I was surprised to read that the average number of adult choices each day is 35,000! How many of these decisions do we make at work? For our projects? When we think about this collectively with working with others, my guess is the number is in the hundreds of thousands or millions for a single structural engineering project!

    Decisions for our projects from multiple people must go together and while not all need to work, most will need to. Our clients look to us for our expertise and guidance while they risk their capital driving new development. We are tasked with providing the support they need when they need it. It's the trusted advisor role that we can deliver that keeps them coming back to the expert they know and need. And in many ways, SEAOSC looks to provide this support to our members. We want to be that trusted advisor that you look to and need when you have a question or need support. Do not forgot that we are here—reach out when you need support!

    As we roll into March, there are a number of things that we are busy working on:

    Our Bylaw revisions were put out to a vote by membership. Thank you to those who voted and provided feedback. Amendments and changes to our Bylaws are governed by Section IX of our current Bylaws (https://seaosc.org/BylawS). Although we did not exceed 50% of our members voting, we did receive votes from more than 20% of our voting members. Therefore, in accordance with our Bylaws, our BOD will be voting this month at our monthly board meeting to approve or oppose the latest revisions (with one minor update from member comments).

    SEE (Structural Engineering Excellence) Award nominations are here. Don't forget to sign up your best projects and be recognized!

    This year’s State convention will be in Portland in September. In 2025, the state Convention will be back in San Diego. As with tradition, each MO hosts and helps plan a convention once every four years and SEAOSC's next convention to host will be in 2026. So, come join the committee! We are just beginning to plan and you can help shape where we may go! If you have interest in joining, please reach out to me directly at craig.m.chamberlain@imegcorp.com or to our association at seaosc@seaosc.org.

    We have a number of events coming up as well. 

    • March 6 - Structural Connections: Orange County (Degenkolb Offices)
    • March 7, 14, 21 - NCSEA/SEAOC Webinar Series
    • March 13 - Emerging Engineers Night (DTLA @ Boomtown Brewery)
    • March 21 - Women Working Together Networking Happy Hour (DTLA @ JAMA offices)
    • April - SEAOSC & AIA Joint Membership Mtg
    • May - SEE Awards
    • June - President's Lunch

    I hope to see you all there.

    Wishing you a productive and inspiring March!

    Best,


    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24

  • February 05, 2024 9:45 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    Winter is in full swing. If you are in Southern California reading this message this week, you are probably inside trying to stay out of the cold and rainy weather we are having.

    Although one of the main reasons we all live in California (and particularly Southern California) is the sunny weather we have for most of the year, I love the rain. It changes what we might think to do. It gives us a pause from the hustle and bustle of events outside to maybe stay inside... And in my case, provide some time to sit down and reflect on my President's Message!

    January was a very busy kickoff to the calendar year for SEAOSC. We had our Symposium on the Northridge earthquake at CalTech on January 17. This was an opportunity to look back at what happened, examine what we have done since then to make our community more resilient, and look forward to what we continue to work on. We brought community leaders, government and building officials, structural engineers, and first responders together in a collective discussion about structural engineering, seismic design, and our preparedness for the next one.

    And we can’t forget about our very successful Trivia Night just a week ago with nearly 20 teams. Congrats to all the participants and our winners for a fun night! And our events rolled right into February from there with our annual Structured Connections event in San Luis Obispo on the weekend of the Cal Poly SLO Structural Forum. Thank you to all who attended—and for those of you we missed, we look forward to seeing you there next year.

    One of the many organizations we stay connected with at SEAOSC is the Applied Technology Council. SEAOSC has a designated member on the ATC board which has been recently filled by Michael Cochran. He has done a tremendous job as our board representative. Michael terms out this month on the ATC Board and we thank him for his service. David Cocke has taken over as the SEAOSC rep on the board of ATC and we look forward to his support of ATC as our SEAOSC rep in the coming years.

    The next balloting discussion for updated provisions for the 2026 NEHRP cycle through the BSSC is upon us. Get involved on the Seismology committee if you want to have a voice through SEAOSC and SEAOC on these measures.

    I’d like to highlight a number of exciting things going on and coming up at SEAOSC in the months ahead:

    • We have a co-sponsored webinar between ASCE/EERI/SEAOSC coming up in mid-February that expands on some of the topics discussed at the Northridge Symposium.
    • In March, our Emerging Engineers Night on March 13 will be a great dinner program that you should not miss. Come and meet this year's Foundation scholarship recipients and then listen to a panel of esteemed SEAOSC members discuss their careers and how they got to where they are today.
    • There will be a joint SEAOSC/AIA event in April.
    • May is our SEE Awards!
    • June is the President's Lunch with technical sessions the morning of.
    • August will be our Annual Golf Tournament with a bigger pre-tournament event at Top Golf in July! (If interested in helping out, please join the golf committee as we begin to plan for these events.)

    And, last but not least, we are also in the midst of nominations for BOD members for 2024-25. Please speak up and let us know if you have a candidate for consideration.

    If you have an interest in any of the above events, please reach out to me directly at craig.m.chamberlain@imegcorp.com or to our association at seaosc@seaosc.org.

    Have a great February! Try and stay dry and I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event soon!

    Best,


    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24


  • December 30, 2023 12:12 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    The end of the year is often a time for reflection. We look back on the year we just had and think forward about the year that is to come. We think about the things we are thankful for and possibly a few things we are sad about. It's a good opportunity to take some time to unwind and unpack your thoughts as we get ready to do it all again!

    I am going to do this slightly in reverse though. We will look forward first as January has two big events for our association.

    The 30-year anniversary of the Northridge earthquake is this January 17th! This is still one of the biggest natural disasters in the history of Southern California. SEAOSC is putting on a one-day symposium that offers a chance to look back at what happened, understand what changes we have made, look forward at where we are going and dive deep into a host of technical topics that will provide something for all of our membership. Don't miss this significant event and signup today (https://seaosc.org/northridge30).

    The end of January will also have our annual Trivia night. This fun yet competitive event is sure not to be missed. Stay tuned for location to be announced soon but mark your calendars and set your teams for Friday, January 26th!

    Now as we look back at December, it was another busy month for the association. A big thank you goes out to all who participated in the Gingerbread challenge where we had a successful year two and look forward to another great event next year! And we also wrapped our events for 2023 with a historic structures pub crawl and a webinar on a retrofit project in Alaska.

    Our Board of Directors was also hard at work at our December meeting. Three key topics of discussion included:

    • Bylaw updates - An ad-hoc committee has spent the past year updating and providing revisions to our bylaws. It's been over 20 years since the last major revisions to our bylaws. An overview of the revisions and updates were presented by the Ad-Hoc Committee Chair (and Past SEAOSC President and current State SEAOC Treasurer) Kelsey Parolini. After a thorough review and discussion, the Board voted to present the Bylaw changes to SEAOSC for a membership vote. Keep a look out for a separate email on this in early January.
    • The SEAOSC Existing Building Committee (EBC) presented two draft letters with their recommendations in response to requests from local jurisdictions on potential upcoming ordinances or changes to ordinances.
      • The County of Los Angeles requested feedback from the SEAOSC EBC on a potential upcoming LA county ordinance on non-ductile concrete buildings. A draft ordinance was received by the EBC for review and consideration. Over several months, the EBC reviewed and discussed recommendations and developed a draft letter of recommendations for the Boards review and approval. Daniel Zapeda, current EBC Co-Chair and BOD member, provided an overview of the recommendations. The Board discussed, voted and passed on the recommendations which will be sent back to LA County.
      • The City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has been actively working on updates to adaptive reuse language in the current LA City building code. LADBS reached out to SEAOSC's EBC to provide comments and any potential recommendations for changes to the existing adaptive reuse guidelines which have been in effect for over 20 years. There are many aspects to the guidelines that go beyond structural engineering, but a key component of the guidelines is mandatory evaluation/analysis for commercial to residential conversions. The EBC presented a draft letter of recommendations to the Board for consideration and review. An overview was also provided by Daniel Zapeda and many thoughtful comments were shared by the Board. These comments are now going back to the EBC for further discussion and completion of the letter. An updated draft letter will be sent to the Board with completion of the recommendations in early January for issuance to LADBS.
    • The board also voted on and approved a request by the WISE committee to separate and form a stand-alone Mentorship committee. This group has grown in size and the mentorship program has been a big success in the last two years at SEAOSC. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank WiSE for putting in countless hours of hard work in initiating and launching it the program. Some of these efforts included background research through SE3, partnering with SEAONC for lessons learned and sharing resources, and developing a program that could smoothly run for future chairs and members of the new committee. Thank you WISE! Please keep a lookout for a separate announcement of the new committee and chairs and join up if you are interested!

    I'd like to remind everyone that there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved. We still have opportunities for participation on State committees including representation on either the Wind, Policy/Legislature, Professional Practice or Continuing Education State Commitees. We will also begin forming our convention committee for 2026 and if you want to be part of the planning and help organize one of the most important and prestigious Structural Engineering events in the world, please consider signing up. If you have interest in either of these, please reach out to me directly or to our association executive director at seaosc@seaosc.org.

    And in words to live and work by for the month, my word this month is efficient. We all know how busy life can be. Sometimes we think the only way we can do more is by cutting something out. But maybe it's not what needs to be cut out, but rather becomes more efficient. And in true form to the word, I will leave it at that. Consider how you can be more efficient and find that bit of elusive time you thought you didn’t have.

    Welcome to 2024! I can't believe it's here….. Let’s have a great year!

    Craig Chamberlain, SE

    2023-24 SEAOSC President


  • December 04, 2023 10:52 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    What an amazing Gingerbread Challenge we just had! Thank you to all the teams who participated, our sponsors and to those that showed up to support the amazing builds. We had an incredible event this year and I was incredibly excited by the energy in the room.

    We had a lot going on in November with webinars, partner meetings with AIA not to mention the NCSEA Summit in our backyard at Disneyland! Between SEAOC Board meetings, a joint SEAOC/NCSEA Board meeting and all our committee meetings, your Association was hard at work in November.

    And the events all showed not only the dedication of our membership in promoting our profession, but also to all the opportunities still available out there. One ask that came out of our State meeting was for continued support of some of our State commitees. If you have interest in any of the following committees, our local SEAOSC MO could use representation on either the Wind, Policy/Legislature, Professional Practice or Continuing Education State Commitees. Please help SEAOSC stay involved and have a voice at the State level on these important committees. If you have interest, please reach out to me directly or to our association executive director at seaosc@seaosc.org.

    We also approved two new policies through our Board of Directors in the past two months. One of these was to formalize our Safer Cities Advisory Board process. SEAOSC continues to get requests from cities and AHJ's to support and/or comment on upcoming legislation and we have a great process for providing feedback. We also adopted a new policy on Committee Grants/Stipends for promoting attendance at the annual SEAOC Convention. Your committee chairs received the latest policy on this opportunity and if interested, please reach out to them for information. Both of these continue to support our members who are interested and want to get involved!

    One additional opportunity that will be coming in the next several months is the development of our Convention committee that will begin working on the next convention that our MO is responsible for in 2026. Will we go back to the desert? Will we go out of state?  Who knows, but if you want to be a part of the planning and help organize one of the most important and prestigious Structural Engineering events in the world, please reach out to me or via email at seaosc@seaosc.org.

    My word for the month is Accountability. We all need to be accountable for what we do. Imagine if we all hit our deadlines and committed to getting done what was asked….. On time. Imagine the production that would result. Being accountable goes a long way in helping your team achieve the goals is sets forth. Without accountability, we'd be drifting without accomplishing much of anything. As leaders, we need to ensure we hold others accountable. We cannot be a team without it. But with it, amazing achievements can be realized. Make sure to hold yourself accountable and get done what you say you would. You can do it. 

    We have a wonderful webinar later in December titled, "Seismic Retrofit and Repair in Alaska". This was a presentation that was also supposed to be given at the convention in Hawaii earlier this year and we are excited to bring it directly to our membership. We are also focused on our symposium in mid-January, Northridge30. This is a day not to be missed as we look back at what happened 30 years ago this January 17th. And we will also look at where we are headed today. Our symposium will be held on the campus of Caltech in Pasadena. There is lots of buzz about the event not only from our members but also media and government officials. This is a can't miss event. Be on the lookout for new announcements and registration opening soon.

    Have a wonderful end of the year and Happy Holidays to all! I look forward to celebrating with everyone in the New Year. 2024 will be spectacular!

    Best,


    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24


  • December 04, 2023 1:02 PM | Anonymous

    Last weekend, people visited SEAOSC’s second annual SoCal Gingerbread Challenge in droves, both in person and online, to revel in the festive creations made by engineering teams from across the region. If you couldn’t make it, view the colorful, whimsical structures online here

    On Thursday, November 30, dozens of engineers and other industry professionals assembled at The District and Tustin Legacy, where they had five hours to create and decorate their gingerbread structures. The results included fantastical castles, iconic film sets, and other edible marvels. 

    From Friday through Sunday, the public was invited to see what structural engineers can do to make buildings stand up, regardless of size or materials. During this three-day exhibition, all attendees and online visitors were invited to vote for their favorite structure—the one with the most votes being crowned the People’s Choice Award. Attendees could also build their own gingerbread structures and test them on a shake table for earthquake readiness. 

    To give back this season, every structure was paired with a local nonprofit organization—every vote for the structure counted as a donation to that partner organization. This year’s participants were ACE Mentoring (LA/OC), YMCA OC, Habitat For Humanity OC, South County Outreach, Destination Imagination, and the SEAOSC Foundation.

    By 5 pm on Sunday, December 3, when the voting had closed, more than 5,000 votes had been cast in person and online! The public had spoken, and the results were in. 

    After the competition ended, the teams returned to where they had spent an intense five hours just days before for an awards ceremony and reception. 

    The 2023 SoCal Gingerbread Challenge winners are:

    • People’s Choice: Van de Kamp’s Bakery (Architectural Resources Group & Structural Focus) 
    • President’s Award: The Burrow, Weasley Family Home (SGH)
    • Best in Show: Van de Kamp’s Bakery (Architectural Resources Group & Structural Focus
    • Tallest Structure: The Bite-Sized Grand (Brandow & Johnston / AC Martin)
    • Most Creative Original Design: Santa’s Surf Shack (Hilti)
    • Best Replica Building: Hogwarts Castle (PBK/Kubala)
    • Best Decorated: Super ES World (ICC Evaluation Service)
    Ultimately, this exciting tradition acted as an opportunity to promote our profession. You can see more on this in publications like The OC Register and LAist. Thank you to everyone who visited and participated! 

    The second time around, this festive event was once again a great success, so look for us next year. Happy holidays!

  • November 02, 2023 2:48 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    November is here! I hope everybody had a wonderful October and a great Halloween with family and friends last week.

    October was another busy month for SEAOSC with numerous events as well as significant committee work! Between webinars, membership breakfast meeting in OC, in person SAP training and a structured connections event, we reached out across our SEAOSC region this month. For those that joined us, it was great to see you. If you missed these events, I hope to see you at another event very soon.

    This week is the NCSEA Summit in Anaheim and I just got back from all day Board of Director meetings with our State Board as well as a joint board meeting with SEAOC and NCSEA. It is great to see leaders not only from across our state, but also from across the country. Both organizations are working hard to promote our profession and support our membership. From state committee work to national SE3 efforts to technical webinar content….. It was a day filled with lots of great ideas and effort to move our organizations forward. If you are interested in getting involved in either our local member organization (SEAOSC), state organization (SEAOC) or national organization (NCSEA), do not hesitate to reach out to me directly or any of our board members. There are lots of opportunities out there and not only is the work you do within the committees or groups rewarding and beneficial to our profession, but they are also tremendous opportunities for growth in your career!

    Speaking of committees….. Our SEAOSC committees were also hard at work in October with regular meetings, event planning and provided some important policy support. We highlight our existing building committee this month which was focused on putting together the finishing touches on support of AC557 Acceptance Criteria Document for FRP Anchors. In collaboration between our EBC as well as our Board of Directors, we were able to vote and approve a measure to support the initiative and we were able to get this support in front of ICC ahead of their vote to pass the acceptance criteria document. This is exactly the type of collaboration that our members can put together which makes a direct impact on our profession. Great job to all those who were involved. The letter in support of the initiative can be found on our website.

    We also have an amazing opportunity in Los Angeles right now with Adaptive Reuse. It’s a topic that is on the minds of many in our profession and there is significant movement to propose new amendments to the current adaptive reuse ordinance in the City of Los Angeles. Your executive director, John Bwarie, and I met last week with LADBS General Manager and Superintendent of Building, Osama Younan, to discuss a range of topics including our upcoming Northridge30 Symposium in January as well as Adaptive Reuse in Los Angeles. The City of LA is looking to SEAOSC to provide support and guidance on potential updates to structural provisions within the City of LA Adaptive Reuse ordinance. If you are passionate about this topic and have an interest in helping shape SEAOSC’s input on this critical topic in our city, please reach out and get involved. Several committees lead by the EBC are tackling this initiative and we can use the collective voice of our membership to create positive change in our community. Join us!

    This month I highlight in my words to work and live by is the word patience. It's one of the words that's written on the note card that sits on my desk which I look at every day. Although I feel all the words on this note card are equally Important, sometimes I think this may be one of the most important. The projects we work on typically are not simple and straightforward. They take hours and hours of work where we spend time developing construction documents for a contractor to build the project. And even when we finish CD's, we have construction administration to go through before the project is truly done. That can take a couple of months to several decades. Patience is key for all of that. But this is also true in life. Many things don't happen at the blink of an eye. But oftentimes now with everything we have at our disposal in the age of information, it feels like things should happen in an instant. But the reality is that work, life or whatever it is you are tackling, usually takes time and patience is important. Typically, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s good to remember that.

    As we move into November, we're still busy at SEAOSC and there are big programs ahead for us this month! We have already had a webinar on the use of viscous dampers in retrofits last week which I hope many of you enjoyed! And speaking again about the NCSEA Summit….. I hope I will see many of our members in person at this week’s NCSEA Annual Summit right here in Southern California. Not only is this in Anaheim and readily accessible for our members to attend, but SEAOC is also hosting a Welcome to California night (Tuesday…..TONIGHT!) for structural engineers from across the country (I hear there are literally hundreds signed up to attend!). Come on out! Later in November, our annual event with AIA in downtown LA occurs mid-month with a meeting on sustainability. And to cap off November, our annual Gingerbread Build is Nov 30-Dec 2nd. Don't miss this event at a new location in Tustin! It's sure to be an amazing event and I hope to see you there.

    Have a wonderful November and a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends. And I look forward to talking to you again in December. And I hope to also see you at one of our events soon!

    Best,


    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24

  • October 09, 2023 11:40 AM | Anonymous

    The Structural Engineers Association of Southern California, SEAOSC, is committed to championing a livable environment for all. In this era of rapid climate change, the internationally recognized goal is to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C, as called for in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This means emissions must be reduced by 45% before 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

    SEAOSC recognizes the need for legislation and policy, as well as coordinated action across all communities, in order to achieve the globally stated goal of net-zero carbon by 2050. As such, we support legislation and policy that works to reduce the embodied carbon of the built environment through requirements such as design for functional recovery, repurposing or refurbishing existing buildings, retrofit of existing buildings, use of low-carbon construction materials, exploration of alternative design, and construction methods for increasing efficiency and reducing construction waste.

    By working to be a part of the solution, no matter how massive the problem may seem, we can contribute to making the net zero goal a reality for all. SEAOSC will continue to monitor relevant legislation and policy, as well as all facets of our organization from within, to ensure we are fighting for the lowest possible emissions at every step.

  • October 05, 2023 7:14 PM | Anonymous

    You’re invited to participate in ACE Mentor LA/OC’s All Schools Day on Saturday, October 21, 2023. This is one of the biggest ACE events of the year. High school students from across Los Angeles and Orange County will come together and compete in a surprise, hands on structural design project. Think glue guns, popsicle sticks, and spaghetti!

    Structural engineer volunteers are needed to help coach the students in building the strongest, most economical, and most beautiful structure! This fun and exciting one-day event kicks off the ACE school year.

    If you are interested in participating, please email Patti Harburg-Petrich at patti.harburg-petrich@mottmac.com.

    ACE LA/OC All Schools Day

    Location:

    St. Mary's Academy
    701 Grace Avenue, Inglewood, CA 90301

    Schedule:

    Saturday, October 21, 2023
    8:00 a.m. Check-in/College Fair/Light Breakfast
    9:15 a.m. Event Start
    12:15 p.m. Lunch
    2:00 p.m. Event Ends

    https://acementorla.org/event-5431016

    To volunteer, please email Patti Harburg-Petrich at patti.harburg-petrich@mottmac.com

  • October 02, 2023 7:42 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    Fall is here. Can you feel the cooler weather out there? At the Chamberlain household, we put up Halloween decorations this weekend so it must mean that October has started!

    SEAOSC had a very busy September despite not having the convention this year. Our State BOD as well as State committees all met in San Diego early in September to continue the business of our association that would have otherwise happened in Hawaii. It was a huge pivot for our State director and Presidents (outgoing Krista Looza and incoming Emily Guglielmo) and they did a tremendous job. Our entire Excom from SEAOSC was in attendance as well as many of our Committee chairs so we were well represented as an MO at the meetings. We held new strategy sessions that will help shape the next year and it was exciting to see the potential in front us! Look for messages from our State President in the next newsletter from SEAOC. 

    We also had a successful Structured Connections event in Santa Barbara attended by several dozen central coast members as well as a fun Committee Showcase event in Los Angeles. Thanks again to Structural Focus for hosting. We had over 100 members and non-members join in the event to learn what committees are up to and had many show interest in joining a new committee. Our committees are one of the most vital parts of our organization and it was great to see the energy and enthusiasm at the event. If you missed it or possibly attended, but did not sign up for a committee, you can still reach out to the chairs through our website here (https://seaosc.org/Committee-Pages).

    Prior to the committee showcase event, we had our monthly BOD meeting in person and discussed a number of topics including strategy sessions for SEAOSC looking forward for the coming two to three years. It was exciting to hear from the Board on their thoughts and feedback they have heard from our members about our direction! We will continue these discussions for the next several months during our board meeting. If you have a topic or vision that you would like to share, please reach out directly to me or another BOD member.

    In my monthly message on thoughts and words to work (and live by. Thoughts for leadership), this month’s word I reference on the card on my desk is kindness. It's something I believe is so simple to give yet so easy to ignore at times. It often doesn't take much: Just saying hi to a stranger in the room during a business meeting or job site visit…. A smile when someone needs an ear to listen to their thoughts….. The thank you for anything, small or big, that someone may have done…. These all go a long way to making our collective efforts a bit easier. It doesn't take much to be kind, but the return on that small investment can be amazing! I task everyone reading this to try it out more today than you did yesterday! I bet something good will come right back at you……

    We continue our full calendar slate with lots of events coming up. Don't miss these events:

    10/11 - Webinar - Building Settlement and Structural Collapse Analysis

    10/18 - OC Membership Breakfast Meeting - Topic - Mass Timber

    10/21 - Post-Disaster Safety Assessment Evaluator Training

    10/25 - Structured Connections - Inland Empire

    11/1 - Webinar - Utilizing Fluid Viscous Dampers in Retrofit Applications

    11/15 - SEAOSC/AIA joint event - DTLA

    November (final date TBD) - YM & Sustainability - Arts District Social event

    11/30 - 12/3 - SoCal Gingerbread Challenge

    12/13 - Webinar

    1/17/24 - Northridge Earthquake Symposium - 30yr Anniversary event

    I hope to see you at an event soon.

    Best,


    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24

  • September 04, 2023 2:56 PM | Anonymous

    Dear Members,

    Welcome to September! For many this means we have kids going back to school after a long summer break or others possibly have a longer commute now with more people on the road. Either way, I always feel as though the Labor Day Weekend is the starting point to the stretch run for home and push for the end of the year. There is still lots to do at SEAOSC before we close out 2023 and I can't wait!

    We had a busy August at SEAOSC starting with our golf tournament at Friendly Hills Country Club. What a successful event we had led by our Chair, Dan Fox, as well as the team from Stratiscope with a big shout out to Lilly Naveira for her hard work pulling all the fun together. We raised thousands of dollars for SEAOSC with a portion of the proceeds going to the SEAOSC Foundation. Great job team!

    We also showcased our first SEAOSC movie premiere, Something from Nothing, at the Garry Marshall Theatre in Burbank. We had a great panel discussion along with the movie and it was a wonderful night enjoyed by all who attended.

    Many of us should be in Maui right now and I should be writing this report from my hotel balcony, but unfortunately the fires in Maui and the devastation to the town of Lahaina changed things. Many of us were planning to attend this year's convention in Hawaii to hear the latest in structural engineering, meet with colleagues, and possibly enjoy a bit of rest & relaxation on vacation too. But now is not the time to be visiting Maui and canceling the convention was the right decision. There is a tremendous amount of rebuilding and support needed for the community and that is where the focus is and should be. If you are interested in supporting Maui relief efforts, please see these links on the State convention website (click here).

    The disappointment of having to cancel our convention in Maui this year reminds me about GRATITUDE, one of my words from the card I keep on my desk. Being thankful and thoughtful about the good things in life is so important. We cannot always control the things in front of us and sometimes we may take them for granted. Taking a moment to reflect on how lucky we are is important for ourselves in recognizing what we have done when something good happens, but also what we have when something that didn't go as planned. As leaders in our companies, within SEAOSC or any other organization, gratitude affects your attitude and can uplift the attitude of others in your circle. I challenge each of you to take a minute and think about gratitude. Why or what can you be grateful about right now?

    Here is one of my favorite quotes on gratitude. It's short, but right on point…..

    "Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness….." - Amy Collette

    And now on to September! It is a busy month for our association. Don't miss out on upcoming events:

    9/20 - Structured Connections in Santa Barbara

    9/27 - SEAOSC Committee Showcase - In-N-Out food truck

    10/18 - OC Membership Breakfast

    10/21 - SAP training

    10/25 - Structured Connections - Inland Empire

    11/30 - 12/3 - SoCal Gingerbread Challenge

    1/17/24 - Northridge Earthquake Symposium - 30yr Anniversary event

    Hope to see you soon!



    Craig Chamberlain, S.E.
    SEAOSC President 2023-24

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About SEAOSC

The Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) is a professional association with a rich history and a commitment to shaping the future of structural engineering. This legacy continues to affect the field, as SEAOSC remains a dynamic platform for knowledge sharing, professional development, and community engagement.

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