Dear Members,

As I reflect on the month of March - my first thought is “We’re Back”! The Association hit its stride this month with THREE unique in-person programs for your enjoyment and development. A majority of you join SEAOSC for technical training, the community, and/or the professional development. Well, I think we were able to check each of those boxes this past month.

The day-long Sustainability in Structural Design summit was a great success. It brought together engineers from across the state to learn and share how members of our industry are responding to the call for reduced embodied carbon in buildings. We reviewed the fundamentals of embodied carbon, explored the owner and policy side of reduced carbon initiatives, and took tips from successful projects right in our own backyard. I was struck by Sara Neff’s message (and I’m going to paraphrase here) that to an owner with aggressive target sustainability goals, Structural Engineer’s are now one of the first consultants invited to her table for programming and design development because structural material choices have such an impact in the bigger energy conversation. I left the day excited for the role we can play in bringing change to our communities, and with a promise to revisit and revamp my standard project specs. A sincere thank you goes to Sustainability Chair Luke Lombardi for orchestrating such a powerful event. For those who were not able to join us, check out this Resources Pocketbook, thoughtfully assembled by our event planning committee. Also mark your calendars for June when we intend to compliment this discussion with content that includes resilience, adaptive reuse, and circular economy.

For a different spin on professional development, our half-day public speaking workshop was not only successful, but a lot of fun too! Thanks to Nance Rosen’s energetic approach, we spent time exploring how to make each encounter meaningful and rich for the audience. I took many notes, but the one line that is circled and underlined at the top of the page is this… “all speaking is public speaking”. Whether an audience of 1 or 1,000 we should come to the conversation prepared and ready to illustrate a meaningful message. Thanks to the support of CSI and grant funding from NCSEA we will be providing all of our members with a 1 hour video that will allow you to explore some of this content in the comfort of your office chair.

And finally, last week SEAOSC’s WiSE Committee partnered with AIALA-AiA, NAWIC LA, and WiOPS to put on the Women Working Together Networking Event. This too was a success with over 175 attendees from across the A/E/C industry. It was exciting to see this cross association collaboration, and I look forward to future endeavors. A nod of gratitude goes to Michelle Kam Biron for her vision and leadership in this event.

If you missed these great opportunities, don’t fret, there is more coming up for you to take advantage of. On April 13th for example, we will be in Burbank for dinner and a panel discussion on how to navigate the business risks that Structural Engineers are faced with. Take a minute to jot it on your calendar and join us for the evening. I also encourage you to share your SEAOSC experiences with colleagues and friends. The most important component of our SEAOSC community are the people, and we would love to see that community grow. Please consider introducing us to one of your office mates by inviting them to accompany you to an upcoming event. We will even help with the registration - for each SEAOSC member who brings a guest on April 13th, your guest is welcome at our member rate. Additionally, we will provide you with 2 drink tickets. I look forward to chatting with each of you soon.

Warmest Regards,

Kelsey Anne Parolini, S.E.