Dear Members,

This week, our members head to Portland to attend the annual SEAOC Convention; the place for networking, development, and technical knowledge opportunities all condensed into a few days. I think back to the very first convention I attended back in 2010 in Indian Wells, which I attended from a generous younger member grant provided by Nabih Youssef. I left that week amazed at having connected with many other structural engineers from around the state - firm leaders, mid-career engineers, and young members alike - I had found my people in the conversations I had that week. I was also impressed by the technical seminars and the access I had to learn about current studies within the forefront of structural engineering. This week, SEAOC continues to carry the charge to provide grants to young engineers in our profession through the Pathways program and now I get to be a Pathways Partner and see the development of our younger members from that lens. If you are attending this week’s convention, I look forward to connecting with you in person.

Convention, however, is not the only place to have these networking and technical knowledge experiences and we at SEAOSC are working to provide several such opportunities this year. Two upcoming events are worthy of a special note this month. September 25th will be our Committee Showcase event where you can connect with committee chairs and hear their pitch for the work they plan on doing this year. And October 9th brings an in-person dinner meeting where we will hear about the changes in ASCE-22 to geotechnical provisions that will affect our structural design. Both of these events are opportunities to connect with other engineers - to find your people - and I hope to see you there.

Garrett W. Mills, S.E.
SEAOSC President 2024-25