ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Melissa Sanchez, SE, LEED AP
Melissa Sanchez, SE, LEED AP, is a licensed structural engineer in California and is a Principal Structural Engineer with ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES). She has been with ICC-ES since 2018 and specializes in the certification of structural and seismic building products. Prior to joining ICC-ES, Melissa spent over 10 years in structural consulting, designing both existing and new structures of various materials in the Los Angeles and Orange County area. She graduated with a B.S in Civil Engineering from UCLA and an M.S. in Structural Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Manuel Chan, SE
Manuel Chan, SE, is a licensed structural engineer in California and is a Principal Structural Engineer with ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES). He graduated with a B.S in Civil Engineering from Universidad Santa Maria la Antigua (Panama City, Panama) and a M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining ICC-ES in 2018, Manuel spent 16 years as a design professional with structural engineering firms, as well as his own practice, throughout Southern California. He has also 10 years of experience performing and completing seismic risk assessments of commercial and residential properties throughout the west coast of the U.S.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Samuel Mengelkoch is a Principal at Structural Focus, where he has gained over 20 years of experience in building analysis, design, and construction administration for new, existing, and historic buildings. Sam has led staff engineers through many complex adaptive reuse, rehabilitation and seismic retrofit projects, including the Rancho Los Alamitos Adobe, the Harbor House in San Pedro, ROW DTLA Building 2, and the Landmark Building at the Proper Hotel at 710 Wilshire in Santa Monica. Sam is also President of the Southern California Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), organizes Structural Focus' internal Earthquake Response Program, and continues to aid the development of post-earthquake Accelerated Building Reoccupancy (ABR) Programs in Southern California.

Roberto Vazquez focuses on some of the most significant adaptive reuse and new construction projects in downtown Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. He previously spent 14 years at Omgivning successfully managing various projects, from large-scale, mixed-use, and adaptive reuse projects to historic renovations and office to multifamily housing conversions.

Roberto enjoys blending his creativity and design talents with his strong technical skills. This experience with existing buildings and Los Angeles City, County, and California codes has made him one of the most knowledgeable resources in the region. Additionally, Roberto has a long history of advocacy efforts tied to adaptive reuse policy, and has led those efforts with legislators, developers, planners, engineers, and fellow architects. As an expert in his field, Roberto has contributed to countless publications, media appearances and speaking events

Wayne Chang is CFO and Principal at Structural Focus. Wayne has over 25 years of experience including seismic evaluation, structural design of new buildings, adaptive reuse, and retrofit design. Projects include the designs of new office facilities, renovations/ strengthening of hotels, design modifications of production spaces, and repairs/evaluations of industrial buildings. Wayne is actively involved in Existing Buildings, Codes and Standards, and the Disaster Emergency Service Committee with the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California.

Ms. Holly Harper joined Los Angeles City Planning’s Urban Design Studio after fifteen years in the non-profit sector, focused upon urban forestry and active transportation. She received her BArch from SCI-Arc, is a licensed architect and worked to build the City's first green street (2007) in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Street Services, located on Oros Street and in Steelhead Park along the Los Angeles River.

Holly is the principal author of the current update to Los Angeles’ 1999 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, to now apply everywhere outside of downtown. She currently lives northeast of downtown and has been car-free for nearly twenty years.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Luna Lu is CEO of Wavelogix Inc. She is also Reilly Professor of the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, and founding director of Center for Intelligent Infrastructure (CII) at Purdue University. Prof. Lu is a fellow of Royal Society of Arts and Science. Dr. Lu has extensive research expertise in concrete, NDT and sensing technologies and structure sensing and monitoring. Her research program integrates civil engineering, electrical engineering, and materials science disciplines with three main topic areas: 1) IoT sensors and data analytics for infrastructure monitoring; 2) high performance, low carbon civil engineering materials; and 3) thermoelectric and piezoelectric devices for energy harvesting. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 2 books, 6 book chapters, 1 patent and 10 provisional patents. She has won several scientific awards, including the 2014 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, 2019 Purdue Faculty Scholar, 2020 Vebleo Scientist Award, 2021 ASCE Gamechanger, 2022 ASCE Alfred Noble Prize etc. She has also been recognized as the most impactful faculty at Purdue University in 2021 and 2022.