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NCSEA News
ASSOC I A T I O N S NATIONAL COUNCI L
Thomas A. DiBlasi, P.E., SECB It’s hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since the honor of being NCSEA President was bestowed upon me. In that short period of time, I have been amazed at the amount of work that has been accomplished by the many committees that form the backbone of NCSEA: • The Code Advisory Committee (CAC) under Ron
Hamburger’s leadership has been extremely active as the development process for the 2015 International Code
Council (ICC) has been getting underway. Between the various CAC subcommittees, 46 Code Change Proposals were developed and submitted to ICC for consideration.
In addition, the subcommittees reviewed 445 structuralrelated Code Change Proposals that were submitted by other organizations and individuals. During the two weeks of Code
Change Hearings that were held in Dallas in May, three of the subcommittee chairs (Ed Huston, David Bonowitz and
Kirk Harman) provided testimony on the NCSEA proposals, as well as many of those other 445 proposals. • The Licensing Committee, chaired by Susie Jorgensen, continues to promote separate structural licensure throughout the country. While no new states adopted structural engineering practice acts this year, legislation was introduced in several states for the first time and other organizations are joining the movement. In June, NCSEA along with SEI,
SECB and CASE, announced the formation of the Structural
Engineering Licensure Coalition, to provide a unified voice in support of structural engineering licensure. • The Structural Engineers Emergency Response (SEER)
Committee, led by Scott Nacheman, completed the second edition of the Structural Engineers Emergency
Response Plan (available for download from the NCSEA website). In addition, through an agreement with the
California Emergency Management Agency, NCSEA delivered the Safety Assessment Program (CalEMA SAP), a six-hour post-disaster assessment webinar that is one of only two post-disaster assessment programs that will be compliant with the requirements of the forthcoming
Federal Resource Typing Standards for engineer emergency responders. This training will be offered by
NCSEA on a semi-annual basis. • This year the Continuing Education Committee, under the leadership of Mike Tylk and Carrie Johnson, succeeded in scheduling 19 continuing education webinars delivered by industry-recognized experts. In addition, the committee continues to make refinements to the SE Exam Review Course, developed in a partnership with Kaplan Education Services. Notably, the committee has established a new group pricing structure that will allow MOs to offer the review course to groups at a significant discount when compared to individual registration fees. Finally, the committee has been retooling the Winter Institute, transforming it from its historic technical roots to a more practice-oriented, leadership-development conference. • The Publications Committee, led by Tim Mays, has released its latest publication, “Inspection, Testing, and
Monitoring of Buildings and Bridges” (available through
ICC). By the Annual Conference, the committee expects to complete and present the work of two additional new publications: “Guide to the
Design of Serviceability of Building Systems:
In Accordance with the 2012 IBC and ASCE 7-10” and
“Design Guide on IBC Chapter 18 (Foundations)”. The
STRUCTURE Editorial Board, under the stewardship of Jon Schmidt, continues to deliver outstanding issue after issue of STRUCTURE, securing its position as the definitive publication for the practicing structural engineer. • After a long tenure, Bob Durfee has handed over the reins of the Advocacy Committee to Rick Boggs and Brian Dekker. The Students and Educators
Subcommittee has been developing a prototype
PowerPoint presentation entitled “What is Structural
Engineering?” that is intended for presentations to high school audiences. This presentation is expected to be released at the Annual Conference, will be available for download by the MOs, and will be customizable by the presenter. A new poster is under development, and some promotional videos have also been produced. The
Clients and Prospects Subcommittee has developed a brochure describing structural engineering services to a lay-person. Although scheduled for release at the Annual
Conference, this is already available and downloadable from the NCSEA website. MOs can use the PDF of the brochure, with NCSEA’s logo on it, or download the editable format and add their own logos. The Code
Officials and Government Agencies Subcommittee has produced a couple of white papers to provide general guidance to code enforcement agencies, which it is planning to make available at the Annual Conference; and the General Public and Media Subcommittee is near completion of a “Working with the Media” PowerPoint presentation, to provide pointers for engineers who find themselves in the media spotlight. • The Basic Education Committee, under the leadership of Craig Barnes and new Co-Chair, Brent Perkins, has completed another structural engineering curriculum survey, encompassing data from over 200 colleges and universities throughout the country. The survey results are being compiled and are scheduled to be released in 2013. While the ultimate goal would be to encourage colleges and universities to increase their course offerings to include the basic minimum structural engineering courses recommended by the committee, this is clearly a long-term goal. Dependent on the survey findings, however, NCSEA is contemplating the development of a webinar series that will deliver the basic structural engineering coursework that is found to be most consistently lacking in the university offerings. All of NCSEA’s committees are composed of, and led by, dedicated volunteers. These volunteers are the heart and soul of NCSEA, and their commitment cannot be overstated. For those of you who volunteer on one or more of our committees….a heartfelt THANK YOU! For those of you who do not currently serve, I encourage you to get involved….give back to the profession…and make a difference for yourself and others! Help mold the future of NCSEA and the structural engineering profession!
We have a great program planned (see the Conference insert, page 26), sandwiched between an amazing number of interesting activities on Wednesday, October 3, and a fabulous Awards Banquet on Friday night, October 5. Th e business meeting, including breakfast and lunch on Saturday, is a requirement for Delegates, but it is also open to anyone else interested in hearing and talking about what’s happening with NCSEA. Please see this month’s NCSEA Annual Conference insert and visit www.ncsea.com to hear and see NCSEA Board members talking about why you shouldn’t miss this Conference.
2012 NCSEA Awards Banquet
OCTOBER 5, 2012 – Th e National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) will be announcing the 2012 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards on Friday evening, October 5, during the 20th NCSEA Annual Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Th ree awards will be given in eight categories, with one project in each category being named the Outstanding Project. Categories for 2012 were as follows: • New Buildings under $10 Million • New Buildings $10 Million to $30 Million • New Buildings $30 Million to $100 Million • New Buildings over $100 Million • New Bridge and Transportation Structures • International Structures • Forensic/Renovation/Retrofi t/Rehabilitation Structures • Other Structures Th is will be a formal banquet, black tie requested, and is included for all Conference registrants.
NCSEA Past Presidents at the 2011 NCSEA Awards Banquet.
September 13 Webinar Design of Environmental Concrete Structures with ACI-350
Th is presentation by William Wallace, P.E., SECB, serves as an introduction to the ACI 350 Code and environmental engineering concrete structures. It will be an overview of the evolution of reinforced concrete design criteria for environmental concrete structures over the past 50 years, up to the current ACI 350-06 code. Comparisons between ACI 318 and ACI 350 will be made in a side-by-side format, to point out some of the major diff erences between the two ACI documents. William Wallace, P.E., SECB, is the structural discipline lead for the Fort Worth, Texas Offi ce of Huitt-Zollars, Inc. Mr. Wallace joined Huitt-Zollars in September 2010 after retiring from nearly 32 years of federal government service in various structural engineering positions that included over 23.5 years with the Fort Worth District Corps of Engineers (the last 11 of those years as Chief, Structural Design Section) and 8 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service – National Design, Construction, and Soil Mechanics Center (Structural Engineer) located in Fort Worth, Texas. He received both his B.S.C.E. and M.S.C.E. from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), where he currently serves as an adjunct professor of structural engineering. Mr. Wallace, a registered P.E. (structural) in the state of Texas, was a member of the federal inter-agency task group on the Structural Analysis of Concrete Dams that developed analysis procedures for use by dam owners and regulators.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS NCSEA CONTINUING EDUCATION
Diamond Reviewed Th e cost for this webinar is: $225 –NCSEA member, $250 – SEI/CASE member, $275 – nonmember, FlexPlan option available. Several people may attend for one connection fee. Th is course will award 1.5 hours of continuing education. Th e times will be 10:00 am Pacifi c, 11:00 am Mountain, 12:00 pm Central, and 1:00 pm Eastern. Approved in All 50 States
