President’s Corner – May 2022 – Zahra Sara Buerstinghaus
We started our general meetings virtually this year, with the hope that there may be some form of in-person meetings possible later in the year. Well, thankfully COVID-19 is gradually receding, but we must admit that COVID taught us to look at things with a different perspective. The virtual meetings at lunch time allowed so many professionals to participate in our meetings from their desks without extra time for commuting during work hours, consequently we have seen a much greater turnout during our virtual meetings. We have also been able to schedule speakers from across country, not just in the Houston area. With considering those advantages and the results of our previous poll, the board decided to continue our general meetings virtually for the rest of 2022.
However, we do not want to limit our networking opportunities to the virtual environment. We will continue to have our quarterly happy hour events to enable people to meet and network in person. The board is also working to send out professional development opportunities at a discounted rate before the summer break.
The SEAoT Houston board and officers have worked so hard to provide quality meetings and events to our members this year:
- Daniel Pearson, our vice president has scheduled great speakers. We already had four outstanding presentations in our general meetings.
- Anna Quinn and Benjamin Curole are working on planning our second happy hour in June.
- Jennifer Martin-Logan and Ariel Suselo have done a great job in providing communications and social media updates.
Also, it is my pleasure to introduce you to our new Treasurer Ashish Patel. Ashish is a senior structural engineer with Lockwood, Andrew & Newnam, Inc. He has joined SEAoT board a couple of months ago and has already provided tremendous support to our financial efforts. Welcome aboard Ashish!
We as the Houston/Gulf Coast SEAoT board are hoping that this chapter has provided a value to you for your membership. I also would like to remind you that as a member of SEAoT, the following NCSEA (National Council of Structural Engineers Associations) benefits are available to you:
- One recorded online webinar each year for free.
- A subscription to STRUCTURE magazine, the leading monthly magazine for structural engineering, both print and electronic versions.
- A subscription to Structural Connection, NCSEA’s monthly member e-newsletter with information on NCSEA and SEA activities and events.
- An opportunity to secure a yearly subscription to unlimited live (20+ per year) and recorded webinars (from a library of 180+) available online, on-demand, 24/7/365. All NCSEA webinars are Diamond Reviewed for CE credit in 50 states.
- An opportunity to join NCSEA Committees including Advocacy, Basic Education, Code Advisory, Communications, Continuing Education, Publications, SEER, Structural Engineering Summit, Structural Licensure and Young Member Support Group.
- Access to NCSEA web-based communities, including those on LinkedIn and Basecamp.
- Access to scholarships to the NCSEA Structural Engineering Summit for young members.
- Access to the NCSEA member portal
- Discounts for webinars, the NCSEA SE Exam Review Course, the Structural Engineering Summit and publications.
Please take the time to look at these resources available to you with your SEAoT membership benefits.
I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming general meeting and hearing about the midtown Sears transformation into the Ion, from our speaker Rachel Calafell with Walter P Moore.
Sincerely,
Zahra Sara Buerstinghaus, PhD, PE
President, SEAoT Houston / Gulf Coast
