 Space is limited and we currently have a wait list. To be added to the waitlist for this event and be notified of future events, please submit your name, email, and additional info on the following form: https://goo.gl/forms/vw6TTKmXUHOEAQVD2
SEAONC SE3 Speed Mentoring Event The SE3 Committee is pleased to launch its first mentorship event—speed mentoring! This event will provide a unique opportunity for junior engineers to engage with more established structural engineers in a time-efficient networking session. The purpose of the event is to encourage junior engineers to gain strategic guidance and advice to progress in their careers. What is speed mentoring? Speed mentoring is a series of quick, focused conversations between mentors and mentees. Groups of 3-4 mentees will cycle through several groups of 1-2 mentors over the course of the evening. Each cycle is 12-15 minutes long and consists of focused questions that will be answered by each group of mentors. We are excited to announce the following mentors for our upcoming event:
Thursday, August 3, 2017 | 6-8 PM Thornton Tomasetti 650 California St, Suite 1400 San Francisco, CA 94108 Mentee registration costs: $15 for SEAONC members | $20 for non-members If you are currently registered for the event and can no longer attend, please email us at se3@seaonc.org as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, August 2, 2017. Light refreshments will be provided. Please contact SE3@seaonc.org with any questions.
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2016-17 has been a big year for the SE3 Committee, and it started with the group being officially made a SEAONC committee at the end of the summer of 2016! With our new, official committee status, we hit the ground running and have accomplished a number of tasks in the pursuit of advancing engagement and equity in structural engineering over the last year. Below is a list of major milestones in our journey along the way, which would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our committee members, SEAONC, and the structural engineering community at large. 2016-17 SE3 Milestone Timeline September 2016: Present preliminary findings from the 2016 SE3 nationwide survey at the SEAONC Monthly Meeting to approximately 130 attendees at Thornton Tomasetti’s office in San Francisco.  SEAONC September Monthly Meeting, 2016 October 2016: Present findings from the 2016 SE3 survey at the SEAOC Convention in Maui. December 2016: Present findings from the 2016 SE3 survey at an ATC webinar for approximately 500 registrants nationwide. This webinar is now available on our website at SE3project.org/webinar! December 2016: Release the SE3 2016 Survey Report, a 12,000-word document that outlines the detailed findings and best practices related to the most relevant survey findings in the areas of overall career satisfaction, career advancement, pay and benefits, and work-life balance. January 2017: Inaugural SE3 Symposium—LISTEN, ASSESS, CHANGE—a half-day event hosting 120 attendees at SPUR in San Francisco, with presentations and panel discussions to explore issues of engagement and gender equity in the structural engineering profession, focusing on what individuals and companies can do to improve.  2017 SE3 Symposium March 2017: Committee establishes five task groups to address specific projects that relate to the Committee’s mission. Task groups and leaders:
April/May/June 2017: Present 2016 SE3 survey findings at:
 Groundbreaking Women in Construction Conference Panel Presentation June 2017: Announce the first SEAONC SE3 Mentorship event to be held August 3, 2017 from 6-8pm.
And, at the end of June, one of the crowning achievements of our committee over the last year: our proposal to begin a national SE3 Committee through NCSEA was accepted! Starting in 2017 there will be an NCSEA SE3 Committee that will oversee the creation and administration of a biennial survey of structural engineers nationwide and assist other chapters in starting their own local SE3 Committees. We are extremely humbled and grateful for the national support of the mission of SE3 and look forward to working within SEAONC and NCSEA to further the mission of the organization. As for the future of the SEAONC SE3 Committee…leadership for the upcoming 2017-18 year will be announced very soon, and we’re confident that the next year will build on the work of previous years to bring continued success. In the remainder of 2017, the Committee will be hosting its first mentorship event on August 3; a best practices resource guide will be released on the SE3 website over the summer; a pay report with detailed information about compensation of the 2016 survey respondents will be released in the fall; and personal stories from members of our profession will be shared to help us understand anecdotal experiences within structural engineering in the summer and fall. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the SEAONC SE3 Committee and its mission over the last year and beyond—we can’t wait to see what’s next! To be part of what’s next, join us at our next meeting on July 18 at SOM in San Francisco! We welcome new members and contributors. For more information about the SE3 Committee, or to read the SE3 2016 Survey Report that discusses detailed findings from the 2016 nationwide survey, visit SE3project.org. If you have questions or would like to join the SE3 Committee, please email se3@seaonc.org.  On March 22nd, 2017, I participated in a special program at NASCC: The Steel Conference entitled “Solutions for Equity in the Workplace.” The panel discussion, led by Kristy Davis of AISC, included Babette Freund, President of Universal Steel Co., Heidi Brunette, COO of Steel Fabricators, Inc, and myself. Together, we covered a wide range of topics regarding diversity and equity within the structural steel industry, as seen through our perspectives as steel fabrication and engineering design professionals. The panel topics, which were initially organized around recent findings from the 2016 SE3 Study, were expanded to address such questions as “What does diverse talent mean for your company? And what is the potential impact if this is lost or unbalanced?” After establishing our individual definitions of diversity and its benefits, the conversation shifted towards a discussion of ways we can improve retention across the industry. The panel session, which was attended by approximately 60 people on the first morning of the Steel Conference, lasted for 75 minutes and preceded a catered lunch, where attendees were encouraged to engage in discussion and debate amongst themselves. Thank you to AISC for organizing the program, and inviting me to participate! Rose McClure, Senior Engineer Simpson Gumpertz & Heger  SE3 Committee MentorshipOne of SE3’s 2017 initiatives is to establish a mentorship task group to take some of the lessons learned from the 2016 SE3 study and put them into action! In the 2016 SE3 survey, we found that people without mentors were 22% more likely to consider leaving the structural engineering profession. People with mentors were more satisfied with their career advancement and overall career choice. Another recent study by the Society of Women Engineers found that mentorship facilitates a sense of connectedness to the organization, increases satisfaction, and reduces turnover. Because part of SE3’s mission is to promote engagement in the structural engineering profession, bringing a mentorship program to SEAONC is a great way to pursue our mission. Headed up by Faith Silva from Thornton Tomasetti and Neelima Tapata from Simpson Strong-Tie, this task group has done extensive research regarding the methods, successes, and failures of other mentorship programs in order to inform the best approach to starting an SE3 program. With input from other task group members, the committee at large, and SE3 leadership, the mentorship task group is gearing up to host their first mentorship event in early August 2017.
Faith Silva and Neelima Tapata, mentorship task group co-chairs After we have one event under our belt, the group intends to re-assess the needs expressed by session attendees and possibly offer more formal mentorship or other programs in the future. Stay tuned for more information about an upcoming SEAONC SE3 mentorship event! May was also a fruitful month for SE3 outreach; Angie Sommer participated in a panel discussion at the Groundbreaking Women in Construction (GWIC) conference on May 2 entitled Earn What You’re Worth—Closing the Gender Pay Gap. Nearly 400 contractors, architects, and engineers attended the sold out two-day conference, and Angie was invited to discuss the findings of the 2016 SE3 study regarding the gender pay gap in a broader discussion of how to improve it within the construction industry.  Angie Sommer (third from left) at the GWIC conference on May 2 Additionally, Ayse Hortacsu presented findings from the 2016 SE3 study to Buro Happold’s New York office on May 12, where she delved into issues such as mentorship and participation in professional organizations (like SEAONC!) with the younger attendees. AISC hosted Rose McClure and Angie Sommer to present a webinar for the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois on May 16, where they provided information about the 2016 SE3 study and corresponding best practices. The webinar was recorded and can be viewed online in the News section of the SE3 website (http://www.se3project.org/news).
This month, Rose McClure will be continuing to spread the word about SE3 to the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAONY) on June 21. Join us at our next meeting on June 13 at SGH in San Francisco! We welcome new members and contributors. Angie and Rose have presented a webinar for the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI). You can find out more about it on SEAOI's website or watch a recording of the presentation below.  Structural Engineers living in NYC, we are excited to share that Rose McClure, co-founder of the SE3 Project, a national study on engagement and equity in structural engineering, will be presenting the findings of the 2016 SE3 Survey at the Center for Architecture. Registration is online: http://www.seaony.org/event-2531519
One of SE3’s 2017 initiatives is to establish an outreach task group that focuses on engaging similar groups throughout the country who share a parallel mission to ours. Part of this outreach involves spreading the word about SE3 via presentations, webinars, and articles. Zahraa Saiyed from Mar Structural Design is leading this task group, and has been working hard to organize our contacts, reach out to individuals and groups, set up speaking engagements, and catalog information gained from different events. To date, SE3 has given more than a dozen presentations at dinner meetings, for online webinars, and at individual offices. Recent presentations include a panel session on April 6 at ASCE/SEI Structures Congress in Denver and a dinner meeting presentation on April 19 for SEAOSC OC. At Structures Congress, Rose McClure and Angie Sommer participated in a session entitled “Changing Structural Engineering Workforce and Work Places: Challenges and Opportunities,” which included discussions about technology and globalization, generational differences, and examples of incorporating flexibility practices at large companies. Rose and Angie did a 30-minute overview of the findings from the 2016 SE3 Survey. SE3 member Emily Guglielmo was another panelist in the same session, and the whole discussion was well received by the ~60 attendees. Megan Stringer, another SE3 member, attended the conference and presented a session on sustainability. Photo 1: SE3 members Angie Sommer, Rose McClure, and Megan Stringer Photo 2: Women in Structural Engineering (WiSE) networking event organized by Rose McClure and Erica Fischer Photo 3: Rose McClure and Angie Sommer during the Structures Congress panel presentation Angie Sommer presented the findings from the 2016 SE3 Survey and the best practices noted in the 2016 Report to a group of approximately 80 SEAOSC members at their Orange County (OC) dinner meeting on April 19. Jeff Ellis, SEAOSC president, is an enthusiastic supporter of the SE3 mission and work, along with many other SEAOSC Board members, including Sandra Biddulph, and other members. The presentation was well-received, and Angie was even able to join a Women’s Mentor Roundtable discussion, arranged by Annie Kao, before the meeting, where she met with many successful women in the profession. Photo 1: Angie Sommer with two SEAOSC members
Photo 2: Angie Sommer presenting the SE3 findings at the SEAOSC OC dinner meeting Photo 3: The audience during the SEAOSC OC dinner meeting Upcoming SE3 presentations include a panel discussion on the gender pay gap at the Groundbreaking Women in Construction (GWIC) conference on May 2, a presentation to Buro Happold’s New York office on May 12, a webinar presentation to the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI) on May 16, and a presentation to the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAONY) on June 21. How you can get involved! For more information about the SE3 Committee, or to read the SE3 2016 Survey Report that discusses detailed findings from the 2016 nationwide survey, visit SE3project.org. We welcome new members! If you would like to join the SE3 Committee, please visit the Contact Us page to send us an email! “Divide and conquer” is the new motto of the SE3 Committee as we launch into our work for 2017. The committee has been divided into five task groups to further the mission of the committee, which is to study and promote engagement and equity in structural engineering.
At our March meeting, task group leaders were announced, and each leader discussed his or her goals and ideas for the group. Here is a brief synopsis of the task groups and their new leaders. Pay Report Angie Sommer from ZFA Structural Engineers is leading the group that is developing a specialized report on pay. This report will focus on compensation reported by the 2016 survey respondents from around the nation to provide information based on region, gender, and more. Follow-up Interviews Nick Sherrow-Groves from Arup is leading the group that is conducting one-on-one interviews with respondents from the 2016 survey to receive qualitative data regarding experiences in the structural engineering profession. This work is also expected to help inform the committee’s upcoming 2018 survey. Best Practices Resource Guide Rupa Garai from SOM is leading the group that is working on an updated and expanded resource guide for firms to reference that discusses ways to successfully implement the best practices from the 2016 SE3 study. Outreach Zahraa Saiyed from Mar Structural Design is leading the group that is focused on engaging the national community regarding SE3’s mission by forming partnerships with similar organizations and identifying opportunities for SE3 members to present the committee’s findings and spread the message about engagement and equity. Mentorship Program Neelima Tapata from Simpson Strong Tie and Faith Silva from Thornton Tomasetti are co-leading the group that is developing a mentorship program for SE3 and SEAONC members to give more access to this career-boosting practice. The SEAONC Structural Engineering Engagement and Equity (SE3) Committee hosted its first symposium entitled LISTEN, ASSESS, CHANGE on January 26 at SPUR in San Francisco, and it was an amazing success! The sold out event hosted 120 attendees who came to learn about the 2016 SE3 study and listen to the experiences and inspiring ideas of a wide variety of professionals who were featured as speakers and panelists. Here's a recap of the events and discussions. Maryann Phipps started the day with a rousing and inspiring keynote speech where she discussed her love of the structural engineering profession and also noted some personal experiences that showed that there is room for improvement by all.  Rose McClure and Natalie Tse, the committee’s co-founders, then presented the first session, entitled LISTEN, in which they discussed the 2016 SE3 study’s findings and presented the committee’s resulting list of best practices. The first panel discussion, ASSESS, was moderated by Angie Sommer, who led the panelists—Emily Guglielmo, Janiele Maffei, Joel Villamil, and Taryn Williams—in a deeply personal discussion of their experiences in the profession, including topics such as mentorship, management/staff disconnect, workplace flexibility, and the role of work-life balance.  Julia Mandell then presented a short narrative of the mission and findings of the AIASF’s Equity by Design Committee, the organization that partially inspired the creation of SE3.  The final panel discussion, CHANGE, was moderated by Nick Sherrow-Groves, who led the panelists—Emily Loper, Krista Looza, and Saskia Dennis-van Dijl—in a discussion regarding ideas and policies to improve engagement and gender equity that they have witnessed or helped enact in their career, including how to reduce bias in the promotions process and San Francisco’s new parental leave legislation.  Dick Dryer, SEAONC president, provided a wrap-up to the day before Ayse Hortacsu, the event’s gracious emcee, closed the afternoon with a few thoughtful words.  After the presentations were finished, a networking happy hour took place on the ground floor of the SPUR facility, where attendees mingled, chatted, and enjoyed snack and drinks together. The vibe was electric as we celebrated the success of the day together and excitedly discussed the ideas spurred by the day's discussions. Thank you to our incredible speakers who made the event inspiring, relevant, and valuable to the attendees and the profession as a whole. We really appreciate all the time you took in preparing for this event and in formulating thoughtful, interesting responses to the questions that were posed. Thank you also to the individuals and companies who provided funding in the form of sponsorship for this event and the committee’s continuing work; this support is extremely important and the committee extends its humble gratitude.
As we wind down from our first symposium, our committee wants to remind everyone that the work of the SE3 Committee is not done! We have a lot of work to do to continue the discussion and enact real change regarding engagement and gender equity in the structural engineering profession. If you're curious as to what the SE3 committee has in store for the near future, upcoming projects include (but are not limited to):
 It's official -- the SE3 Symposium on January 26 is now sold out! We're at our max of 120 attendees, and are really looking forward to sharing an amazing program with everyone on Thursday.
If you didn't get your ticket in time, please email SE3@seaonc.org to be added to the wait list. We can't wait to see everyone on Thursday afternoon! |
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