Today marks the first anniversary of the tragic Lahaina Wildfires. In response, SEAOH is proud to announce a $4,500 donation to Kāpili Maui, a collaborative initiative by various engineering organizations across Hawaii, dedicated to supporting the keiki and ohanas impacted by the Maui fires. This generous contribution was made possible through the collective efforts of SEAOH and its members. We extend a special mahalo to Simpson Strong-Tie and GPRM Prestress LLC, who graciously redirected a portion of their 2023 sponsorship funds—originally allocated for a joint event with SEAOC that was canceled due to the wildfires—towards this cause. SEAOH has matched these donations, further amplifying the impact.

For those interested in contributing, please refer here.

Mahalo,

SEAOH BOD

I am deeply honored and humbled to serve as your 2024 SEAOH President. Reflecting on my 20-year journey in the structural engineering industry, I consider this moment a pinnacle of my career, made even more meaningful by the trust and support of our association. Together with our dynamic board of directors and our dedicated industry partners, I am excited about the opportunities and challenges we will embrace this year. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our outgoing board members for their exemplary service in 2023.

We are committed to supporting HIEMA and other agencies in the rebuilding efforts for Lahaina. Please visit SEAOH.ORG to contribute to the Kapili Maui Scholarship Fund, which aids students impacted by the Maui Wildfires.

As President, I am dedicated to upholding the traditions and values established over the past 54 years. We will continue our monthly continuing education lunches, dinners, and webinars, often in partnership with other associations. The annual scholarship golf tournament will return in 2024 which has awarded over $100K in scholarships to date.

This year promises to be ambitious and fulfilling. I look forward to seeing you at our monthly events, the Annual Convention and the scholarship golf tournament. Thank you for your continued support and participation.

Aloha,

Timothy G.S. Goshi

President, SEAOH

We are excited to announce that we will be holding our first ever awards for outstanding structural engineering projects at the upcoming 2024 SEAOH Convention! We are currently accepting nominations here.

We look forward to receiving your nominations!

DEADLINE: Friday, July 12, 2024

ENTRY FEE: The awards are free to apply.

AWARD CATEGORIES: There will be three categories for the awards: New Construction, Renovation or Retrofit, and Infrastructure.

JURY OF AWARDS: The selection of award recipients will be made by a distinguished Jury of Awards. There will be a minimum of five jurors. All jurors will be MEMBERS of SEAOH, or part of the Board of Directors.

JUDGING CRITERIA:

* Complexity of criteria or unique problems (20%)

* Creativity of structural design (20%)

* Innovative application of new or existing materials or techniques (20%)

* Commitment to sustainability through efficient use of materials, resilience, circular economy principles, or embodied carbon reduction (20%)

* Ingenuity of design for constructability challenges and efficient use of labor (20%)

Aloha SEAOH Members,

As many of you are aware, SEAOH held a Special Voting Meeting on December 6, 2023 to discuss and vote on provisions being proposed to change IBC Section 1615 in the City and County of Honolulu building code. These changes, along with others, are currently under consideration by the legislature as Bill 65.

The result of the meeting found that a majority of attendees of the meeting were against the changes proposed. In accordance with the ByLaws, this constitutes an opinion of membership. While I understand that this may not align with everyone's personal opinion, it is important that SEAOH remained unified and I believe the process has helped us do so. I encourage all members to become involved in the Building Code Committee, so that you can continue to contribute to important issues facing our profession such as this one.

As part of the process, a letter has been created, and is attached, describing the process and reasoning of the decision. That letter can be found here.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the process.

Mahalo,

Mike A. Greer, PE, SE

2023 SEAOH President

The Structural Engineers Association of Hawaii has joined with the American Council of Engineering Companies Hawaii (ACECH), the Hawaii Water Environment Association (HWEA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Hawaii Section, the American Water Works Association (AWWA-HI) Hawaii Section, the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers (HPSE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Hawaii Section to form Kāpili Maui.

Kāpili Maui is starting a scholarship fund for students who have been impacted by the August 2023 Maui wildfires, with the goal of setting up an endowment fund to support an entire generation of students whose lives have been affected.  If you would like to contribute, please see below for information on how to donate.

Hello Everyone.

We are very excited to be rolling out the new website and logo for Structural Engineer's Association of Hawaii (SEAOH). We felt it was time to revamp our aging online presence. We are planning some updates that have yet to go live, but we hope to improve the usability and content of the site to make it a useful place for our members. The website is still a work in progress and will continue to have content and functionality improvements in the coming months. One of the improvements will include a blog, which will be updated with messages from the President, event announcements, and other useful information regarding structural engineering in Hawaii.

The new logo follows suit with California who has revamped theirs in a similar fashion. 

Please feel free to share any feedback that you have.

Mahalo.

Mike A. Greer, PE, SE
2023 SEAOH President