Message From the President
November 3, 2009
Looking back 2 months, on September 9 and 10th, SEAoO had an excellent Annual Conference in Cincinnati Ohio. Attendees came from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There were 6 presentations on Thursday and a full day Friday presentation by John Henry on the Structural Codes. The average grades, as determined by the attendees, were A-, A-, A-, A-, B-, A-, and B+. I really enjoyed all the presentations, exhibitors and the networking opportunities. I especially enjoyed the tour of U. of Cincinnati’s Large Scale Structural Testing Facility and informal diner. John Henry (ICC) stated several times, during his presentation, that Ohio appeared to be ahead of other states due to the programs and presentations SEAoO offers its members. I want to thank Gretchen Bryc and those who worked on the Annual Conference for an excellent job.
In October, Cleveland and Cincinnati’s membership meetings had 2 excellent CRSI concrete presentations, “ACI 318 Appendix D” by Neal Anderson and “Constructability and High Performance Concrete” by Tony Johnson. The grades as determined by the attendees were “A” and “A” for Cleveland and “A” and “A-“ for Cincinnati, respectively. ACI 318 Appendix D gave good insight into the codes, testing, and failure modes of concrete anchors. “Constructability and High Performance Concrete” showed ways of reducing cost through constructability and how high performance concrete was being used in high rises today. I recommend and encourage you to attend our membership meetings. They consistently receive high scores by our attendees, it is a good way to keep up on the continuous changes in our industry, and they provide good networking opportunities.
Looking ahead, the next membership meeting is in Columbus on Thursday 12-3-09. The presentations will be 1) “Tips for Engineering Structural Masonry” by Diane Throop PE (Masonry Code Committee Chairman); 2) “Paperless Office Environment”; and 3) “NCSEA Update”. The flyer for the meeting will be coming soon.
Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Sections. Due to the request by members for more local meetings, SEAoO in 2010, will go to a Section format with Membership Meetings in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. There will be 6 membership meetings in each location, with 2 presentations per meeting. This will provide a total of 12 presentations per Section, per year. All the Section meetings will be on the same day and at the same time, so that one Section can video-conference its presentation to other locations. If you are interested in being involved in your Section, please contact Bill Sliwinski at president@seaoo.org
Bill Sliwinski, PE
SEAoO President