Upcoming Seminars
Waterfront Facility Inspection & Rehabilitation Engineering Design
April 30, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Bill Dubbs
More information coming soon!
Past Seminars
Equatic: The development of a seawater-based atmospheric carbon removal and hydrogen co-production platform
February 03, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Gaurav N. Sant
The trapping of carbon dioxide (CO2) as aqueous (bi)carbonates or as mineral solids is attractive because of favorable thermodynamics, and the durability and permanence of storage. Here, I will describe an approach to rapidly precipitate Ca- and Mg- carbonates and hydroxides from seawater to achieve large-scale, cost-effective CO2 removal.
Lessons learned from advanced analysis projects and things you need to know to succeed in a consulting engineering career
January 29, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Derrick Watkins
Structural engineers often face challenging, complex projects that require innovative technical solutions to meet client needs while pushing the boundaries of engineering. At SGH, tackling such projects has been a cornerstone of their work. From investigating the collapse of the World Trade Center to analyzing the seismic stability of nuclear-powered submarines in dry dock, engineers like Derrick Watkins rely on advanced analysis techniques to accurately model unconventional structures and dynamic loads, ensuring effective and reliable solutions.
What can seismic data tell us about the magnitude of shear stress in the Earth’s crust?
January 27, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Yuri Fialko
Strength of the upper brittle part of the Earth's lithosphere is one of the most debated and least constrained quantities in geophysics. Direct measurements of stresses acting at seismogenic depths are largely lacking. Seismic data (in particular, the earthquake focal mechanisms) have been used to infer orientations of the principal stress axes. I will discuss how the focal mechanism data can be combined with information from precise earthquake locations to place constraints not only on the orientation, but also on the magnitude of absolute stress at depth.
Ferrovial Construction Innovative Solutions in Structural Engineering
January 22, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Fran Palacios
Ferrovial Construction is a leading global infrastructure Design-Builder specializing in the design, construction, and maintenance of complex civil engineering projects. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, the company has delivered high-profile projects such as highways, railways, and bridges across the United States and worldwide. Ferrovial’s commitment to cutting-edge structural engineering solutions ensures the development of resilient, efficient, and environmentally conscious infrastructure.
Seismic Retrofit and Adaptive Re-Use
January 13, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Robert Randall
This seminar will focus on understanding the design process for the structural seismic retrofitting related to adaptive re-use of existing buildings. Case study examples designed by Saiful Bouquet will be presented that cover Code requirements, design solutions and construction.
Think Global, Buckle Local: Exploring Local Buckling in Structural Steel
January 10, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Benjamin W. Schafer
Local buckling is an important phenomenon in steel structures, and this talk aims to place the phenomenon in the much larger global context of what structural engineers have achieved for society and what work we have left to do. Utilizing an historical lens the talk explores the origins of local buckling in civil structures and how engineers harnessed the best theory of the time to understand and control local buckling.
SPERRA: 3D Concrete Printing Marine Renewable Energy Infrastructure
November 06, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Taylor Marchment & Mason Bell
3DCP (3D Concrete Printing) can help solve logistical and supply chain challenges for fabricating anchors and platforms for floating offshore wind (FOW) and other marine renewable energy structures such as solar and wave. 3DCP offers greater design flexibility, utilizing local material, and faster construction times and is well suited to fabricating large structures. Fabrication can be performed quayside, on semisubmersible barges, or in a dry dock.
Ingenuity in Geotechnical Design using Geosynthetics
October 30, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Jorge G. Zornberg
Even though geosynthetics are now a well-established discipline within geotechnical engineering, ingenuity remains significant in many projects involving their use. This is probably because of the ability to tailor the mechanical and hydraulic properties of geosynthetics in a controlled manner to address design needs in all areas of geotechnical engineering. This presentation focuses on specific geosynthetics advances in a wide range of geotechnical projects.
Safe and Sustainable Dam Infrastructure
October 23, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Vik Iso-Ahola
This presentation will focus on a short career bio and a discussion on engineering consulting as it is applied to large water infrastructure projects, demonstrated through several project case histories. Vik will include broad coverage of the engineering disciplines applied to these projects but also some interesting details on the challenging seismic and
structural evaluations performed. He’ll come prepared to answer your questions and have supplemental detail to present on other aspects of these projects and his related experience.
Tunneling, Design Considerations, and Innovations
October 16, 2024 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Jon Y. Kaneshiro
This talk will provide 1. an introduction to tunneling; 2. an introduction to liner design including geotechnical, and liner type considerations; and 3. some other design considerations of liners and cylinders including design innovations. The introduction to the tunneling topic will provide a brief overview of types of tunneling and ground supports. The liner design topic will provide some practical design considerations in terms of loading as well as implications for ground settlement.