Structural Forum
Creating Connections
Structural Forum is a full-day event, hosted by the Cal Poly SEAOC and AEI student chapter annually to connect structural engineering professionals and students. The event includes two portions, occurring in the morning and evening. The day program will be held on Cal Poly's campus and will feature presentations from three distinguished individuals in the structural engineering field. This portion is free for all to attend. The evening program, held at the Madonna Inn Expo Center, consists of a resume-free career fair followed by a three-course dinner banquet and keynote speaker. Structural Forum provides students a unique opportunity to interact with professionals in the structural engineering field and companies with the chance to promote their firms and recruit aspiring students.
​
​
Day
1
4
Speakers
54
Companies
Speakers
Thank you to the following distinguished industry professionals:
Morning Speakers:
Mary Kretschmar
Mary Kretschmar is a Senior Engineer with Holmes, an international design firm with employees around the Pacific Rim. She joined Holmes in 2016 after completing her graduate degree at UCSD and undergraduate studies at Cal Poly SLO. Mary recently returned Stateside following a 4.5-year stretch with the firm’s office in Wellington, New Zealand. Working as an international engineer provided opportunities to learn how engineering, construction, and wider industry norms can differ between countries. Now that she has made the transition abroad and back again, Mary is excited to share her experience and provide insights to anyone curious about engineering off the beaten path.
Clemens Preisinger
Clemens Preisinger, D.I. Dr. is a structural engineer and researcher. He started his career as a researcher at the Institute for Structural Concrete at the Technical University Vienna.
Since 2008 Clemens has been working for the structural engineering company Bollinger–Grohmann. During that time, he contributed to several research projects at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. There he currently heads the department 'Digital Simulation' which investigates possibilities to bring computational modeling techniques into early-stage architectural design.
Since 2010 Clemens has been developing the parametric, interactive Finite Element program ‘Karamba3D’ as a freelancer. He holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from the Technical University Vienna.
Sol Rodriguez
Sol is a pioneering bamboo and timber engineer spearheading the sustainable building revolution. With a wealth of experience in mass timber and bamboo projects across Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, Sol has been a driving force in advancing eco-friendly construction practices.
In 2016, he founded Casa Congo, a community-managed NGO in Nicaragua dedicated to imparting principles of sustainable development to the local community. Four years later, in 2020, Sol launched Kuna, a bamboo social housing program in Latin America. This innovative initiative focuses on establishing a community-managed value chain, covering everything from agricultural harvesting to prefabricated manufacturing. The project has garnered partial funding from esteemed organizations such as the Hilti Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.
Currently, Sol is at the helm of a groundbreaking, multi-industry alliance project supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. This initiative concentrates on developing novel engineered bamboo-wood products for structural building applications in Canada. In collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Sol is leading the charge towards sustainable and resilient construction solutions.
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. H. Kit Miyamoto, SE, CEO
Dr. H. Kit Miyamoto, SE, Global CEO of Miyamoto International, built a worldwide engineering firm from a local, five-man engineering practice into 30 locations on four continents with one purpose: to make the world a better, safer place. Its purpose-driven mission drives the growth of the company.
Dr. Miyamoto is a world-renowned expert in disaster resiliency, response and reconstruction. He provides expert engineering and policy consultation to the World Bank, USAID, UN agencies, governments, and major corporations. He is also a California Seismic Safety Commissioner.
Dr. Miyamoto holds advance degrees from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and California State University, where he has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumni. His team won the Engineering News-Record’s “Best Global Project” award unprecedent five times and the U.S. Presidential “E” award. Major media such as CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Al Jazeera, LA Times, NY Times, Times, and Rolling Stone have profiled him. He was also featured in the “Designing for Disaster” exhibit at the National Building Museum in DC.
