SEA-MW held its first annual awards gala in Washington, DC on Saturday, February 24, 2007. The Association recognized Excellence in Structural Engineering by awarding competing firms with ten Outstanding Project Awards and Merit Awards, and one structural engineer with the Outstanding Achievement Award. The Awards Committee, chaired by Sam A. Rihani of BEI Structural Engineers, was hoping to attract at least 10 project entries and 100 individuals to the gala. The number of entries and the attendance at the event exceeded these expectations. The committee decided to select judges from a location outside the Washington, DC area to avoid any conflicts of interest during the judging process. The Judging Committee was comprised of five highly distinguished individuals. These were W. Gene Corley, lead structural investigator into the September 11, 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center’s twin towers and President-Elect of the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES); David Hoffman, former Executive Vice President of Morse Diesel International which was instrumental in the construction of the Sears tower in Chicago; Jamshid Mohammadi, Chair of the Civil and Architectural Engineering Department at Illinois Institute of Technology; Michael Tylk, Principal at Tylk Gustafson Reckers Wilson Andrews, former President of the National Council of Structural Engineers Association; and John Zils, Associate Partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, LLP and Senior Structural Engineer for the 110-story Sears Tower, the King Abdul Aziz International airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. All five judges are from the Chicago area. The Outstanding Achievement Award went to Jim Cagley, immediate past president of the American Concrete Institute, for his significant contributions to the structural engineering profession. Outstanding Project Awards were presented in five categories, to BEI Structural Engineers in the New Buildings Under $10M category for the Sullivan Place Clubhouse in Alexandria, VA; Meyer Consulting Engineers in the New Buildings Between $10M and $25M category for the St. James Roman Catholic Church in Charles Town, WV; Weidlinger Associates in the New Buildings Over $25M category for the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA; KCE Structural Engineers in the Structural Renovation Over $1M category for the Capital Gallery project in Washington, DC; and Delon Hampton & Associates in the Transportation/Bridge Structures category for the Freddie Mac Walkway Bridge in McLean, VA. Merit Awards were also presented to Structron Engineering for the new Fire Station #1 in Silver Spring, MD; to Thornton Tomasetti for the new Harrison Institute and Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia; to KCE Structural Engineers for the new U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, VA; to Holbert Apple Associates for the renovation of the Cowles Parkway Ford in Woodbridge, VA; and to Thornton Tomasetti for the renovation of the Patent Office Building in Washington, DC.

Paul Hobelmann, SEA-MW Chair Sam Rihani, Awards Committee Chair Jim Cagley receiving Outstanding Achievement Award BEI Structural Engineers receiving Outstanding Project Award Meyer Consulting Engineers receiving Outstanding Project Award Weidlinger Associates receiving Outstanding Project Award KCE Structural Engineers receiving Outstanding Project Award Delon Hampton & Associates receiving Outstanding Project Award

        
From left to right: Structron, Thornton Tomasetti, KCE, and Holbert Apple receiving the Merit Award

Platinum: Weidlinger Associates, Inc.

Gold: Cagley & Associates, Inc.

Silver: Centex Corporation
           Clark Construction Group, LLC
           ECS Corporate Services, LLC
           Kim Engineering, Inc.
           Miller & Long Concrete Construction
           Rathgeber Goss Associates, PC

Bronze: Meridian Construction Company, Inc.
             ONCORE Construction, LLC




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