News

2018 has unofficially been called the Year of the Woman. With 30% of JAMA’s workforce female, it was only fitting that the JAMA Women’s Round Table take shape. Spearheaded by Partner Jacqueline “Jackie” Vinkler and Project Manager Kim Pacheco, the group offers a forum for dialogue and actions that create a more supportive work environment. The group will conduct quarterly meetings with topics and speakers ranging from leadership and mentorship to current barriers or issues. The Round Table has also inspired the firm to highlight female employees, an often underrepresented group within the A/E/C industry. This month – structural engineer Kim Carden, SE and Production staff member Celia Barraza. Kim Carden, SE is not just an engineering powerhouse, but a lady on the move! In addition to project duties Kim cares for her two children and remains an active athlete. She led a group of Moms in an obstacle race in February, is running a half marathon in March, and a full marathon in May. Celia

On March 21st JAMA Partner Kal Benuska co-led a webinar entitled “Designing for Prefabrication: An Engineer’s Perspective.” Presented in collaboration with Clark Pacific, the webinar focused on the firms’ joint efforts on the Stanford Escondido Student Housing project, a 4 tower plus ancillary structures residence hall project that will provide 2,400-beds for graduate students. Kal and co-host Grant Guerrieri of Clark Pacific discussed early challenges and solutions with software and communication, as well as specifics of various prefabricated project components. The entire webinar can be viewed here.

JAMA is proud to be the structural engineer for a Los Angeles Business Journal Silver Award winner in this year’s Commercial Estate awards. The Urgent Care facility, centrally located at Runway in Playa Vista, covers three floors totaling 31,532 square feet. Each floor offers a different type of care — Urgent Care, Primary Care, and OB/GYN and Pediatrics services. The clinic design appeals to the demographically diverse tech community of Silicon Beach by providing convenient access to quality patient-centered services close to where people live and work. Read more about this progressive facility here.

JAMA has long been involved in the engineering of major art pieces, but this month the work of Senior Project Manager Jaime Garza, SE, is on display in London’s Gagosian Gallery. For more than a decade Jaime has worked with sculptor Nancy Rubins on various pieces, including “Agrifolia Major”, the largest of the pieces included in “Diversifolia,” the artist’s first solo show at London’s Gagosian Gallery. Jaime’s work included worked closely with the artist and her team to engineer the assembly and disassembly of the piece for transport around the world, as well as engineering cantilevered components and the base for earthquake, hurricane, and blizzard conditions. Diversifolia is on display until April 14, 2018. Read about the show and Rubins work here and here.

JAMA celebrates birthdays on a monthly basis with a themed Happy Hour, but February’s event didn’t just include food and fun – it offered an Olympic-sized opportunity for employees to flex their “skills” in tailor made events that honored the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea: • Curling (aka shuffle board) wasn’t exactly what your Grandparents play in Florida. JAMA’s neighbor from the second floor Gold. JAMA structural engineer Kim P. took home the Silver; and Mike B. took the Bronze. • Ice Hockey (aka foosball) offered fierce competition among the office’s “skaters.” Two teams went head to head in this competitive arena, with Mike B. and Matt M. taking home the Gold. Jaime G. and Leonard K. were left with the Silver. • Tower Building (aka engineering) since we are structural engineers after all, Mike B’s team managed to pull in the Gold with the tallest tower with the smallest footprint; Kent’s team squeaked in with Silver; and Sonia’s team brought home Bronze. • Bia

JAMA Engineers are taking a small suggestion and are running with it – to the benefit of clients and the firm. The Stanford Escondido Student Housing project is an enormous effort, full of submittals, reviews and countless hours of coordination. In a recent meeting with a peer reviewer, a quick conversation about seismic performance of existing campus structures sparked an idea with JAMA team members: what if the University could easily understand the ramifications of seismic events on all campus structures through a single, easy interface? Piggy-backing on a performance assessment calculation tool (PACT) software that JAMA programmer Scott Hagie had developed with the Applied Technology Council several years ago, the team adapted the program for campus use. With simple input by campus personnel, the tool allows in-depth scenario planning. Users can quickly understand the potential consequences of a building’s response to earthquakes, including: • Casualties (life loss and severe

The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) facility at Harbor-UCLA topped out in February, marking a significant milestone in the march towards a January 2019 completion. The 78,000 square foot, 4-story research and bioscience incubator is an anchor of the 11.5-acre research park at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, considered LA County’s first biotech hub. LA BioMed is an independent, non-profit biomedical research organization that was originally founded in 1952. Today they employ more than 120 principal investigators and 400 researchers in and work as a public-private partnership between LA County, the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Their mission is to find innovative solutions for healthcare through biomedical discovery. JAMA’s structural approach on the research facility utilizes 13” thick mild reinforced two-way concrete slabs to satisfy the vibration criteria due to the equipment within the lab spaces. In addition, PT

JAMA’s new office – in the same building in Downtown Los Angeles but on the south side of the 4th floor – features bright interiors, ergonomic stations and plenty of community. After months of hard work, consolidation of papers and files, and regular treks to the opposite end of the building, JAMA employees have settled into new digs; Suite 400 of the Federal Reserve Building. The new layout groups employees in collective team areas, but offers a variety of break-out and collaboration spaces. Fun facts about the space and the people who made it happen include: Architect: Studio MMD, Michael MacDonald, AIA Contractor: Holwick Constructors, Inc. Furniture Vendor: Herman Miller & PIVOT Interiors Usable Square Footage: 16,580 SF Exterior Patio Space: 1,320 SF Carpet Area: 6,467 SF Main Spaces and Communal Areas: • 73 desks, 5 private offices • 2 small conference rooms, 1 large conference room • 2 phone booths, 3 banquets • 1 plot/print room • 1 server room • 1 large kitche