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JAMA is making adjustments to the firm’s leadership structure. After 38 years as President, John A. “Trailer” Martin, Jr. has turned the day-to-day management of the firm to partners Steven Ball, Kal Benuska, Shane Fitzgerald, Barry Schindler, Jackie Vinkler, and Kurt Clandening. Within this group Kurt Clandening, a 29-year veteran of the Los Angeles area, will assume the role of Managing Partner. JAMA has built a reputation for realizing world-class projects through unwavering client service since the firm’s founding in 1953. With Trailer’s methodical succession of leadership and strong group of partners, JAMA will continue to maintain its high standards while meeting the demands of an increasingly complex industry.

As the SEAOSC Education Committee Chair, Matt Michnewich hosted a full day of structural education for over 50 engineers focused on seismic design and new local building ordinances. The morning session focused on the 2015 IBC SEAOC Structural/Seismic Design manual and included Irregularities & Discontinuous Elements, Wood Frame Design Examples, and Cold-Formed Steel Design Examples. The afternoon session focused on the City of Santa Monica new building ordinance with retrofit and rehabilitation techniques. Matt’s role on as Education Chair helps serve an important component of SEAOSC’s mission. The committee provides access to continuing education, through webinars and presentations, that are current, relevant, and important to the field of structural engineering.

Project Manager Matt Timmers, SE spoke to the Chi Epsilon Chapter of Cal Poly Pomona on May 9th. The Civil Engineering honor society was originally founded in 1922 to recognize and honor civil engineering students and professionals, and now has 137 active chapters at universities across the United States. Matt’s diverse project portfolio and his oversight on projects of all sizes, including the current 138,000 square foot Cal Poly Pomona Administration Replacement Building, offered insights to students and their future career paths.

JAMA employees Barry Schindler and Ben Rogowski attended the reopening of the Glendale Central Library, completely closed to the public for 8 months as part of a 5-year design and renovation effort. JAMA provided structural engineering for the project, which reorganized and enhanced the overall quality of the original 1960’s two-way reinforced waffle-slab structure. New dual entries on the north and south ends connect to the Downtown Glendale surroundings, and new interior spaces and orientation improved function and flexibility within the interior. Structurally the building underwent a voluntary seismic rehabilitation to correct deficient concrete column confinement, a lack of shear walls, and non code-conforming lap length on boundary elements. To address community interests for the highly regarded City landmark, modifications were designed by Gruen Associates and the project team in a manner that preserved the 92,600 SF library’s historic integrity and future eligibility for the Nat

Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA’s BIM Director, was a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California (USC) last week. Speaking to graduate architecture students, Marcello covered some of the finer points of Revit and Dynamo, just two of the programs JAMA utilizes in its advanced BIM efforts. Beyond Revit and Ynamo, the firm also employs Digital Project, Rhino, TEKLA, 3DS Max, Bentley systems software, BIM 360 (formerly Autodesk A360), BIM 360 Glue and Autodesk C4R (collaboration for Revit) for multi-discipline coordination. BIM 360 hubs are used for file sharing and coordination, and A360 C4R as well as BIM 360 glue for “real time” model coordination with all disciplines.

On Saturday, April 29th JAMA team members Adena Nik, Kent Kaewwaen and Larry Pitkin volunteered at the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. As the largest food bank in the country it seeks to assist the most at risk groups with food insecurity. When food products are donated to the Foodbank, it often needs to be sorted, cleaned or repackaged; referred to as gleaning. Adena, Kent and Larry worked together with over 100 other volunteers to glean enough food to provide 70,000 meals to children, seniors, families and other individuals in need. For more information on volunteering or donating visit https://www.lafoodbank.org/

JAMA team members Adena Nik and Project Manager Larry Pitkin have been teaching entry-level engineering classes this Spring, designed to introduce UCLA students to SAP2000. SAP2000, a structural analysis software, is widely used throughout the engineering industry but many universities lack hands on training with the program. Adena and Larry sought to help bridge the gap between UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the workplace in order to help students advance in their career. In the future, Adena and Larry hope to utilize similar techniques to teach new JAMA employees and interns.

On Saturday April 8th, twelve employees and friends from John A. Martin & Associates participated in the Fight for Air Climb at the AON Center in downtown Los Angeles. Climbing 63 floors with 1391 steps, these brave souls stepped up to make a positive impact in the lives of those affected by lung disease. JAMA raised over $1500 to benefit the mission of the American Lung Association. Congratulations!