The NCSEA Special Awards are bestowed on individuals who exemplify outstanding service and commitment to the association and to the structural engineering field. These dedicated servants, committed volunteers, and industry leaders will be recognized and applauded at the Awards Celebration at the Structural Engineering Summit on Wednesday, February 16, 2022.

View the 2021 Special Awards press release.

The NCSEA Service Award

This award is presented to an individual who has worked for the betterment of NCSEA, member organizations, and the profession to a degree that is beyond the norm of volunteerism. It is given to someone who has made a clear and indisputable contribution to the organization and therefore to the profession.

Emily Guglielmo, P.E., S.E.,  has nearly two decades of structural engineering experience and has spent her entire career with Martin/Martin. She began her career in their Colorado office and is currently a principal managing their San Francisco Bay Area office. She served on the NCSEA Board of Directors from 2015-2022, including as NCSEA president in 2020-2021.  In addition, Emily was a founder and chair of both the NCSEA Communications Committee and the NCSEA Young Member Group Support Committee. She is incoming chair of the Code Advisory Committee having chaired the Wind Engineering Committee since 2019. A licensed SE, Emily has received several awards, including an SEI Fellow and the Susan M. Frey NCSEA Educator Award, for effective instruction for practicing structural engineers.

Robert Cornforth Award

This award is presented to an individual for exceptional dedication and exemplary service to a Member organization and to the profession. The award is named for Robert Cornforth, a founding member of NCSEA and treasurer on its first Board of Directors. 

Chun C. Lau, P.E., S.E., P.Eng., F.SEI, F.ASCE is a managing principal at Brown and Caldwell, Seattle, WA with his practice focus on the design of environmental engineering structures.

Chun joined SEAW in 1993 and has served in the following capacities: state and Seattle chapter president 2017-2018; Seattle chapter vice president 2016-2017; Seattle Chapter Board 1998-2000; instructor for the Lateral Force section of the structural exam refresher course; exam grader for the Washington State Specific Structural III examinations. Chun has been serving as the SEAW delegate to NCSEA since 2011.

He became the first SEAW member to serve simultaneously as both state and Seattle chapter president in 2016-17 while serving on the NCSEA Board of Directors. Chun received the Seattle Chapter Engineer of the Year Award in 2018 and the Seattle Chapter President’s Award in 1996, 2017, 2019 and 2000 for his service to SEAW. He is currently serving as the 2023 Northwest SEA conference planning committee.

The James Delahay Award

This award is presented at the recommendation of the NCSEA Code Advisory Committee to recognize outstanding individual contributions toward the development of building codes and standards. It is given in the spirit of its namesake, a person who made a long and lasting contribution to the code development process.

Gwenyth Searer, S.E., P.E., is a principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., a licensed structural engineer in six western states, and a licensed professional engineer in New York. Ms.Searer works on projects involving a wide variety of structural materials, including steel, concrete, timber, masonry, and aluminum. She has significant experience evaluating facade-access equipment and cladding systems, has conducted numerous in-situ load tests, and has investigated damage from six major earthquakes. Ms.Searer has been involved in the development of building codes and standards since 2000. She served on the ICC Structural Committee for five code cycles; she is a voting member of the Main Committee of ASCE 7; she is the chair of the Wind Committee of the Structural Engineers Association of California; and she is a Board member of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California.

Susan Ann “Susie” Jorgensen Presidential Leadership Award

This new award was created to honor the late NCSEA Board President and advocate for the profession, Susan Ann "Susie" Jorgensen, who passed away in November 2020. This award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership potential through their activities within NCSEA and/or their SEA (even if they did not serve in a formal leadership role). The award is to be bestowed on candidates who embody Susie's passion, vision, and legacy of leadership, and it is intended to celebrate increased participation of emerging leaders and encourage recipients to engage (or continue to engage) in formal leadership.

Michelle Ryland, S.E., R.A., is a dual licensed structural engineer and architect with Klein and Hoffman in Chicago with over 11 years of experience in the repair, restoration, and adaptive reuse of Chicago’s vintage building stock. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Michelle joined SEAOI in 2012 and quickly become involved with the Young Engineers Committee, first organizing the group’s volunteer events before eventually serving as co-chair for three years. In 2018, Michelle was nominated by the SEAOI Board of Directors to serve as Illinois’ delegate to NCSEA, a position she held for three and a half years. In 2019, Michelle joined SEAOI’s Board of Directors, completing her term in June 2022. She currently chairs SEAOI’s PR/Outreach Committee and Structures Symposium Committee and co-chairs NCSEA’s Internal Communications Committee – all positions she has held for multiple years.

Samantha E. Brummell, P.E. is a senior project engineer at Thornton Tomasetti. Most of her experience is in healthcare, residential, and commercial construction. Notable projects include Brooklyn Methodist New York-Presbyterian Hospital and 141 Willoughby. Sam holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in structural engineering, both from Cornell University; she is licensed in the State of New York. Sam has been a member of SEAoNY’s Student Outreach Committee since 2015. In 2016, she founded SEAoNY’s Young Members Group. She has been serving on SEAoNY’s Board of Directors since 2018. Additionally, she is a member of ASCE and Professional Women in Construction. Sam has been honored by C+S Engineer Media and ACEC on a national level for her dedication to the AEC industry. She currently serves as a visiting assistant professor at the Pratt Institute.