Public Announcements

2025 ISEA Scholarship Recipients

INDIANA STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2025 SCHOLARSHIPS

February 21, 2025

The Indiana Structural Engineers Association (ISEA) is proud to announce the winners of its ninth annual scholarship.  The 2025 scholarship award recipients are Drake Scheessele (Junior, Purdue University), Annalise O'Daniel (Junior, Trine University) and Lucas Tutrow (Junior, Trine University). 

The ISEA scholarship is awarded to outstanding university students studying structural engineering who plan to pursue a professional career in the practice of structural engineering.  Up to three juniors or seniors in the field of structural engineering are eligible for the award amount of $3,000.  Applicants are evaluated based on criteria including academic performance, experiences in extra-curricular activities, career aspirations, and recommendations.  Juniors and seniors attending an ABET accredited civil engineering university in the state of Indiana are eligible for participation in the scholarship.  Due to the support of our loyal sponsors and members, ISEA is able to offer scholarships to deserving candidates.

ISEA is a non-profit organization for structural engineering professionals which promotes continuing education and engineering excellence for our members and guests. We are a member organization of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA).  Please visit seain.org to learn more about ISEA, our events, and the scholarship program.

2024 ISEA Scholarship Recipients

INDIANA STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2024 SCHOLARSHIPS

February 22, 2023

The Indiana Structural Engineers Association (ISEA) is proud to announce the winners of its eighth annual scholarship.  The 2024 scholarship award recipients are Clara Place (Junior, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology), Christina McNichol (Senior, Purdue University) and Logan Rose (Junior, Purdue University). 

The ISEA scholarship is awarded to outstanding university students studying Structural Engineering who plan to pursue a professional career in the practice of structural engineering.  Up to three juniors or seniors in the field of Structural Engineering are eligible for the award amount of $2,500.  Applicants are evaluated based on criteria including academic performance, experiences in extra-curricular activities, career aspirations, and recommendations.  Juniors and seniors attending an ABET accredited civil engineering university in the state of Indiana are eligible for participation in the scholarship.  Due to support of our loyal sponsors and members, ISEA is able to offer scholarships to deserving candidates.

ISEA is a non-profit organization for Structural Engineering Professionals which promotes continuing education and engineering excellence for our members and guests. We are a member organization of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA).  Please visit seain.org to learn more about ISEA, our events, and the scholarship program.

2023 Elections

The Indiana Structural Engineers Association is pleased to announce the election of the following individuals.

URGENT!

ISEA Members,

We have a couple of urgent items to share with you following up on a couple topics briefly discussed at the Spring Conference. First, the apparent death of Indiana Senate Bill No. 333 may not be the end of the fight. If you recall, this bill would have modified the language in the Indiana Code giving The Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission the authority to include Chapter 17 (Special Inspections) in the updated Indiana Building Code. Commentary regarding Building Code updates and the Commission’s rules is open to the public via the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s website until April 4, 2023. We urge all structural engineers practicing in the State of Indiana to make their voice heard and submit your comments before the April 4 deadline.

Second, and possibly more urgent, is that Indiana House Bill No. 1575 passed through the House and is now in the Senate. We urge you to read the bill yourself and form your own opinion, however the ISEA board stands with ACEC of Indiana and AIA Indiana in strong opposition to this bill. Per the original digest for the bill: “Residential building commission. Establishes the residential building commission (building commission) within the department of homeland security. Provides that the building commission has exclusive jurisdiction for the review and adoption of building codes and standards that regulate the construction of dwellings.” In essence, this proposed bill would create an entirely new, unbalanced building commission to govern and specify the codes and standards in the State of Indiana. Please see the email from ACEC below as well as a synopsis of the major points of the bill that we oppose, and contact your state legislators as soon as possible to voice your opinion on this bill.

Respectfully,
ISEA Board

President: Thomas P. Leahy, PE, SE
President-Elect: Noah Fehrenbacher, PE, SE
Secretary: Francisco Peña, PhD
Treasurer: Mark VanderWoude, PE
Director: Ben Wagner, PE, SE
Director: Jesse Valencourt, PE, SE
Director: John Krupski, PE
Past-President: Craig Scherschel, PE

Subject: CALL TO ACTION on HB 1575 Building Commission

To: select ACEC Indiana members,

We need your help asap on HB 1575, Building Commission by noon on Monday! Senate Local Government will vote on this bill on Thursday, March 30^th! ACEC Indiana and AIA Indiana opposed it in its hearing this week, and it was held over to give time to make amendments to it. We will be talking with the committee members about needed amendments through Weds, so time is critical. Here is the bill if you want to review it https://d37sr56shkhro8.cloudfront.net/pdf-documents/123/2023/house/bills/HB1575/merge-and-markup/AM157513.mrg.pdf

CALL TO ACTION: it outlines our concerns and makes recommendations to amend the bill (attached). We need you to contact Senators who sit on this committee and share the concerns and corresponding recommendations fix those issues. Senate Local Government Committee members can be found here: https://beta.iga.in.gov/2023/committees/senate/local-government

At the bottom of the page, click on their name; it contains a link to each of their email addresses. Feel free to copy and paste talking points into their email, and customize if you have personal stories. Be sure to identify yourself if a constituent or your firm performs work in their district!

OPPOSE HB 1575 Residential Building Commission

The problem at hand: Almost all of Indiana’s building codes are quite old, not reflective of some current design and construction practices, and the result is that it costs additional time and money to get the necessary variances to build a project in Indiana.

Our position: Building codes that are “current” are essential to public safety, but this bill creates several issues that will impair that goal. They are:

1. Composition of the Commission is lop-sided toward residential builders and will lack needed expertise to address codes and variances for the vast majority of structures that it governs, such as office buildings, mixed-use retail, manufacturing/industrial structures, schools, hospitals, other public spaces, and more. 40% of the Commission would be represented by residential builders, but home construction is a function of local building departments that issue permits and conduct inspections. It is not done by this Commission.

Amendment: We recommend a broader and balanced mix of design, construction, and safety professionals.

2. Arbitrary Schedule and cumbersome process to update building codes that will impair a practical and integrated approach. Building codes need to work together or it will continue to create conflict and cost more time and money to complete projects. An exploratory committee was established by the Indiana Building Commission which recommended updating all of Indiana’s codes to be current and consistent with the most recently published nationally recognized model codes.

Amendment: We recommend finishing the comprehensive building code update to bring them all up to date and then allow the Commission to keep them updated on a regular basis.

3. Removal of language to allow Special Structural Inspection on Class 1 buildings. Indiana is one of only two states that omits the nationally recognized model code requirement to perform safety-related special inspections of Class 1 Buildings; these are not one- and two-family residential structures, they are public spaces. When this bill came over the from House, it included a provision that would allow the Commission to consider this vitally important part of the code but is not in the bill now.

Amendment: We strongly urge consideration to re-insert the language and bring Indiana’s building code in line with 48 other states.

We ask you to oppose this bill as it is and urge you to consider re-balancing the expertise of the Commission so it can properly update Indiana’s building codes so all kinds of projects can be constructed timely and safely.

Questions? Contact:

Beth Bauer 
Executive Director, ACEC IN 
Cell: 317.531.4756 
[email protected] 

Colleen Torres
Deputy Executive Director, ACEC IN
Cell: 317.412.0992
[email protected]

Jason Shelley
Executive Director, AIA Indiana 
Cell: 317.919.1507
[email protected]

Indiana Senate Bill 333

In conjunction with ACEC Indiana and other professional engineering and architecture associations throughout the state, ISEA calls upon each member to engage in grassroots advocacy to support an initiative important to our membership allowing for structural inspections of Class 1 buildings during construction. Please use the template below to outreach to your Senator in support of this bill as it moves forward for a vote on the Senate floor.

ISEA urges you to support SB 333 when it reaches the full Senate floor for voting. The current Indiana Building Code explicitly omits nationally recognized building inspection requirements for “Class 1” structures, creating a great risk to public safety. Indiana is one of only two states that does not incorporate special inspections into its Building Code. “Class 1” structures are buildings occupied by the general public and/or three (3) or more tenants. This bill does not apply to one-and-two-family residential structures.

The omitted requirements are a critical part of the quality assurance standards of the International Building Code (IBC), the model upon which the Indiana Building Code is based. The purposeful deletion of these inspection requirements (and replacement with vague language within the Indiana General Administrative Rules) has put Indiana out of step with national construction practices and has left Indiana without a defined minimum standard for structural inspection of building construction. Benefits of incorporating Special Inspections include:

• Establishment and adherence to a minimum standard for structural inspection would send a strong message that Indiana prioritizes public safety.
• Identification of potentially dangerous structural deficiencies that may otherwise go unnoticed and allow contractors to take timely corrective action.
• Alignment of Indiana's building code with accepted practices throughout the U.S.

Based on cost data from an ACEC-Indiana 2022 study, fees for special inspections services generally range from approximately 0.11 percent to 0.80 percent of the total cost of construction.

In summary, our intent is to Amend IC 22-15-3-2 (4)(D), directing the Fire Prevention & Building Safety Commission to provide rules for construction inspection. Please reach out if you have any follow-up questions. We hope to have your support of SB 333 on the Senate floor.

**Include your name and home address, so they see you are a constituent.**

NCSEA Diversity in Structural Engineering Scholarship

In 2020, NCSEA established the Diversity in Structural Engineering Scholarship. Details for the scholarship are located here: http://www.ncsea.com/awards/scholarship/.