Last year, the SEI Graduate Student Chapter at Oregon State University delivered a highly impactful series of professional development activities focused on strengthening student engagement, advancing licensure preparation, and deepening collaboration across engineering organizations.
The chapter hosted three major speaker events, featuring structural engineering leaders Ronald Hamburger, William Bruin (Simpson Gumpertz & Heger), and bridge engineer Homero Cabrera (Kiewit). These talks offered students valuable technical insights, career guidance, and firsthand perspectives on navigating the FE and PE licensure process—especially meaningful for international students and early career engineers.
A standout achievement was the launch of peer-led FE/PE study sessions, which evolved into a structured and supportive preparation program. This initiative directly motivated five members to schedule their FE exams and begin the path toward EIT and PE certification, demonstrating the strong impact of peer accountability and professional encouragement.
The chapter also planned a site visit for May 2025, organized in partnership with KPFF and Anderson Construction, giving students an opportunity to engage with practicing engineers and observe structural engineering applications in the field. Strong partnerships—with ASCE, AEI, AISC, EERI, COPRI, Geo-Institute, SGH, and Kiewit—amplified the reach and success of these events.
Notably, SEI and EERI strengthened their collaboration through co-hosted activities, laying the groundwork for continued joint programming in the coming academic year. Overall, these efforts significantly boosted SEI visibility and membership, fostered cross chapter collaboration, and created meaningful professional development pathways for students.