In 2021 SImpson Strong-Tie hosted a “Building Connections” symposium at Washington State University. The well-attended event provided our team the opportunity to teach WSU engineering students about the construction industry, common construction methods, our products and our company. Ryan Edwards, Simpson Strong-Tie Senior Business Specialist for Mass Timber and Offsite Construction, co-hosted the symposium and in this blog post reflects on the experience.
Category: Education
Our educational posts are dedicated to helping our customers and the general public acquire a deeper understanding of how we support academia- including our many partnerships with various colleges such as Cal-Poly Tech and Washington State University and sharing solutions and how they relate to the industry.
Touring Tye Gilb Lab: An Architectural Engineering Student’s Perspective
Addie Albro is an architectural engineering student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She’s working on completing her senior project while learning how to design with steel, timber, masonry, and concrete. We recently had the opportunity to host Addie and other Cal Poly undergrads at our Tyrell Gilb Lab in Stockton, California. She shared her experience visiting the lab and what inspired her to enter the engineering field.
LTTP2 — an Update to a Classic Light Tension Tie
It would give you an incomplete idea of the new LTTP2 light tension tie if we didn’t first discuss the original LTT series. The LTT20 tension tie first appeared in our 1987 Connectors for Wood Construction catalog as a post-pour, wood-to-concrete connector. The LTT20 installed with nails only, but we realized we could add holes for bolts, so the LTT20B gave the customer the option to use either nails or bolts. Around the same time, we created the narrower LTT19 for installation on 2x joists or purlins. For more than 30 years, the LTT19 and LTT20B quietly anchored walls to roof diaphragms or shearwall posts to foundations. Continue Reading
Engineering Scholarships for 2022–2023 College Students
Attending college next year? Consider applying for scholarships to ease the financial burden of college tuition. Even better, some scholarships have mentorship programs that can provide individuals with networking opportunities and more. When applying for college scholarships, keep in mind that each scholarship has its own qualifying criteria to address in your answers or materials. The list below concentrates on scholarships for those interested in engineering or STEM-related fields of studies. You’ve worked hard to qualify for college, so don’t miss out on financial help you may also qualify for!
The Legacy of Loma Prieta
Every year on October 17, we take a moment to reflect on the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The 6.9-magnitude earthquake was one of the most powerful and costly quakes to shake the San Francisco Bay area since the 7.9-magnitude earthquake of 1906. The quake caused an estimated $6 billion in damage and, tragically, resulted in 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries.
Many of those casualties were due to failing infrastructure when sections of the Nimitz Freeway collapsed.
Simpson Strong-Tie was founded in Oakland, California — practically in the heart of the Bay Area. Earthquakes were never far from the minds of our founders. It’s why even before Loma Prieta our mission was to provide solutions that help people design and build safer, stronger structures. However, it’s safe to say the earthquake not only reinvigorated our mission but inspired countless structural engineers who would go on to define the next 30 years of Simpson Strong-Tie research and development into community resilience.
A Day in the Life of a Simpson Strong-Tie Structural Engineering Intern
As I look back on the past year and a half and think about all the madness surrounding Covid-19, I can’t help but feel as if I’m emerging from some strange cosmic time warp. The time that has passed since the early days of the pandemic feels so slow in the moment, yet, when I think about all that has happened in my life during this period, the time has passed by surprisingly quickly. Continue Reading
Questions Answered: Strong-Wall® High-Strength Wood Shearwall Webinar
In this post, we follow up on our July webinar, Innovations in Strength and Versatility: Overview of the Strong-Wall® High-Strength Wood Shearwall, by answering some of the interesting questions raised by attendees. Continue Reading
Introducing the Stronger, Simpler and More Versatile Strong-Wall® High-Strength Wood Shearwall
After years of development, we’re excited to introduce the newest member of the Strong-Wall® shearwall family – the Strong-Wall high-strength wood shearwall (WSWH).
2020 Simpson Strong-Tie Scholarship Students’ Questions Answered
Every year Simpson Strong-Tie hosts our scholarship students at our home office. It provides the students with an opportunity to meet face to face with experts in the industry, have one-on-one sessions with mentors, and tour our manufacturing and testing facilities. Not surprisingly to anyone, 2020 threw a pandemic-sized bucket of water on our annual plans. We needed to think outside the box to provide these students with opportunities to ask the questions they would have normally brought to California.
Build Change: My Favorite Child
With the growing danger of natural disasters, the race is on to expand access to programs that safeguard lives from the human-made danger of poorly built housing. With the common mission of building safer, stronger structures, Build Change and Simpson Strong-Tie have partnered for the Simpson Strong-Tie® Fellowship for Engineering Excellence program. This year’s fellow is Build Change Engineering & Design Services Director Tim Hart, SE. As with our previous fellows, Hart is documenting his journey with the program on the Simpson Strong-Tie Structural Engineering blog. This is his final report.
In 2017, when I was in Nepal working for Build Change, I had a conversation with one of my colleagues about the volunteer work that I had done for the organization over the years. After telling him that I had worked with seven different country programs for Build Change, he asked me which of those countries I liked the best. My first thought was that it was like asking a parent which child he or she liked the best; even if I did have a favorite, I didn’t want to say it out loud for fear of offending my colleagues and friends in all the other countries. I said this to him to deflect the conversation and we went on to discuss other topics. Truth be told, while I enjoyed the culture and hospitality of all my Build Change host countries and believe in the value of the work I’ve done for them , I have a special soft spot for two of them: Indonesia and Nepal.