On the afternoon of September 1^st, 2020, the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC), held its annual Honor Awards. One significant highlight of the event was the induction of a new Honorary SEAONC Member.  Honorary membership in the esteemed 90-year-old organization, is awarded by the Board of Directors in special recognition of those who have made longstanding contributions to the excellence of the structural engineering profession.  This year’s new honorary member was none other than FEMA Senior Geophysicist Mike Mahoney.

Presenting the award was SEAONC member Maryann Phipps, the President of Estructure, a small woman-owned firm of highly regarded structural engineers.  Phipps was also a lead author of the 2011 FEMA publication, E-74 Reducing the Risks of Nonstructural Earthquake Damage and co-authored FEMA P-1024, Performance of Buildings and Nonstructural Components in the 2014 South Napa Earthquake. 

Among the list of Mike’s lasting contributions citied during the ceremony was his leadership in the development of FEMA P-58, Performance Based Seismic Design of Buildings; FEMA P-646 Guidelines for Design of Structures for Vertical Evacuation from Tsunamis; and FEMA P-1000 Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard Safety. Many of the publications that Mike has been instrumental in creating, are now nationally recognized as essential references for Designers, Engineers and Builders.

Announcing Mike as the award recipient, Phipps highlighted his tireless efforts to resource earthquake mitigation initiatives and his enthusiastic collaboration with professionals from outside his field. By doing this she said, he has made “…each one of us a better engineer.”

In accepting the award, Mike thanked the members for the honor and credited them and many others with the development of the publications that were mentioned, emphasizing that each one required a team effort. “I have one of the best jobs in the world, and helping to improve the state of practice and making people safe is the best thing I could be doing.”

He closed his remarks by thanking several friends and colleagues by name, and by thanking his wife Julie and his daughters for supporting him and tolerating all the challenges associated with public service.   

SEAONC’s mission is to advance the practice of structural engineering, build community among its members, and educate the public regarding the structural engineering profession.  To learn more about SEAONC, click here to visit their website.

To learn more about the publications that Mike, the FEMA Earthquake Team and several members of SEAONC have developed for FEMA, click here.