December 12th, 2021 is a special day, at least for the Canadian Structural Engineer Association (CSEA), because it marks the two-year anniversary of the organization, and more excitingly, it is a day that the organization officially admits members and launches its programs. Due to the pandemic in the past 2 years, the organization couldn’t hold any in-person activities, but thanks to the frontline medical workers and the ongoing stringent regulations against the pandemic, the organization is able to legally and safely hold its first social gatherings with its founding directors and founding members.
In the beginning of the luncheon, CSEA president Haixue Liao welcomed everyone who made it to the gathering, and gave an introduction for this organization, where he summarized “the purpose and mission of CSEA are to provide support and professional development for structural engineering”. He also appreciated the help and supports from the volunteer group who developed and set up this Luncheon event, including Hangan Li, Cancan Yang, Luping Zou, Wenbo Duan, Dennis Cheng, Steven Lin, Kaifu Hou, Sherry Li, Jelena Dong, Youjia Liu, Lia Zhu, Xuan Chu, Robert Zhou and Joe Zhou. Their efforts made this event possible and a success.
National Design Master of China Gongyi Xu congratulated the founding of CSEA and appreciated the international collaboration of the organization.
It was also fortunate that Sheref Sabawy, MPP was able to join the event and meet everyone in person. In his speech, Sheref thanked CSEA for donating medical supplies to Credit Valley Hospital during the early and difficult time of the COVID-19 when all the hospitals were scrambling for medical masks, he then shared his personal experience as he also came from a civil engineering background in the early days. He later gave a heartfelt message to the organization as he congratulated the launching of the organization and gave his best wishes to the future of the organization.
Sardar Nabi gave a speech on structural engineering, professional practice, and business development aspects of structural engineering.
Later on, many of the organization’s founding directors, including Hangang Li, Cancan Yang, and Sheng Wang, and many committee members including Wenbo Duan, Ryan Wu, Dennis Cheng, Steven Lin and Kaifu Hou introduced the audiences to their ongoing programs and activities that are held by the CSEA. Some of the programs to be highlighted are periodic webinars, community services, FC soccer team, membership program, and mentorship program. Information regarding this program can be checked out at the organization’s website.
Last but not least, to surprise and engage with the new members, lucky draws were held during the luncheon. With the prizes being taken away by the winners, a little laughter was left in the room, and a lot of good memories will be kept by the people.
Let us congratulate CSEA on this successful event, and wish the organization all the best in the future.
