SE3 and Read.Watch.Listen. Anniversaries
- SE3 Committee
- Oct 27
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 4
October 2025 Issue
A monthly forum to share diversity, equity, and inclusion resources.
Welcome to the next installment of Read.Watch.Listen. In 2025, we are celebrating 10 years of advocacy through SE3 and 5 years of education from Read.Watch.Listen! To celebrate these anniversaries, all these resources have been developed by the SE3 committee. This issue will discuss the past, present, and future of the SE3 committee, the Read.Watch.Listen blog, and our work.
History on the SE3 Committee: The Structural Engineering Engagement and Equity (SE3) Project began in 2015 as a grassroots effort in the San Francisco structural engineering community. Inspired by similar work from Bay Area architects, they set out to understand the underlying reasons why people, especially female structural engineers, choose to leave our profession. SE3 then conducted its first survey in 2016 in an ongoing effort to identify trends, understand the underlying factors, and initiate industry-wide conversations. SE3 became a national committee in 2017 through the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) and committed to repeating the study on the structural engineering community on a regular basis.
History on the Read.Watch.Listen blog: Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, NCSEA released a Joint Call to Action with CASE and SEI. In this call to action, the three organizations agreed to “strengthen our existing programs for equity, diversity, and inclusion to accelerate progress to a just and safe environment for all members of our profession.” As part of this RWL issue, the 2020 NCSEA President -- Emily Guglielmo -- sat down with SE3 to reflect on the impact of this Joint Call to Action. As one of the initiatives that came from this effort, the Read.Watch.Listen blog was created to share and promote conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion within the structural engineering profession. We have been honored to continue this conversation for five years and counting!
Current Reflection: In the U.S. in 2025, there has been a significant pushback on DEI efforts by the current administration. Despite the naysayers, we strongly believe that DEI helps everyone, and throughout this year, Read.Watch.Listen has focused on showcasing why this work is important. For those of you in this work with us, we know that it can feel overwhelming, especially this year. As inspiration following a challenging year, we want to share a quote by the late, great Jane Goodall. “I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle... If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that's what will give you hope.” As part of the jigsaw puzzle within our reach, the members of the SE3 committee and Read.Watch.Listen team are committed to continuing to promote equity and engagement in the structural engineering industry for the next decade (and beyond).
Introduction to Read.Watch.Listen - NCSEA SE3 Committee
Each month, the R/W/L team curates a selection of media focused on a topic, to provide an array of perspectives and food for thought on various diversity, inclusion, and engagement issues affecting the structural engineering industry. Topics covered in these past years range from neurodiversity in the workplace, to employee retention, to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month. At the core of our mission is always the desire to educate the public and our fellow industry professionals about these issues and the ways they impact our industry at individual, firm, and national levels. While many things have changed over the last five years (this post was originally created during the early part of the COVID pandemic), our commitment to that education has not. We invite our readers to consider the content of this original Read. Watch. Listen. post through the lens of your own experience of the industry these past years, consider what ideas remain relevant, and what future changes may come. And, as always, if there is a topic you’d like to see covered, don’t hesitate to reach out to the SE3 committee! We look forward to engaging with our readers on new and exciting topics in the next five years!
As a bonus resource, check out the 2025 article on The Business Case for DEI. Those of us at SE3 and Read.Watch.Listen are committed to continuing this work to advocate for the structural engineering profession!
Published September 13, 2020; Estimated Read Time - 5 minutes
History of SE3 – SEAONC
The history of SE3 is presented in this video by a series of past chairs/co-chairs, and founders of SE3. Presenters include Natalie Tse, Hayley Dickson, Zahraa Saiyed, Brenna Marcoux, Tiffany Hwang, Hayley Proctor, Priscilla Nguyen, Kaat Ceder, Danny Preut, and Claire Leader. Over the last ten years, SE3 has put on numerous events focused on a variety of topics, presented data driven analysis based on various SE3 surveys, and explored ways for promoting inclusion and diversity in Civil/Structural engineering. While the video is longer than our normal watch, we recommend you sit through the entire 50 minutes, as the evolution of SE3 is more than the sum of its parts. Throughout the video, it is clear that the leaders have built upon what was done in the past and leaned on each other for support to promote DEI efforts in our industry. If you want more, check out the SE3 Leaders Q&A -- also from the 2025 SEAONC SE3 Symposium -- where the group of SE3 leaders answer questions about the past, present, and future of their work to improve engagement and equity in the structural engineering profession.
Originally presented May 15, 2025; 00:50:22
Equity and Engagement SE3 – The Structural Engineering Podcast
In this episode of The Structural Engineering Podcast, former SE3 Vice Co-Chair Amanda Dean discusses the SE3 Survey, an industry-wide effort to measure equity, engagement, and opportunities for improvement within structural engineering. The survey explores key themes such as who makes up the profession, how satisfied engineers are in their roles, why some have left, and what can be done to strengthen retention. It evaluates six critical areas — recruitment and retention, career aspirations, discrimination and harassment, workplace flexibility, performance and feedback, and children and dependent care. Amanda shares valuable data trends collected since the survey’s inception and offers insight into how she applies these findings to her own leadership strategies. The 2025 SE3 Survey is now open, and we encourage you to participate and help shape the future of the profession.
Originally published June 12, 2025; 00:53:00
This article was originally published in the NCSEA's Structural Connection newsletter.
Read.Watch.Listen is a monthly forum hosted by the NCSEA SE3 Committee to share and promote conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion within the structural engineering profession. Each month, we will curate a series of articles, audio-visual and digital media to facilitate self-education in matters that affect our professional practice as structural engineers. Whether you choose to read, watch, or listen (or all three!), we hope you will join us in this important conversation. Missed the previous issue? Check out the NCSEA SE3 Committee News and Publication page.
Share your thoughts and/or recommended resources for the next issue at ncsea@ncsea.com.
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