Certificates In Structural Engineering Program

In the early 2000’s, the industry expressed a need for a structural engineering program that would enhance the university civil engineering degree program. Engineering undergraduate programs focus on providing the student with a general civil engineering knowledge base, but do not generally produce graduates that are ready to step into a structural engineering design firm. Master’s degree programs further develop fundamental structural engineering concepts, such as earthquake engineering theories, but the focus is not on training students for design practice.

The Certificates in Structural Engineering program is intended to enhance the knowledge base of practicing structural engineers by offering practical design and analysis courses that fill the needs of the industry. The goal of the program is to provide additional knowledge and skills in structural engineering to permit the candidate to be more effective in an engineering firm.  As such, the program’s instructors are a combination of academics and practitioners who are kind enough to offer their practical knowledge to the profession. 

We are fortunate that the CSE program has been embraced by many practitioners who continue to contribute to the program either as an instructor or student collaborating with university professors. 

This is a challenging program. It is primarily directed towards anyone who intends to pursue a design oriented structural engineering career. The program is suitable for students who already have a good grasp of structural engineering fundamentals such as structural mechanics, strength of materials, second or third year university level differential equations etc. In addition, students must already have some basic knowledge of structural designs using different structural materials. The basic knowledge may have been acquired through undergraduate civil engineering courses, or from a design office, or both.

Given the above, the prerequisite for the program is a bachelor degree in civil engineering. However, technologists who have some years of experience in a structural engineering design office and have a strong background in strength of materials and have taken university level math courses may also be admitted into the program.

The program is also open to individuals wishing to take a few courses with the purpose of gaining or updating their knowledge in specific areas. Upon completing the course requirements, these students will receive a certificate indicating that the course was taken and the course requirements were completed.

CSE Board of Directors

  • Chair: John Pao, M.Eng., P.Eng. Struct.Eng., Cascadian Structural Engineering Inc. (cse-chair(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)seabc.ca)
  • Executive Assistant: Shannon Remillong (courses(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)seabc.ca)
  • Farshid Borjian, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., PE., C.Eng., M.I.Struct.E., Struct.Eng., Borjian Engineering Ltd.
  • Svetlana Brzev, Ph.D., P. Eng., FEC, University of British Columbia
  • Anthony El-Araj, P. Eng, Struct Eng, PE, SE, LEED AP, Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers
  • Darrel Gagnon, M.Sc., P. Eng., COWI North
  • Keith Holmes, M.Eng., P. Eng., WSP Canada Inc. 
  • Chris Jacques, P. Eng., Struct.Eng., WSP Canada Inc.
  • Yavuz Kaya, Ph.D., P.Eng., Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure 
  • Bishnu Pandey, Ph.D., P. Eng, British Columbia Institute of Technology
  • Carlos Ventura, Ph.D., P.Eng., University of British Columbia
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