Structural Engineers Association of Maine

From the SEAM Officer Board

Hello, SEAM members!

We had a much smoother membership renewal drive for this year, it was completed on time and we had no major hiccups. Thanks to everyone who renewed their SEAM membership in 2026 and welcome to our new SEAM members.

We are continuing to focus on a lot of in-person site visits. There has been a fantastic turnout for the recent SEAM events so far this year. We currently have the 89 Elm Street Apartments site-tour in Portland coming up this week, details are here: Structural Engineers Association of Maine - Meeting/Event Information

We have two officer board positions opening up this year and two nominees. An election ballot survey will be sent out to members with this newsletter with a return deadline of May 25. Votes shall be counted and the results made known to the membership by June 15.

We received positive feedback following our letter to the Maine Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and NCEES regarding the current Computer Based Testing (CBT) format of the Structural Engineering PE examination. We've also been in touch with other state Structural Engineer Associations (SEAs) and NCSEA regarding this exam. We have been informed that SEAoNY (New York) and SEAW (Washington) have also sent similar letters to their state licensure boards and NCEES. Additionally, Kentucky SEA, SEAoN (Nebraska), SEAMass (Massachusetts), Alabama SEA, SEAMi (Michigan), and SEAConn (Connecticut) are considering sending in similar letters and/or coordinating with their state licensure boards to put pressures on NCEES.

NCEES reached out to me regarding SEAMs letter. Unfortunately, they didn't offer anything significant other than their already planned changes to the SE exam. NCEES is planning to add additional time to the exam, reduce the number of pre-test questions, and will be updating the "cut score" in the near future. SEAM will continue to monitor these changes and their effect on the examinee experience and passing rates.

I had the pleasure of presenting a seminar from SEAM on structural engineering real-world challenges and careers to students at the UMaine, Orono College of Engineering Design 1 class last month. It was well received and we'll see if future seminars for engineering students at UMaine or other engineering colleges are appropriate. If the support is available, we'll see about getting a proper SEAM student chapter started at one of these schools.

I'll be leaving as president of SEAM July 1, the SEAM officers will elect a new president from among the officers following the election. Officers shall be selected by August 1.

As always, if you have any events or possible seminars, especially site visits and tours of unique structural engineering projects, please reach out to any of the SEAM officers.

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Upcoming Events

Upcoming SEAM Events:

89 Elm Street Apartments, Portland (1.0 PDH Project Site Tour)

May 13, 2026, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

89 Elm Street, Portland, ME 04101

Join us for a construction site tour of 89 Elm Street in Portland's Bayside neighborhood.

89 Elm Apartments, a new 201-unit affordable housing community in downtown Portland. The $87.8 million development aims to provide critical relief in one of Maine’s most competitive rental markets.

Following the site tour, the group will walk to a local watering hole for an optional social hour.

AISC Steel Essentials

Date: September 22nd, 2026

Location: Meeting Location TBD

In-person seminar presented by AISC. Time and location to be determined.

Ticonic Bridge over the Kennebec River

Date: August

Location: Meeting Location TBD

Click here to view all the upcoming SEAM meetings

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NCSEA Seminars

A calendar of upcoming NCSEA webinars can be found here: NCSEA Webinar Calendar

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News

2026 NCESA Summit

Join SEAM at the 2026 NCSEA Structural Engineering Summit in San Francisco on October 27–30, 2026!

Summit - NCSEA

Various Free PDH Credits

Below are various free live or on-demand PDHs.

NUCOR Live and On-Demand Webinar HUB

Webinars - Steel Joist Institute

Live Webinar Schedule - Register for FREE | | Lindapter

Stacked for Success: Design Considerations for Modular Light-Frame Wood Projects - WoodWorks | Wood Products Council

SEAM Donation to Eric Cobb Scholarship Fund

In 2024 SEAM made our semi-regular contribution to the Eric Cobb Scholarship fund. SEAM will be making another donation to the Eric Cobb Scholarship at the start of 2026. We'll bring you news of the scholars awarded next year, and we hope to have them join us at an in-person SEAM event.

Scholarships - Maine College of Engineering and Computing - University of Maine

Annual Report Funds List - University of Maine Foundation

Notable Articles Related to Structural Engineering in Maine

Contact SEAM to let us know of any other news related to structural engineering in Maine or relevant to Maine structural engineers and we'll link it here.

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Message the Maine State PE Board

The Maine State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers wants to hear from you, and we want to help!

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or other items you would like to be brought to the Maine PE board we'd be happy to facilitate that discussion or present any items anonymously for you.

Reach out to any SEAM officers to discuss this further: Structural Engineers Association of Maine - Board of Directors

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Current Maine Projects

Notable Projects

Please contact SEAM to let us know about notable projects you or your firm is working on, and we can feature them here! Email us at [email protected].

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