Board of Directors

Yunlu (Lulu) Shen, P.E. is an Associate Principal at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Lulu’s engineering work   encompasses a broad range of structures—including super-tall towers, museums and cultural centers,   renovations, and pedestrian bridges. Notable New York projects include Two Manhattan West, Highline   Moynihan Connector, 510 Fifth Avenue renovation, and 34 East 51st Street Boutique Office. She received her   Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, and her Master of Applied Science from the   University of Toronto.

 Lulu has been an active member of SEAoNY since 2009. She was Secretary from 2019-2021, Director from   2016-2019, and Chair of the Programs Committee from 2010-2012. She led the taskforce that established the Central New York Chapter, as well as the Bylaw update in 2018. She is also on the steering committee of NCSEA’s PR campaign to promote the structural engineering profession.

Christina Chu-Garcia, P.E. is a Vice President at Thornton Tomasetti. Christina joined Thornton Tomasetti in 2008 after completing her Bachelors of Science and Masters of Engineering at Cornell University. She is a licensed professional engineer in New York.

Christina has worked on a variety of diverse projects ranging from cultural and educational facilities to casinos to   residential and commercial buildings. She has also worked on a number of overbuild projects, most notably, Related’s Hudson Yards in Manhattan, Sunnyside Yards Masterplan in Queens, NY and Centennial Yards in Atlanta, Georgia.

Christina has been an active member of SEAoNY since 2009. She was a Director from 2015-2017 and Secretary from 2017-2019. She has served on the Programs Committee, SE Licensure Committee and assisted with the establishment of the Central NY Chapter of SEAoNY. She is also currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and works with Cornell University’s Masters of Engineering Program as a Project Consultant for the capstone project.

Anthony Piderit, P.E. is an Associate at Murray Engineering. Anthony has been involved in numerous and diverse projects including the design of mid-rise residential and commercial use developments, townhome and penthouse renovations, as well as historical restoration of a number of NYC Landmark buildings. Anthony has designed different building types including conventional concrete structures, as well as steel and masonry structures for commercial, educational, residential, institutional, and cultural buildings. Anthony is the current chair of the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) Young Member Group Committee and also sits on the Scholarship Committee. He also is the Secretary of the NCSEA Existing Building Code  Committee. 

Andrea Shear, P.E., is an Associate Principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) in New York City. Since starting at WJE in 2003, she has performed field investigations and evaluations involving a broad range of construction materials, with a primary focus on renovation of historic steel and concrete structures. She has designed structural and building envelope repairs, restorations, and modifications for adaptive reuse, as well as completed construction period services and special inspections associated with a variety of structures, including high rise and historic commercial and office buildings, parking structures, residential buildings, and civil infrastructure. She has a bachelor's and master's degree in Civil Engineer from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York and New Jersey, a director of WJE’s Special Inspection Agency and a New York City Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector, and a Qualified Parking Structure Inspector.

Andrea has been an active member of the Structural Engineers Associate of New York (SEAoNY) since 2008. She is the co-chair of the Codes and Standards Committee and has completed one term as Director. Prior to moving to New York, she was a member of the Structural Engineer’s Association of Michigan (SEAMi). She is also an active participant of the American Welding Society (AWS)'s Subcommittee on Strengthening and Repair and AWS D1 Task Group 1 on Design.

 Erik Madsen P.E. is CEO of Madsen Consulting Engineering. Erik has extensive experience in the design and   construction of new high-rise building structures, renovations of historic and archaic properties, forensic work and   design of temporary structures for construction. Erik started Madsen Consulting Engineering in 2010. He is a past SEAoNY Board Member, past chair of the Programs Committee, past staff editor of Cross Sections, co-chair of the SEAoNY Central NY Startup Committee, current co-chair of SPEC, and has served as the SEAoNY state delegate to NCSEA for 16 years. Erik has been a member of the NYC Department of Buildings Code Revision Structural Technical Committee and NCSEA's General Code Advisory Committee since 2011.

John Pat Arnett, P.E. is a Principal at Silman. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.S. Degree in Civil  Engineering (Structural Engineering) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In 1996, Pat was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and did research on improving ductility and energy dissipation in steel moment connections. His projects at Silman have ranged from adaptive reuse to new construction, working for both institutional and corporate clients. Pat previously created a course in existing building renovations at NYC College of Technology (City Tech) and currently is a studio consultant for the Rice School of Architecture (since 2011) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University (since 2013). He is currently the professional mentor for the Engineers Without Borders Manhattan College chapter and was formerly the mentor for Princeton University. Some of  Pat’s notable projects include Maroon Ranch - Aspen, Theater For a New Audience, and the Empire Stores renovation and redevelopment in Brooklyn,   NY.

Steven D. Hall, P.E. is a Senior Consulting Engineer at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger in New York City. Steven holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His professional engineering experience includes new structural design; investigation and repair of concrete, steel, and timber structures design of bridges and environmental structures; and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. He has consulted with contractors, architects, and building owners on structural condition assessments and structural monitoring. His recent adaptive reuse projects include commercial and residential spaces, museums, schools, and libraries.

Steven has been a member of SEAoNY since 2012 and previously served as co-chair of the University Outreach Committee (now the Student Outreach Committee). He is currently a corresponding member of   the NCSEA Existing Buildings/Structural Retrofit Subcommittee.

Jill Hrubecky, P.E. serves as the Executive Engineer for the NYC Department of Buildings’ (DOB) Investigative Engineering Services (IES) unit – DOB’s engineering response and audit unit. IES supports all DOB portfolios, manages special initiatives like compromised structures, and aids the Technical Affairs unit in Code and Rule revisions. IES encompasses the following units: Concrete Enforcement, Forensic Engineering, Local Law & Façades, Retaining Wall, and Structurally Compromised Buildings. In her role, Jill provides technical expertise and aids in managing a team of 60 design professionals, inspectors and administrative support staff. She works to further the DOB’s efforts to create a culture of safety on construction sites and enforce laws to protect all New York City residents, workers, and visitors. Previously, Jill was a Principal Engineer with the Forensic Engineering Unit where she provided engineering competence for incidents, accidents, collapses, fires, weather events and building related fatalities. Prior to joining DOB, Jill was an Associate at Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP Engineers and Architects, where she worked for 14 years. Jill is a licensed professional engineer in the states of New York and California. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and a Master of Public Administration from New York University.

Timothy Lynch, P.E. With more than 35 years of structural engineering experience, Tim Lynch is a recognized expert in the fields of building forensics, condition assessments and repairs, and emergency response work. Prior to joining Thornton Tomasetti in 2022, he was chief enforcement engineer for the New York City Department of Buildings’ Forensic and Investigative Engineering Units, where he was involved in the development of building codes and laws, engineering audits, and programs governing the structural behavior of the city’s more than one million buildings. This included overseeing the department’s work involving façade and local law inspections, retaining walls, compromised buildings, concrete enforcement and cooling tower units. He also led teams of engineering specialists in response to structural collapses, fires, construction accidents and natural disasters. His background includes the restoration of many landmark buildings, including Carnegie Hall and New York City Hall in Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Park Slope Armory and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Troy Morgan, Ph.D., P.E. is a Principal Engineer and Director of the Buildings & Structures Practice at Exponent, located in the New York office. He specializes in the analysis, design, and risk-based performance assessment of structures under extreme loading such as earthquakes, wind, flood, and explosions. Troy has served as a consultant and expert witness (for both domestic litigation and international arbitration) on major projects, assisting with the analysis, design, and evaluation of a variety of structures including healthcare facilities, high-rise buildings, commercial and residential construction, laboratories, petrochemical buildings, highway bridges, metro rail (stations, viaducts, and tunnels) and other critical infrastructure requiring sophisticated analysis techniques and the applications of advanced construction technologies. He also has substantial consulting experience with the nuclear power generating  industry, evaluating seismic risk to new and existing safety critical structures and equipment through ground motion selection/scaling and nonlinear structural analysis including soil-structure interaction.

As a recognized expert in the field of seismic isolation and passive energy dissipation systems, Troy has performed extensive research on the numerical simulation and experimental behavior of innovative seismic protective devices within performance-based engineering frameworks. He provides analysis, design, and expert peer review services for complex structures incorporating innovative structural systems, including those incorporating modular construction approaches.

Steve Reichwein, P.E. joined Severud Associates in 2009 and elevated to senior associate in 2020. Steve’s background in architectural engineering along with his design experience, especially with structural steel and reinforced concrete buildings, has enabled him to engineer his clients’ visions effectively, regardless of their complexity. Steve is a leader of the firm’s parametric and algorithmic design team, a group whose analyses inform critical engineering decisions for major projects. Steve has been a member of SEAoNY since 2015, where he has served on the Codes and Standards Committee and is currently the co-chair of  the Programs Committee. Steve has presented on computer aided algorithmic design to the Metropolitan Chapter of the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) and the Structural Engineers Association of Southern Nevada   (SEAoSN aka SEASoN). Steve has also given structural design presentations focused on the MSG Sphere at the Venetian to SEAoSN, the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). Steve has written numerous articles for nationally recognized publications, including Modern Steel Construction (AISC), Structure Magazine (NCSEA), and Cross Sections (SEAoNY); these articles share insightful knowledge of complex topics, such as utilizing algorithmic aided design to optimize structural systems.