Making Resilience Cool: Recent Episodes
Audrey Luu
Making Resilience Cool is a podcast brought to you by the US Resiliency Council, based on the 12-episode Resilience Advantage series created by the USRC with the generous support of Optimum Seismic. This podcast targets students, young engineers and anyone who wants to learn more about how they can contribute to and be leaders in the movement to make our buildings and communities more resilient to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and wildfire. Evan Reis, a Structural Engineer and the co-founder of the USRC, walks us through different aspects of resilience, and interviews special guests that include engineers, architects, business and community leaders, and sustainability experts, who share their insights on the importance of resilient design. The podcast is hosted by Audrey Luu, a Senior Architectural Engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who brings a fresh and enthusiastic perspective on resilience to listeners.
It’s time to wrap up this podcast series with our final guest, the man himself, Evan Reis - co-founder and Executive Director of the USRC! In this episode, I had the opportunity to interview Evan about his background and his strides in making USRC what it has become today.
Ryan Kersting, a licensed structural engineer in California walks us through his thoughts on next level recovery. What does it entail? How can we achieve it? Is it worth it? Join us in episode 20 of Making Resilience Cool to see what it is all about!
In episode 19, Dr. Sharyl Rabinovici, an expert in disaster policy, walks us through her experiences educating people and communities about how to adopt good resilience practices. Her objective is to communicate that “prevention is the best medicine!”
In this episode of Making Resilience Cool, we dive into the Portland Treasury Building with Byron Williams, the chief administrative director at the Oregon State Treasury, Craig Stockbridge, a principal with GBD Architects, and Reid Zimmerman, the technical director for KPFF in Oregon.
Alan Klembczyk, Kyle Wilson, Blake Roskelley, Brandt Saxey, and Jeff Ellis come together in this episode to showcase the boom in innovative products within the field of structural engineering.
Madison Spach is a Southern California attorney who specializes in construction liability. He explains the technicalities when it comes to the laws of risk and resilience through an excellent example– the Myrick vs Mistangi case.
In this episode of Making Resilience Cool, Camilla Seth, the Director of the Finance Hub, talks about her experiences working to develop philanthropic strategies to promote resilience. She helps us uncover the silver lining when it comes to resiliency!
Amanda Siok works with FEMA focusing on the earthquake, tsunami and volcano program manager for the Pacific Northwest. She talks about the underlying difference between preparedness and mitigation.
The Society Hotel has been considered as a home away from home for many people since 1880. Jonathan Cohen, the current owner, gives us the rundown of the history behind the hotel and the obstacles that came with the renovation.
The chief mitigation officer of the California Earthquake Authority, Janiele Maffei, brings it all home in this episode of Making Resilience Cool. She addresses some concerns brought up by homeowners– their home is more than just a structure, but where the heart of their family lies.
Henry Burton, an associate professor at UCLA, breaks down the components that go into what we know as the system of resilience. He broadens our perspective and explains how resilience is all part of a system that involves not only the landlord, not only the tenants, but the community as a whole!
In this episode Laurie Schoeman, the national director for Enterprise Community Partners, resiliency and recovery program,talks about the various policy and incentivization tools that we need to keep at hand and in mind so that we can usher resilience from a “good idea” into reality.
The chief resilience officer of Los Angeles County, Aaron Gross, reminds us to have patience and think long-term! We need to think about the long term effects of our structures. He addresses how he pushes for the resilience movement in Los Angeles County.
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Ben Stapleton, the director of the US Green Building Council Los Angeles, draws out how resilience design and green design go hand in hand and pushes towards a more sustainable future.
Jessica Westermeyer walks us through how the structural engineering community can go above and beyond the code in the direction of resilience in this episode of Making Resilience Cool.
Episode 7 of Making Resilience Cool is dedicated to Daniel Zepeda’s personal experiences with visiting earthquake sites– this really brings our jobs out of the books and reveals the bigger picture of the structural engineering industry.
One thing leads to another– Ross Stein, the co-founder and CEO of Temblor, talks about the importance of understanding the potential risks in our buildings and developing effective plans to tackle them.
Laurel Rosen, the former president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, walks us through her tactics on getting the community back on their feet after a disaster. The key is partnerships– getting everyone on the same page with the support system.
On this episode of Making Resilience Cool, Patrick Otellini with Swinerton Builders, and the former Chief Resilience Officer for the City and County of San Francisco, gives us the inside scoop on the secret sauce for success in the world of structural engineering and resilience.
Episode 2 is all about making resilience cool! In this episode, Leslie Chapman Henderson, the founder and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, shares her expertise on educating communities about the importance of resilience design.
We are kicking off the Making Resilience Cool series with Structural Engineer David Mar, whose innovative building designs use the latest in engineering technology to make resilience accessible even to our most vulnerable populations. Join us to hear about his successes and his insights into the importance of resilience design.