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News and Updates from Seattle City Light

City Light Project Earns Seattle U Engineering Team National Award

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In 2016-2017, a project team of four of Seattle University students took on an engineering challenge from Seattle City Light to determine the capacity of the Ross Dam Intake Access Bridge at the Skagit Hydroelectric Project, an essential structure to conduct maintenance operations at Ross Dam. Last month, Seattle U was selected as one of this year’s National Council of Examiners for Engineering Surveying (NCEES) Engineering Education Award recipients for their work.

The project team: Front Row L-R: Chris Belson, Yashar Zafari, Delton Oki (students)
Second Row L-R: James Esteban (student), Josh Pugh Ph.D., PE (faculty advisor)
Third Row: Dan O’Sullivan (City Light)

 

The Seattle U Engineering Design Team was tasked by City Light to determine the current capacity of the bridge as well as to design an economical solution to strengthen the bridge to safely carry the types of vehicles typically needed by City Light to conduct maintenance, such as a large crane. The team of civil engineering seniors and their faculty advisor Dr. Joshua Pugh met and collaborated with City Light’s Dan O’ Sullivan and Dave Rowan throughout the academic year to determine possible engineered solutions to address the issues with the bridge. The students then presented the solutions to City Light for consideration.

“The year-long project with City Light is an excellent opportunity for Civil Engineering seniors to work on a real-life project under the mentorship of City Light engineers,” explains Dr. Nirmala Gnanapragasam, associate professor at Seattle University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “The City Light engineers help the students learn how to apply the technical knowledge gained through coursework to analyze the problem and develop a solution while developing important professional skills before entering the engineering workforce. The engineers from City Light, specifically Robert Cochran, Owen Kohashi and Dan O’Sullivan, who sadly passed away, have been dedicated mentors to our students and have developed strong relationships with our civil engineering faculty.”

Another project team from SU was also recognized by NCEES for the design of a culvert replacement in Snohomish County making it fish passable. Click here to learn more about Seattle University’s NCEES awards.

 

 

 

City Light Finalizes RSJI Work Plan for 2014

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City Light has finalized its Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) work plan for 2014. As part of its RSJI plan for the year, Seattle City Light will focus on the equity areas of education, equitable development, housing, jobs/economic justice, the environment, and service equity.

The work plan is part of a larger citywide effort to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all people, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. Seattle City Light is committed to removing the barriers that prevent all people from attaining the same access to opportunity in its hiring practices and customer service, as well as creating a community enriched by Seattle’s diverse cultures with full participation from all residents. City Light strives to implement outreach and engage with the public in a manner that reflects the diversity of the customers in its service area.

The city’s initiative is led by the Seattle Office for Civil Rights and various city staff, and is supported by all City of Seattle elected officials. More information about the initiative can be found on the city of Seattle’s RSJI website.

A few highlights from the Seattle City Light RSJI 2014 Work Plan include the following:

  • Seattle City Light will continue its efforts through the Powerful Neighborhoods program to reach seniors, non-English speaking households and low-income residents.  This program includes the direct installation of efficient lighting and water-saving showerheads in multifamily properties. Special emphasis is placed on outreach to affordable housing providers and their residents, with a goal of reaching at least 3,500 multifamily households.
  • City Light will partner with Seattle University to sponsor engineering projects for racially diverse teams of students to develop their skills, provide the opportunity to exhibit their work, and advance their education with real-life projects.
  • City Light’s 2014 goal is to reach 150 families with its HomeWise low-income weatherization program.
  • City Light will continue to partner with tribes in the implementation of cultural and natural resource protection and restoration in its work on the Boundary Project as well as the Skagit Project. In addition, the utility will assure communication on cultural resource issues as well as contracting opportunities are available for the Kalispel and Skagit River tribes.
  • In an effort to achieve equity in access to living wage jobs, City Light will increase opportunities for internships in the Seattle Youth Employment Program, as well as promote its Tuition Reimbursement Program and develop specific targets for closing any gaps in diversity in its workforce.
  • City Light is dedicated to building a workforce that reflects or exceeds the racial demographics of the communities it serves. In order to achieve that goal, the utility requires all staff members involved in hiring processes to be trained on Workforce Equity and Human Resources RSJI Best Practices. Furthermore, its 2014 plan includes deepening ties with diverse community and educational organizations to recruit interns and job candidates.
  • In addition, City Light actively seeks to work with Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) and Women and Minority-owned Businesses (WMBE).  Its RSJI 2014 Work Plan includes specific outreach event commitments, as well as target goals for spending on consulting and purchasing expenditures with these firms.
  • Seattle City Light is prioritizing streetlight upgrades in historically underserved areas such as the Holly Park SHA residential neighborhood in order to provide safer electrical systems and to ensure streets are well-lit at night.
  • The utility also provides free interpreter services for customers as well as offers translated printed information in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Somali, Tagalog, Korean and other languages commonly used among City Light customers. As part of the RSJI 2014 Work Plan, City Light will continue to host community meetings and focus groups designed for historically underrepresented communities, all of which are supported by interpretation and translation services.

City Light supports a number of other programs and initiatives designed to alleviate inequity including the Utility Discount Program and Project Share.

The Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative began in 2004. At the time, no other US city had so directly focused on institutional racism and working to improve racial equity. Seattle was the first city in the nation to explicitly focus on undoing institutional racism. Institutional racism is defined by the city of Seattle Office for Civil Rights as the policies, practices and procedures that often unintentionally or inadvertently work to the benefit of certain groups and to the detriment of others.

More information about Seattle City Light’s Race and Social Justice Initiative efforts can be found on our website. For more details about the City of Seattle’s efforts to achieve racial equity, please click here.

City Light Project Earns Seattle U Engineering Students Second National Award

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Photo of the Sickler warehouse project team.

The Sickler warehouse project team.

A team of Seattle University students who analyzed the structural needs of a warehouse at Seattle City Light’s Skagit Hydroelectric Project and designed a retrofit for the building have won a seond national award for their work.

The team took second place in the Structural Engineering Institute’s 2013 Student Structural Design Competition, which included a $500 prize. Team members were Aimee Corn, Thomas Lynam, Maureen O’Sullivan and Rachel Vranizan with Faculty Advisor Katherine Kuder.

They developed a structural evaluation of City Light’s Sickler warehouse building at the Skagit Hydroelectric Project in Newhalem. They designed retrofit concepts for improving the building’s structural stability and energy efficiency and evaluated those options. Their project was sponsored by City Light Senior Civil Engineers Robert Cochran and Owen Kohashi and Senior Capital Projects Coordinator Tom Pulford.

City Light used the students’ work as the basis for plans to upgrade the building.

Structural Engineering Institute judges scored finalists on a combination of written submissions and oral presentations during the organization’s conference in Pittsburgh.

Earlier this year, the students made up one of two Seattle University teams mentored by Seattle City Light engineers that each won $7,500 prizes in the 2013 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Engineering Awards for Connecting Professional Practice and Education.

City Light employees have mentored engineering students at Seattle University’s Project Center for 15 years in an ongoing partnership that provides real-world projects for the students and highlights career opportunities at the utility.

Seattle U Engineering Students Win Awards for City Light Projects

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Two teams of Seattle University engineering students mentored by Seattle City Light employees each won $7,500 prizes in the 2013 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Engineering Awards for Connecting Professional Practice and Education.

This is the third year in a row that Seattle University students mentored by City Light employees have won such awards.

“I continue to be impressed by the quality of the students’ work. They take the design to a stage where our engineers can take it out to bid and get it built,” City Light Capital Projects Supervisor Wanda Schulze said. “It energizes our engineers to have a chance to mentor these students and teach them the real-world end of engineering.”

The first team — Collin Cabatbat, Rachel Dang, Cole Franklin and Daniel Richings — developed two designs for a permanent crossing at Babcock Creek near Newhalem and Seattle City Light’s Skagit Hydroelectric Project. They were sponsored by Schulze and Senior Civil Engineer Dan O’Sullivan.

The creek crossing sits on a road to an important communications tower that must be kept clear year round. The creek is prone to washouts and a temporary bridge is currently in place. City Light is sharing these designs with the National Park Service as part of the decision- making process for building a permanent crossing in 2014 or 2015.

A second team — Aimee Corn, T.J. Lynam, Maureen O’Sullivan and Rachel Vranizan  — developed a structural evaluation of City Light’s Sickler warehouse building in Newhalem. They designed retrofit concepts for improving the building’s structural stability and energy efficiency and evaluated those options. Their project was sponsored by City Light Senior Civil Engineers Robert Cochran and Owen Kohashi and Senior Capital Projects Coordinator Tom Pulford.

The students’ work was so good City Light used it as the basis for plans to upgrade the building.

 

Photo of the Sickler warehouse project team.

The Sickler warehouse project team.

City Light employees have mentored engineering students at Seattle University’s Project Center for 15 years in an ongoing partnership that provides real-world projects for the students and highlights career opportunities at the utility.

“Seattle City Light has provided exemplary liaison engineers who have worked closely with the student teams.  These engineers have demonstrated consistent commitment to the Project Center experience for our students, which is reflected in the award-winning projects,” Jean Jacoby, associate dean for Seattle University’s College of Science and Engineering, said. “I have been continually amazed at the quality of the student presentations and reports and other products that result.”

In addition to the two awards from NCEES this year, two other City Light projects received $7,500 awards in 2011 and 2012:

  • 2011 award for Structural Design of Dam Sluice Gate Walkway Slabs: Retrofit and Replacement Options.  
  • 2012 award for Historic Dam Guard Rail and Vehicle Barrier Retrofit for Public Safety

“Seattle City Light not only provides a great project for the seniors to work on but their liaison engineers mentor our students throughout the year taking them on site visits, meeting with them weekly, exposing the students to the standards of practice, providing presentation opportunities and getting the students adequately prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation,” Seattle University Engineering Prof. Nirmala Gnanapragasam said.

Watch a video about the Seattle University Project Center here, including mentions of the Seattle City Light projects.

 

Photo of Senior Civil Engineer Robert Cochran with Seattle University engineering students.

Senior Civil Engineer Robert Cochran, right, meets with some of the Seattle University engineering students he mentors.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.