Board of Directors

Andrea Shear, P.E., is an Associate Principal at Murray Engineering in New York City. 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.

Steve Reichwein, P.E. joined Severud Associates in 2009 as an engineer after interning with the firm the summer before. He progressed to senior engineer in 2013, advanced to associate shortly thereafter, and was elevated to senior associate in 2020. Steve was promoted to associate principal in 2024. Steve’s background in architectural engineering along with his design experience 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, and a member of the forensics and litigation support team, which provides expert witness testimony, document review, testing protocols, forensic investigations, and reports.

Steve’s major projects include the immersive entertainment venue Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, and 20 Times Square and Madison Square Garden V–The Transformation, both in New York, to which Steve made significant contributions. His other challenging projects include the TSX Broadway and Palace Theater redevelopment, the high-rise office building One Vanderbilt Avenue, and the new East 97th Street campus of the Marymount School of New York, all in Manhattan.

Steve represents the structural engineering profession within the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) as Treasurer and a past member of the Board of Directors, past co-chair of the Programs Committee, and past member of the Codes and Standards Committee. Steve also serves the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as a member of the Optimal Structural Design and Flood Resistant Design and Construction Committees; he is a past member of the ASCE 7-22 Wind Loads Subcommittee. Steve is a past member of the Structural Engineering Certification Board (SECB) Credentialing Committee. In 2024, Steve was named one of the year’s “40 Under 40” by Building Design+Construction.

Steve is author or co-author of numerous magazine articles about his projects, methodologies, and other topics of structural engineering interest. He also regularly presents at engineering conferences. Steve is licensed as a structural engineer in Nevada and as a professional engineer in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, and the District of Columbia. He was certified by SECB until the program’s sunset in 2022. He earned a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering and a Master of Architectural Engineering, both from Pennsylvania State University.

Steve Rys, P.Eis the Structural Engineering Lead for complex structures and a sustainability specialist on Nucor’s Construction Solutions team. With over 14 years of experience in design and construction, he specializes in large-scale projects including stadiums, airports, tall towers, and other complex structures. He combines technical design experience with unique supply-chain insight from his role at North America’s largest steel producer to inform more efficient and integrated project solutions. This perspective enables reductions in cost, embodied carbon, and schedule while improving fabrication and construction efficiency.

Steve is active in the local professional community and is a member of SEAoNY’s Sustainable Design Committee, Programs Committee, and Young Members Group. He also contributes to national professional initiatives through the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA), and Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

Before joining Nucor, he worked at WSP’s New York City office. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s degree from Cornell University.

Matthew Sangen, P.E., S.E. is an Associate and Structural Engineer at STV. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, both from Manhattan College. Matt is licensed as a Professional Engineer in New York and Massachusetts and as a Structural Engineer in Illinois. Matt has experience with both new buildings and   renovations, primarily for transportation, educational, and institutional facilities. His recent projects include the new Terminal A at Newark Airport, flood protection for NYCT’s Hammels Wye Campus in Queens, ADA Accessibility Upgrades for 8 NYC Subway Stations, and flood protection for NYCT’s Westchester Yard in the Bronx.

Matt has been actively involved in SEAoNY since 2014 and served as a co-chair of the Student Outreach Committee from 2018-2021. Matt has also volunteered the ACE Mentor Program at STV for the past seven years and is a member of the upcoming ASCE 7-28 Flood Load Subcommittee.

Anthony Piderit, P.E., S.E.  is an Associate at Murray Engineering. Anthony is a seasoned structural engineer with experience across a diverse array of projects, including new construction of residential and commercial buildings, as well as existing building renovations, repairs, and adaptive reuse. He has made significant contributions to the historic restoration and preservation of numerous NYC and National Historic Landmarks. Notable projects in Anthony's career include; 440 Washington Street, an 11-story multifamily residential building emphasizing modern living spaces; and 322 West 52nd Street, the adaptive reuse and addition of three stories on top of the 1940's Radio City Post Office, which remained in use throughout construction.

Anthony holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Manhattan College. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in NY and WA, a licensed Structural Engineer in IL, and a licensed Civil Engineer in CA. In addition to his hands-on project experience, Anthony was a founding member of SEAoNY's Young Member Group in 2016, chairing the committee from 2019 to 2021. He joined the SEAoNY board in 2021 and served as Treasurer from 2022 to 2024. Currently, Anthony is a voting member of the NCSEA Existing Building Code Subcommittee, where he contributes to shaping and updating building codes that ensure safety and sustainability in existing structures.

Hubert Chang, P.E. is a Senior Project Engineer at TY Lin (previously Silman). His experience has brought him to places where he can be an active voice and participant early in the architectural design process, with a particular interest in cultural, community, and institutional typologies. His work crosses a range of different scales, from art and temporary sculptures to adaptive reuse, historic preservation, and multi-building complexes. His current work includes libraries, renovations of turn-of-the-century gallery skylights, façade upgrades to a 1920s house museum, and a new university institute in Baltimore. He joined Silman (and the SEAoNY Programs Committee) in 2019.  Over the years, Hubert has been involved in regular guest critic and teaching roles at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP). He is passionate about the intersection between architecture and engineering, and stays active in various organizations in that sphere, strengthening interdisciplinary ties in the built environment community and engaging with the public. He fills his spare time with informal architectural photography, glass and metal crafts, and long walks along the Manhattan waterfront.

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.

Migara Hewavitharana, P.E. is a licensed professional engineer in the state of New York and is a Senior Structural Engineer/Project Manager with VHB. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil/Structural Engineering, from Penn State University and Columbia University, respectively.

Passionate about the AEC industry’s role in shaping the built environment, Migara believes people-focused infrastructure and urban planning can drive transformational change. This conviction drew him to the profession and into long-standing involvement in professional organizations, beginning with his service as ASCE student chapter president at Penn State. Over the 13 years since his undergraduate graduation, he has continued to expand his leadership skills while designing and delivering professional development programming for students and young professionals – paying forward the strong mentorship and guidance he has benefitted from. 

Migara has been an active leader with SEAoNY since 2020 and NCSEA since 2022. He helped lead the SEAoNY YMG as committee records keeper/event coordinator for three years while also leading the Outreach Committee as co-chair for 4 years, playing a key part in cultivating and nuturing structural engineering talent through professional development programming aimed at young engineers and students here in NYC. He has been an active leader on the NCSEA Younger Member Support Committee since 2022, assisting with programming and advising for other younger members across the nation. He has also been active with both the Education Committee and Communications Committee for NCSEA since 2024. Migara was also instrumental to expanding SEAoNY's social media footprint through assisting with social media content production from 2022 through 2024, and is still an active participant on the SEAoNY Communications Committee. For his efforts, he was selected by the SEAoNY Board of Directors as the inaugural recipient of the "Volunteer of the Year" award at the 2024 SEAoNY SEE Awards.

Daniel Ki, P.E. joined Severud Associates in 2015 and has spent more than a decade advancing through senior engineer (2019) and associate (2021) roles, building deep expertise in structural analysis, long-span roof systems, and blast-resistant design. In recent years, Dan has extended that expertise into computational design and engineering automation, developing parametric workflows and internal tools to streamline structural analysis and coordination across project teams.

Dan's project experience includes the Sphere entertainment venue in Las Vegas, Nevada; 100 Vandam Street in Manhattan; Halletts Point Building 10 in Queens; and the Terminal 6 redevelopment at JFK International Airport.

Dan is active in the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY), currently serving as Co-Chair of Programs — his second year in the role — having previously acted as the chief editor of Cross Sections, the organization's quarterly newsletter, from 2019 to 2021.

Dan is licensed as a structural engineer in Nevada and as a professional engineer in New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master of Engineering in structural engineering from Cornell University.

Joe Mugford, P.E. joined Gilsanz Murray Steficek full-time in 2007 and was promoted to Partner in 2022. The breadth of his experience ranges from retail renovations to large-scale redevelopment. Many of Joe's projects involve the adaptive reuse and sustainable redevelopment of older structures, including 75 Rockefeller Plaza, 1100 Avenue of the Americas, and 660 Fifth Avenue. He has worked with owners and architects on the selective removal of columns and floors, installation of new lateral load resisting systems, and vertical expansions to creatively upgrade existing buildings and fit modern needs while minimizing carbon footprint.  Joe is working to improve building codes, locally on the New York City Department of Buildings' Structural Technical Committee for the Revisions to the 2008 & 2018 New York City Building Code, and nationally as ASCE 7-22, Seismic Subcommittee Task Committee TC-13, Voting Member. He is the firm's liaison to the United States Resiliency Council, of which GMS is a founding member.  Additionally, Joe is a board member of the Hemophilia Association of New York, which advocates for individuals with bleeding disorders. Joe leads the firm's efforts in assessing and mitigating against the detrimental effects of vibrations in structures. Joe holds a Master of Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer in New York, California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia, and is a Qualified Parking Structures Inspector (QPSI) in New York City.

Craig Tracy, Ph.D., P.E., is a Senior Vice President at WSP with over 25 years of experience in the analysis and design of a diverse range of commercial, residential, and institutional buildings and arenas.  Drawing upon a deep and long-standing passion for building and invention, Craig strives to merge rigorous analysis with functional, readily constructible design.  This approach proved effective in projects with difficult sites, complex structures, demanding stakeholders, and tough logistical constraints such as the Central Park Tower, Grandstand Stadium at the US Tennis Center, and Tower 3 at the World Trade Center.  Always keen to expand capabilities and improve efficiencies through new materials and methods, his structures often challenge conventions and always require a new spreadsheet.