The Structural Engineers Association of Connecticut got its start in 1987 as the Structural Engineering Coalition of Connecticut or, “SEC” for short. The goal was to foster comradery among practicing structural engineers in Connecticut. This saw a change in mindset from seeing fellow engineers as colleagues rather than competitors. In those days, the membership was made up of a small handful of firms and individuals and was limited to members of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). Meetings were held two or three times a year where ever we could find the room.

The 1990’s saw the expansion to all interested individuals and firms regardless of ACEC membership. SEC spearheaded the development of the Special Inspection Program in conjunction with the Council of American Structural Engineers (CASE) and helped to produce the first Special Inspection Guidelines and Statement of Special Inspections which went on to be used nationally to help other states develop their own inspection programs.

The 1990’s also saw the start of seminars in order to help provide continuing education to the membership. These first seminars were largely in response to the changes to the 1988 BOCA Code to include Seismic Requirements in Connecticut. However, this quickly expanded beyond just Seismic Design to include a wide variety of other topics in structural engineering, construction science, and engineering ethics. By the mid 1990’s, monthly dinner meetings were established to aid in the continuing education of the membership.

The new millennium brought the advent of the Emergency Response Committee or ERG. This is the predecessor to the modern Structural Engineering Emergency Response (SEER) groups of today. The Connecticut ERG volunteered and sent engineers to Ground Zero during the cleanup and recovery effort after the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

In 2020, SEC official parted ways with ACEC and became affiliated solely with National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA). At this time, SEC rebranded and officially changed its name to the Structural Engineers Association of Connecticut, SEAConn.

From its beginnings, the Structural Engineers Association of Connecticut has been at the forefront of advancement of engineering practice and continues to have membership serving across numerous national boards and advisory committees.