SOM Foundation Announces Jury for the 2024 Structural Engineering Fellowship

Alessandro Beghini (Chair) is a senior associate principal at SOM. His portfolio encompasses a wide range of award-winning projects, ranging from some of the world’s tallest buildings to sculptures and specialty structures. Beghini has established an expertise in delivering structural solutions that are efficient and elegant, working alongside the architectural and construction teams. He was part of the team leading the structural design for the Tianjin CTF Finance Center in China. The supertall structure stands at an outstanding height of 530 meters. Other significant collaborations include his work with Atelier Peter Zumthor for the structural design of the LACMA Museum in Los Angeles and numerous collaborations with world-renowned artist Janet Echelman. His collaborations with the artist include the Dream Catcher sculpture in West Hollywood and Earthtime Korea, among several other temporary installations.

Sarah Billington is Chair and UPS Foundation Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She received her B.S.E. with high honors in Civil Engineering & Operations Research and a certificate in Architecture Studies from Princeton University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and an expert in sustainable, durable construction materials. Her current research focuses on the impact of building design and materials on human wellbeing. This work includes developing design tools to quantify nature experience in buildings, increasing wellbeing in and through affordable housing, and identifying the risk of forced labor in building material supply chains through fingerprinting and AI methods. The goal of her research program is to provide building occupants, designers, and owners tools to achieve built environments that meet their needs and to design interventions that support human wellbeing over time.

Paul Fast, founding partner of Fast + Epp, has seen the firm grow from humble beginnings in 1985 as a single engineer in the Vancouver office, to a current staff of 150 persons with offices in North America and Europe. Fast graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1981 and has been recognized for his work in exposed architectural structures. He has emerged as a leader in the design of contemporary timber buildings, often pushing the design envelope to create architecturally expressive hybrid structures of timber, concrete, and steel. Fast has been the lead engineer for many of the firm’s most prominent projects and enjoys close collaboration with many leading architectural firms. He is perhaps best known for his work on award-winning projects such as the Richmond Olympic Oval Roof, VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visitor Centre, UBC Tallwood House, Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, and the Kingsway Pedestrian Bridge. Fast was named an honorary member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers in the United Kingdom in 2010. In 2013, he was granted Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia’s highest annual honor, the R.A. McLachlan Memorial Award. Fast is a clinical professor at the University of Illinois College of Fine + Applied Arts. In 2021, he was awarded the Gold Medal by the UK-based Institution of Structural Engineers.

Matt Field is the Co-Chief Executive Officer of TMG Partners. He has thirty-eight years of commercial real estate experience, including development, finance, leasing, and project management. Field has been with TMG Partners since 1993 and is responsible for managing acquisitions and dispositions, while supporting the firm’s development activities with lead responsibility for the real estate portfolio, including Chairing the Investment Committee. He has been responsible for over $5 billion of acquisitions and dispositions for TMG since 2003. Previously, he was responsible for managing complex entitlement and development projects. Prior to TMG, Field worked at Catellus Development Corporation in corporate financial analysis and major asset acquisitions and dispositions. His prior experience also includes work at Sedway Associates and Halcyon Real Estate Advisors. Field has a bachelor’s degree with a major in Political Science from the University of Colorado.