Alumni Profiles

Engineering newsmaker
*Steven B. Tipping ’69

Spring 2007

Steven B. Tipping ’69Civil engineering graduate Steve Tipping has developed a new metal shear wall that has the potential to lower construction costs of earthquake-resistant multiunit housing.

Tipping is president of Tipping Mar + Associates, a structural engineering firm in Berkeley, Calif. As a result of his work, he was chosen among the Top 25 Newsmakers for 2006 by Engineering News Review.

Load tests performed on the new system have proven the assembly offers three times the strength of plywood shear walls, twice the strength of any proprietary metal system available and ease of installation. Tests are being carried out at UC-Berkeley with funding from the Pankow Foundation.
Tipping’s firm has won many awards including top project honors from both the National Council of Structural Engineers Association and the American Institute of Steel Construction.