Meet Sam...
Principal Associate
Structures Department Manager, Rochester Office
Sam is a Professional Engineer with nearly 30 years of engineering experience and 12 years of project management experience. He has worked on more than 50 bridge reconstruction projects with a combined new and rehabilitated construction value exceeding $117 million. Sam has professionally sealed 23 bridge projects and is experienced with spans ranging from 20-1,600'.
Sam prides himself on keeping abreast of current technology to provide quality, innovative solutions to clients' needs. He is a specialist in bridge fatigue analysis, the discipline that he studied under the tutelage of Dr. John Fisher, a nationally recognized authority on the subject. His most recent design project is the replacement of the Frederick Douglass - Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge (Troup Howell Bridge) in Rochester, NY, which carries I-490 over the Genesee River, river walks, and several city streets. The new eight span structure is 364m (1195 ft) long. The centerpiece of the bridge is a 132m (433 ft) long through arch span crossing the river. The arch will have three steel box ribs, Vierendeel style braces and a fanned hanger arrangement supporting the deck system. The arch span is the first structure of this type built in the United States.
Who are your biggest influences? Ed Anthony, Erdman Anthony's founder and my father. Blair Birdsall, a partner at the consulting firm of Steinman, Boynton, Gronquist and Birdsall. He was 80 years old when I was working at Steinman in NYC in the mid-1980s.
Both men solved engineering problems based on logical thinking and application of their experience rather than just numerical calculation. They believed there was nothing that couldn't be solved and they had the courage to engineer "out of the box."
What is a common misconception about your job? People think that I am an architect when they learn that I've designed a bridge. Another misconception is that engineers sit at their desks and crunch numbers all day. Many people don't realize what we really do: find solutions for communities' infrastructure problems. In order to do this, we not only have to apply science, we must obtain community consensus, which is usually the more difficult task.
What's your top Internet bookmark? www.redsox.com
If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?
Attend undergraduate school at the University of Notre Dame. (It would explain why I have become such a huge Irish football fan.)
If you could be a part of any moment in history? If I had to pick one, it would probably be the grand opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. I have read that the ceremony was phenomenal; it must have made the design engineers feel grateful that the community responded so strongly to their bridge design. It would also be interesting to talk to Emily Roebling about the hurdles that her husband and his father, the lead designers, had to overcome.
Saturday night finds you...? Enjoying the evening with my wife and two daughters.