The Young Members Group had the opportunity to host the annual Lightning Lectures Night virtually on April 14th, 2021 as a lunchtime presentation. Last year's event was canceled due to the pandemic, however, this year we had seven great presenters with a wide range of engrossing topics. These topics sparked many great conversations/ Q&A among the presenters and audiences during the event.

This year we learned about: a career path as a Structural Engineer for the Dept. of State’s Overseas Buildings Operations, fast track construction of a Wastewater Treatment Plant, the structural design of the Atieh II Hospital in Tehran, a review and prevention of the various structural issues in existing buildings, an overview of Thornton Tomasetti's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiative and their support for the employee's network group for women (Women@TT), a past to present digest of a career as a woman structural engineer starting in the early 1970s, and an introduction to different strategies, venues, and opportunities to think outside the box to benefit and enrich one’s firm and career.

Each presentation has 20 image slides, each shown for 20 seconds. Presenters speak alongside the presentation, with the slides automatically set to change every 20 seconds. It is a fast and engaging presentation style that effectively conveys concise information to the audience.

We look forward to the next Lightning Lectures and many more exciting topics yet to come!

- Ting-Wen Wang