AI Is Already Here — Are You Ready?
AI is already changing how structural engineers work. The question is whether that change happens with a plan or without one.
Across five units, you'll move from foundational AI literacy for SEs through hands-on tool use, honest treatment of where AI fails, discipline-specific applications like seismic and lateral design, and the governance and policy questions your firm is already asking.
The course is fully on-demand, so you move through it on your own schedule. Complete all five units and the final assessment to earn 11.5 PDHs.
Members: $895. Non-members: $1,095. Firms enrolling 5 or more people get 10% off total enrollment fees.
Thank you to our Sponsor:
Interested in partnering with NCSEA? Contact Monica Shripka for sponsorship and other opportunities.
What is covered in this course?
Unit 1: AI Foundations for Structural Engineers- Understand what AI is — and isn't — including the real distinctions between AI, machine learning, LLMs, and computer vision
- Learn where AI fits (and where it doesn't) in the structural workflow
- Recognize the security risks, misleading vendor claims, and unsafe outputs to watch for
- Understand how AI models are trained and where their accuracy limits come from
Unit 2: AI in Practice — Workflows, Tools, and Professional Application
- Use general-purpose AI tools for drafting, summarizing, and technical writing support
- Apply AI to spreadsheet auditing and catching tabular errors
- Navigate drawing, specification, and code search tools with a verification protocol
- Evaluate tool tiers and data privacy considerations before adopting anything new
Unit 3: AI Literacy for the Skeptical Engineer
- Learn the real ways AI systems fail, and where the SE-specific training data gaps are
- Build stronger prompts for load path questions, code research, spec drafting, and peer review
- Apply a structured verification process by output type — narrative, numerical, and code research
- Get ready-to-use language for talking about AI with clients, plan reviewers, contractors, and licensing boards
Unit 4: AI Applied — Discipline-Specific Practice and Professional Integration
- See how AI applies to seismic and lateral system design and analysis
- Use AI for code compliance and regulatory research across jurisdictions
- Apply peer-review standards to AI-assisted work from other engineers
- Evaluate discipline-specific AI tools for professional suitability
Unit 5: Governance, Policy, and Change Management
- Understand firm-level AI governance structures and your role within them
- Recognize the cultural and operational realities of AI adoption — and your role in leading or supporting it
- Learn the essential components of a firm AI use policy, including E&O and licensing considerations
- Build your own professional AI practice framework as the course's capstone deliverable