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Professional Biography

Emily Morris Frazier is a Project Manager at YA Group with 15 years of experience in structural design and more than eight years of experience in forensic engineering. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states and is responsible for managing projects involving structural evaluation, design, and forensic investigation. Emily’s experience includes consulting design work for new construction, retrofit projects, tenant improvements, equipment attachments, and balcony inspections.

Emily has extensive experience conducting forensic evaluations involving structural failures, foundation assessments, vehicle impact damage, and natural disaster‑related damage, including fires and earthquakes. Her work routinely requires detailed analysis to determine damage causation, extent of loss, and appropriate remediation strategies.

Emily’s structural engineering background also includes work on military structures, foundation systems, swimming pools, and structural observations. She has designed projects utilizing wood, steel, masonry (CMU and URM), concrete (including piles, superstructures, retaining walls, and swimming pools), cold‑formed steel (light‑gauge), bamboo, and shipping container conversions. Prior to joining YA Group, Emily worked as an engineer for a manufacturer of pre‑qualified structural steel moment frame and structural steel braced frame lateral systems. She is active in the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) and has held leadership roles with the Disaster Emergency Services, Women in Structural Engineering, and Image/PR committees. Emily has presented webinars for SK Ghosh, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the International Code Council (ICC) LA Basin Chapter, SEAOC, and NCSEA on topics including lateral systems, balcony evaluations, and wildfire‑related structural impacts. In 2025, she received the SEAOSC Above and Beyond Award for her contributions to the SEAOSC reconnaissance effort.

Credentials & Certifications

  • Professional Engineer (PE)
  • CalOES SAP Evaluator

Representative Consulting Assignments

  • Fire Loss Residence | Malibu, California | Wildfire/Urban Fire Damage Assessment — Evaluation of retaining wall and residence foundation for potential repair and re-use. Design of retaining wall supporting the road above, new two-story residence on piles. Residence includes custom steel staircase and custom roof deck guardrails.
  • Condominium | Sherman Oaks, California | Damage Assessment — Evaluation of damage to interior finishes due to an adjacent construction project.
  • Multi-Family Residential Building | Alhambra, California | Structural Damage Assessment — Evaluation of masonry retaining walls at subterranean parking including leaking water, discoloration, and fungus development.
  • Residence | Malibu, California | Remodel — Structural design and remodel to existing three-story residence and detached one-story garage. Residential remodel including multiple steel moment frames, custom wood-clad "floating" staircase, rooftop spa, new concrete piles and grade beams, reinforcement of existing seawall, detachable bridge to garage, garage conversion to two-story with green roof and sloped exterior walls. Unable to access the rear of the property due to the beach location, thus installation of the new concrete pile foundations was performed by lifting the three-story residence to allow clearance for the drill rig.
  • Residence | Coachella, California | New Residential Property — Structural design of main residence, 2 cabana buildings, boat house/garage, stable building, bar building, 2 acre man-made lake, moat channels, segway bridges, entry bridge, swimming pool with infinity edge and swim up bar, and spa.
  • Commercial Building | Santa Monica, California | Retrofit — Retrofit to commercial building with multiple gravity and lateral systems including: CMU, URM, clay block, wood shearwall, and steel moment frame.
  • Commercial building | Beverly Hills, California | New Building and Retrofit of Adjacent Building — Tenant improvement to existing building, and adjacent new building/addition. Existing building includes exposed arched glu-lam beams, new steel exterior trellis area.
  • Commercial Building | Irvine, California | Shipping Container Structure — New two-story offset shipping container with roof deck and with seismically separate moment frame elevator tower and detached one-story restroom building within a business park in Irvine, CA. The two-story building includes two exterior steel staircases leading to a cold-form steel built-up roof deck, shallow basement space, and cantilever top container.
  • Classroom Building | Los Alamitos, California | New Military Building — New classroom building and adjacent space truss on a military base. The classroom building includes a glass block wall periodic table.

Professional Experience

  • Project Manager | YA Group | 2025 - Current
  • Structural Steel Field Engineer | Simpson Strong-Tie | 2023 - 2025
  • Senior Engineer | Taylor & Syfan Consulting Engineers | 2009 - 2023
  • Design Engineer | MHP | 2008 - 2009

Publications and Presentations

  • Frazier, Emily Morris & Bolser, TJ, Vancouver, Canada, Innovative Steel Connection Systems, Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) Steel Connect (2025)
  • Frazier, Emily Morris & Saifullah, M. Khalid, San Diego, Calfornia, When wildfires turn into urban fires - Learning from Los Angeles Fires, Proceedings of the 2025 SEAOC Convention (2025)
  • Frazier, Emily Morris, Framing the Future: The Evolution of Moment Frames, SE Blog of Simpson Strong-Tie
  • Frazier, Emily Morris, The Decks are NOT Stacked Against Us: How SB721 and SB326 Can Help Californians Reinforce Structures and Save Lives, SE Blog of Simpson Strong-Tie

Education

  • Bachelor of Science (BS), Architectural Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
  • Post Baccalaureate, Certificate of Business Administration, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, California

Affiliations

  • Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC)

Professional Licenses

  • Civil Engineer - Arizona - License #82318
  • Professional Engineer (PE) - California - License #81129
  • Civil Engineer - Nevada - License #33071
  • Civil Engineer - New Mexico - License #30203
  • Civil Engineer - Texas - License #154135