Episode 79: Ruth Gordon Schnapp
Ruth Gordon was born on September 19, 1926 in Seattle, Washington. She loved math and music, and skipped a few grades growing up. After graduating she applied to engineering schools and got accepted at Stanford. When she started at Stanford, she was one of 15 women in her engineering courses. By year two there were only three left. She graduated in 1948 with a degree in civil engineering and was the only women to graduate with that degree that year. She continued on to do her masters in structural engineering at Stanford. While at Stanford, she met her husband Michael Schnapp through mutual friends. They were married in September of 1949. She and Mike were avid sailors and were on sailing teams and members of the Golden Gate Yacht Club for many years. She had a hard time finding a job at first, but was hired by Isadore Thompson in 1950. She then went on to work at other large firms like Bechtel and Western Knapp. In 1953 she took the exam to become a certified civil engineer and then went to work at the California Office of the State Architect for 29 years. During this time she worked on designs for schools and hospitals for earthquake resistance. In 1959, Ruth decided to take the exam to become a certified structural engineer. She passed on the first try which made her the first female certified structural engineer in the state of California. It would be 20 years before another woman passed the exam. In 1984, Ruth left her job at the state to open her own structural engineering firm called Pegasus Engineering. With her own firm, Ruth worked on checking the earthquake safety of many hospitals and lots of other big projects in the Bay Area like SF General, Marin General, Palace of Fine Arts, Legion of Honor, and San Quentin to name a few. She closed her firm and retired in 2001. During her retirement, she would knit sweaters for her sailing team. On January 1, 2014, Ruth passed away at 87 years old.
Caryatid: Taylor Funk
Taylor grew up in Southern California and was always interested in earthquakes, so she decided to study structural engineering. She got her BS in Civil & Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and then went to UT Austin to get her masters in Structural Engineering. She now works at the firm Structural Focus where she works on seismic retrofits and historic renovations. She works on a variety of projects including commercial buildings and educational facilities. Some of her more notable projects are the Ole Hanson Beach Club, the Sony Pictures Akio Morita building, and the Scripps College New Residence Hall. She’s also part of her firm’s ‘Back 2 Business’ initiative which helps businesses in LA get back to working after a large earthquake.
References
DeBakcsy, Dale. “Ruth Gordon Schnapp, California’s First Woman Structural Engineer.” Women You Should Know®, 14 Aug. 2019, womenyoushouldknow.net/ruth-gordon-schnapp-first-woman-structural-engineer.
Lewis, Anna M. “Ruth Gordon Schnapp” Women of Steel and Stone: 22 Inspirational Architects, Engineers, and Landscape Designers. 137-144. United States: Chicago Review Press, 2017.
Ruth Gordon Schnapp, interviewed by Deborah Rice, Profiles of SWE Pioneers Oral History Project, Walter P. Reuther Library and Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, 15 March 2006.
SEAOSC - Member Public Profile. www.seaosc.org/Sys/PublicProfile/33585321.
Structural Focus. “In Conversation With Taylor Funk, PE | Structural Focus.” Structural Focus | Better Buildings, by Design., 27 June 2017, structuralfocus.com/blog/in-conversation-with-taylor-funk-pe.
