S1E3 - AI, Open Source, and the Evolving Engineer w/ Brooks Smith

In this episode, Owen Keenan sits down with Brooks Smith, Chartered Structural Engineer, open-source contributor, and Head of Engineering R&D at ClearCalcs.Brooks shares his unconventional career journey, from testing software at Ansys to conducting forensic investigations at the Empire State Building, before moving into cold-formed steel design and engineering platform development. Together, they explore how the engineer’s toolkit is evolving, from spreadsheets and hand calcs to cloud-based systems, AI-driven workflows, and data-informed design standards.Whether you’re a design engineer, software-savvy practitioner, or just curious about the future of engineering, this episode dives into the mindset and tools shaping our profession.⏱️ Episode Timestamps:0:00 – Introduction1:20 – Brooks Smith’s background5:40 – Open-source projects and programming journey7:20 – Transition into structural engineering10:20 – Evolution of engineering tools over time17:50 – How tools have improved practice22:01 – Defining AI in the context of structural engineering26:25 – AI’s role in structural design workflows29:17 – What is emergent design?31:36 – How innovation shapes standards and practice33:47 – ClearCalcs tools and what’s next in development38:30 – AI host summary and closing thoughts🔗 Resources & Mentions:🔧 ClearCalcshttps://www.clearcalcs.com/?utm_source=owenkeenan&utm_medium=partnerships&utm_campaign=podcast-feature👤 Brooks Smith – LinkedInwww.linkedin.com/in/smithbh💻 Open-source toolsanaStruct (GitHub)pyCUFSM (GitHub)📽️ CFSEI Presentation Slides (2024)Google Slides📄 CFSEI AbstractRead the Abstract