Jeff Robertson was born and raised in the sunbaked Southern Arizona desert yet adapted almost instantly to the cold snowy winters of Alaska. He likes the environmental extremes and the engineering challenges they present.
He graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson and joined Schneider Structural Engineers a few months after the firm was established. He and his wife never planned to make Tucson their permanent home, so when the firm was ready to expand, he volunteered to lead the way. The opportunity was in Alaska.
One of his first projects was the seismic retrofit of the McKinley Tower in downtown Anchorage, damaged in the largest recorded earthquake in North America. A traditional repair had been started two years earlier, then abandoned as too costly. Schneider Structural Engineers performed a new seismic evaluation and value-engineered the 14-story cast-in-place concrete landmark. Jeff had studied with the engineering professor who pioneered fiber-reinforced polymers that could be applied like wallpaper and quickly attain the strength of steel. This innovative solution proved cost-effective and preserved the tower’s historic profile. This project was later recognized by the International Concrete Repair Institute and received the Award of Excellence for a seismic retrofit.
That project established the firm’s reputation for finding new solutions to engineering challenges in Alaska. Under Jeff's leadership, the Anchorage office has engineered projects from Kodiak Island to the Arctic Circle, including military, education, medical, office, retail and religious facilities. He has built lasting relationships by working closely with contractors and architects to meet the demands of building construction schedules and building functions.
Jeff likes the challenge of supporting the architect’s designs with engineering solutions that withstand earthquakes, high winds and heavy snow loads. His wife and four children embrace the rugged Alaskan lifestyle. They recently adopted a Native Alaskan (Yup’ik) baby girl.
“We never would have thought of Alaska. But this is exactly what we were looking for. It’s unique. And Alaska is an awesome state to practice structural engineering.”
— Jeff Robertson