We are a structural engineering firm that brings sensible solutions to complex or otherwise unique structures. We are serious about seismic, driven by curiosity, and focused on impact both within our industry and the communities in which we serve.
Named Best Structural Engineering Firm of the West by Architect’s Newspaper in 2021, Nous Engineering is a certified Small Business Enterprise (SBE) licensed in over 20 states. View our Core Services and Certifications here.
TEAM
Elizabeth Mahlow, PE
Principal
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Liz is a founding partner at Nous Engineering. Through her structural engineering practice, she has worked to strengthen collaboration and diversity among practitioners in order to create best possible solutions for the project and community. Projects include large hospital campuses and schools in Africa to affordable housing in her Los Angeles community, emphasizing seismic design and client education of building performance outcomes.
Matthew Melnyk, SE
Principal
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Matt is a founding partner of Nous Engineering. Matthew has been adjunct faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture for over 10 years and has focused his coursework on bridging the gap between architectural design and structural performance. He brings 20+ years of professional experience in the construction industry, focusing on long-span structures, structural dynamics, and advanced computation.
Omar Garza, SE
Principal
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Omar joined as a partner soon after the company was founded. His experience includes advanced nonlinear analysis for the retrofit of existing structures, risk assessment, and peer review. He is on the ASCE 41 – Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Structures code committee. Omar has also designed new structures using a range of traditional and nontraditional materials and products.
Jonathan Buckley, SE
Principal
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Jonathan Buckley is a principal at Nous Engineering, based in San Diego. He is a licensed structural engineer with 15 years of professional experience in the construction industry with a focus on identifying and mitigating seismic deficiencies in existing structures including K-12 campuses, higher education, or essential services facilities.
Andy Yang, PE
Senior Engineer
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Andy brings an extensive range of project experience from custom residences to warehouse high pile rack analyses. Since joining Nous in 2019, he continues to focus his design with cost and constructability in mind. Andy received his Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the California State Polytechnic University Pomona.
Andy was born and raised in sunny Southern California. He enjoys board games, cooking, and eating with family and friends on his time off.
Anna Smith-Price
Senior BIM Specialist
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While at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Anna was a member of Structural Engineering Students for Haiti (SESH), including a week volunteering in country. She soon started an internship with the structural engineering non-profit Build Change in the summer 2010 in Port-Au-Prince.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering (ARCE) from Cal Poly, she worked with Miyamoto International Inc., Haiti for four years. She focused on seismic risk assessments, structural analysis / design, construction supervision and training for retrofits, repairs, and new construction projects. In 2015, Anna attended the USC College of Architecture Heritage Conservation Summer Program due to her passion for preservation. Shortly after, Anna decided to return to the United States and started at Nous in May of 2017, loving every minute of it!
Anna Tam, PE
Associate
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Anna holds a Master of Science from University of California, San Diego in Structural Engineering. Since joining Nous in 2015, she has been gaining industry experience in structural analysis and design, specifically seismic and wind design of special structures, seismic retrofit, as well as new custom residential structures in the Los Angeles hillsides.
She grew up in Los Angeles and enjoys photography and longboarding along beach boardwalks, stopping only for coffee or beer.
Jiakun Gao, PE
Design Engineer
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Born and raised in China, Jaikun moved to Los Angeles to pursue graduate studies. In 2020, he graduated from the University of Southern California with a Master of Science degree in Structural Engineering. Jiakun joined the Nous team after working as a Structural Designer in LA, gaining hands-on experience in the industrial and institutional sectors.
Outside of work, he's a big fan of skiing, swimming, and playing board games.
Kristine Vic D. Victor, PE
Senior Engineer
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Kristine joined Nous in 2016 after earning a Master of Science degree in Structural Engineering from University of California, San Diego. She excels at analyzing and detailing a variety of structures built with wood, concrete and steel.
Mengzhu He, SE
Senior Engineer
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Mengzhu earned a Master of Science Degree in Structural Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining Nous, she gained broad experiences on a wide variety of building types including schools, hospitals, industrial, commercial, malls, etc. in Chicago and Southern California.
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Michael joined Nous Engineering in 2016 after earning Master of Science in Structural Engineering from University of California, San Diego. He is excited to be able to apply his academic knowledge to solve real world engineering problems.
Outside of work, Michael loves to play basketball with his friends and enjoys traveling to new places.
Michael Mah, PE
Senior Engineer
Mit Gala, SE
Associate
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After earning a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from Mumbai, Mit moved to Los Angeles in 2015 for the Master of Science program in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Structural and Earthquake Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. Joining Nous in 2016, Mit enjoys working on special structures.
Mit loves attending concerts and is extremely passionate about soccer.
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After making the long journey from Rhode Island the summer of 2017, Rachel landed in sunny Los Angeles where she started working at Nous. She has a background in construction and loves to volunteer her time for Community Arts Organizations.
Outside of work, she has dedicated her life to studying Community Development, Art History and trying all the food.
Rachel Driver
Office Administrator
Tony Castillo
BIM Manager
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Tony is a seasoned BIM Modeler who has spent over 12 years specializing in Revit Modeling. Prior to joining Nous as their BIM Manager in 2020, Tony worked as a Senior BIM Modeler at Thornton Tomasetti and as a Structural Drafter at Walter P Moore & Associates, where he helped innovate major projects. When he is not working, Tony dedicates his time to photography, snowboarding, or traveling.
Justin Rowe
Nous Production
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Justin is a structural drafter/modeler who provides additional BIM resources. With some years under his belt, he brings knowledge and experience across a wide range of sectors to our projects and always ensures quality and delivery are at the forefront.
Like many other staff at Nous, he has an eye for Architecture and Engineering and is always striving to ensure ‘smooth collaboration’ is achieved.
Outside of project delivery, he juggles family life along with his passion for the great outdoors.
Timothy Kanu
Designer
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Timothy started interning for Nous Engineering in the summer of 2021 and has not left since. He moved to Los Angeles in 2023 after earning an Architectural Engineering degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Due to his background in Architecture school, he enjoys modeling and analyzing unconventional structures with complex geometries.
Timothy spends the rest of his time reading books and working on personal projects that help him express his creativity and hone his appreciation for design.
Jeff Roi, SE
Principal
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Jeff Roi is a principal at Nous Engineering, based in Los Angeles. He is a licensed structural engineer with 16 years of professional experience in the construction industry, consisting of seismic evaluation of existing civic and commercial buildings, large scale seismic retrofit, adaptive reuse, and high-end tenant improvement in the science and technology sector.
Serious about Seismic
Our talented core group of engineers, designers, and modelers take great care when evaluating a project’s design, constructability and value. Whether taking old buildings and giving them new life or building new, we are thoughtful in delivering sensible structural solutions that inspire.
Based in Los Angeles, we have particular expertise in seismic analysis and design, often conducting risk assessment and evaluations for earthquake resilience. This is particularly important when working with non-ductile concrete and unreinforced masonry (URM) retrofits, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse where we identify the best way to upgrade structures for seismic load all the while preserving a design’s intent and structural integrity.
With technical rigor, we use the latest collaboration tools, BIM platforms, and advanced analytical software ensuring safety and due diligence above all else.
Driven by Curiosity
Nous is unique in its ability to take more theoretical concepts and ideas that often entail complex shapes and forms and turn them into elegant yet practical design solutions ready for fabrication and construction. We use inclusive thinking to combine different methods and approaches across the fields of art, science, engineering, and design.
This approach is bolstered by our Principals’ involvement as lecturers, instructors, and advisors at progressive universities and architectural institutions such as USC, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Woodbury University, and SCI-Arc where Partner Matt Melnyk has held a faculty position for more than a decade teaching structures to undergraduate and graduate students.
This differentiates us in our ability to take theoretical concepts and ideas that often entail complex shapes and forms and turn them into elegant yet practical design solutions ready for fabrication and construction.
Focused on Impact
Nous is committed to making a positive impact on our industry and the world. Whether working on affordable housing, backyard homes and ADUs or hospitals and schools in Africa, we are encouraged and invigorated in our contribution to building thriving and sustainable buildings and neighborhoods.
We are proud to work alongside its many clients and collaborators, many of which are small, women-led, and/or minority-owned businesses. Together, these women are actively shifting standards, changing mindsets, and disrupting the status quo.
We are committed to empowering a new, more diverse, and equitable generation of engineers through mentorship and leadership involvement in various organizations such as AIA Women in Architecture (WiA), SEAOSC Women in Structural Engineering (WiSE), Cal Poly’s Architectural Engineering Advisory Council, and the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.
CORE SERVICES
• Structural Engineering
• Pre-Design Consulting
• Construction Support
• Fabrication Consulting
• Material Research
• Seismic Risk Assessment
• Non-Ductile Concrete Retrofit
• Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Retrofit
• Historic Preservation
• Adaptive Reuse
CERTIFICATIONS
We are a Small Business Enterprise (SBE) certified by the State of California’s Department of General Services (DGS).
STATE LICENSES
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming
