James L. Stratta

James Louis Stratta (September 1, 1920 - April 23,1994) was an American structural engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, noted for his contributions to earthquake engineering and forensic engineering. Together with Albert T. Simpson, formed Simpson, Stratta and Associates in 1952, which was responsible for large-scale office parks, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities. In 1978 Stratta became an independent forensic consultant, where he worked on the 1978 Hartford Civic Center roof collapse and the 1979 Kemper Arena roof collapse. From 1952 to 1955 he taught courses on structural and seismic design in the School of Architecture at University of California, Berkeley. He served as president of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) in 1962.

Early life James Stratta was born on September 1, 1920, in Berkeley, California, the son of Irene and Emilio Stratta, who had immigrated from Italy in 1920. He grew up in the North Beach section of San Francisco, attending Galileo High School, from which he graduated in 1938. He attended junior college in San Francisco and transferred to University of California, Berkeley in 1940, earning a BS Civil Engineering in 1943.