About LARSA, Inc.

LARSA, Inc. develops advanced software for the analysis and design of bridges and structures. Our mission has been to provide our clients with the best structural and earthquake engineering software along with dedicated support and an ability to adapt ourselves to our clients' unique and changing engineering needs. We are sharp, agile, and committed. LARSA, Inc. was founded by Dr. Ali Karakaplan. Our main office is in New York, USA.

The LARSA structural analysis engine has been in commercial use for over 25 years. It was originally developed to perform nonlinear static analysis of structures that have large displacements such as suspension and cable stayed bridges and guyed towers. LARSA began and still is an innovator in structural analysis software. We were the first to offer an individual PC-based DOS structural analysis package with geometric nonlinear analysis capabilities in the 1980s, the first to Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s, the first to offer elastic/perfectly plastic pushover analysis and a sparse solver in a software package of its kind in the late 1990s, and the first to offer robust time-dependent staged construction analysis in the 2000s. Today we remain alone in our ability to stay ahead of the structural analysis curve.

Dr. Ali Karakaplan, Principal

Dr. Karakaplan founded LARSA, Inc. and continues to lead the company and be his usual charismatic presence at trade shows throughout the United States. He holds a B.Sc. degree from Middle East Technical University and Eng.Sc.D. from Columbia University. Lately Dr. Karakaplan has taken up the hobby of race car driving.

Ali Koch, Director of Research, Development, and Support

Koch joined LARSA, Inc. in 2000 and today oversees most software development and technical support. (He is known by his last name because he shares his first name with Dr. Karakaplan.) He holds a master's degree in computer science from the City University of New York. He is said to be able to type separate emails with each hand, drink coffee, and juggle textbooks, all at the same time.

Joshua Tauberer, Director of Software Architecture

Josh joined LARSA, Inc. in 2000 and has directed the development of the user interface and an upcoming major update to the LARSA 4D analysis engine. Josh holds a master's degree in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. Josh calls himself a “civic hacker” and develops software for government transparency when he is not working on LARSA.