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News of the Institute

Links to Recent News & Views

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute

Founded in 1948, EERI's mission is to reduce earthquake risk by (1) advancing the science and practice of earthquake engineering, (2) improving understanding of the impact of earthquakes on the physical, social, economic, political, and cultural environment, and (3) advocating comprehensive and realistic measures for reducing the harmful effects of earthquakes.

News of the Institute

11NCEE Wrap-Up

11ncee collageMore than 1,200 earthquake professionals representing 26 disciplines, 37 countries around the world, and 47 states convened in Los Angeles June 25-29, 2018 for the Eleventh National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE), co-organized by EERI and the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). We gratefully acknowledge the 11NCEE's 40+ generous sponsors, 50 exhibitors, 100s of volunteers, and our magnificent organizing committee members who made this conference happen. Check back in The Pulse on July 15  for more details about the program, insights and outcomes. In the meantime, please enjoy the photos and read the media coverage:

IMG 20180629 133649 1 1

  • California Today: Making Earthquake Safety More Intelligible (New York Times) This week, as they do every four years, hundreds of earthquake experts huddled in Los Angeles in dimly lit rooms where complicated mathematical formulas representing such things as seismic energy and building strength were projected onto large screens. To outsiders these discussions can be all but incomprehensible. And some experts who gathered at the conference here this week say that is symptomatic of a larger problem: communicating with the public. But big questions remain: How resilient are buildings in earthquake-prone areas? Should we build stronger ones? NYT writer Thomas Fuller interviews Mary Comerio (M.EERI,1988) and others at the 11NCEE. Read More
  • A Seismic Change in Predicting How Earthquakes Will Shake Tall Buildings (New York Times) A synopsis of research presented at the 11NCEE includes quotes from plenary speaker Norman Abrahamson (M.EERI,1984), conference co-chair Jim Malley (M.EERI,1990), SCEC director John Vidale, Ibbi Almufti (M.EERI,2011), C.B. Crouse (M.EERI,1976), and Thomas H. Heaton (M.EERI,1995). Read more 
  • New Simulations Break Down Potential Impact of a Major Quake by Building Location and Size (Phys.Org) With unprecedented resolution, scientists and engineers are simulating precisely how a large-magnitude earthquake along the Hayward Fault would affect different locations and buildings across the San Francisco Bay Area. A team of researchers lead by David McCallen (M.EERI,1990) are presenting three scientific papers describing their recent simulations at this week's 11NCEE. Read more

If you attended the 11NCEE please be sure to complete the feedback survey - click here.

Photo Credits: Marshall Lew (M.EERI,1978) and Christian Millan.

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Student Leadership Council Spotlight

2018 EERI Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition! And the Winner is...

11NCEE MP11589Nearly 350 students participated in the 15th Annual EERI Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition (SDC) last week at the 11th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE) and 2018 EERI Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Organized by the EERI Student Leadership Council (SLC), this was the largest SDC ever, with 40 teams representing 8 countries around the world, 16 U.S. States, and Puerto Rico.

The competition kicked off on Tuesday with preliminary judging of team presentations and posters. Wednesday was filled with excitement as teams put their structures to the test on the shaking table. "Shake Day" was live-streamed on Facebook receiving over 29,000 views and nearly 14,000 social media interactions, and broadcast throughout the day on a 360 degree digital display called a "Media Aquarium" that was located on the second floor of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. On Thursday, the SDC students attended a Post-Earthquake Reconnaissance Workshop (PERW) and walking tour of downtown Los Angeles. Thursday evening, team members shed their competition tee shirts for fancy suits, dresses, and dancing shoes, and had a grand time at a Hollywood-style gala generously sponsored by CSI.

On Friday, the SLC and SDC student teams joined 11NCEE meeting attendees for the closing plenary session and SDC awards ceremony led by Masters of Ceremony, SLC Co-Presidents Daniela Martinez and Yolanda Lin. Michael Mahoney (M.EERI, 1996) of FEMA announced the winners.  First place was awarded to the team from the University of California, Berkeley ("Cal"). Second and third place went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, respectively. The latter travelled to the competition all the way from Romania. 

11NCEE MP19979Several additional awards were presented during the ceremony. Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (Dominican Republic) won both the Charles Richter Award for Spirit of the Competition sponsored by Kinemetrics, and Honorable Mention for Best Architecture. The University of British Columbia received both the Egor Popov Award for Structural Innovation sponsored by Degenkolb, and the CSI Best Communication Skills Award. In addition to winning first place, UC Berkeley also took home Honorable Mention for Seismic Performance. The winner of the tee shirt design competition was Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Bryce Berrett of Brigham Young University won the Scavenger Hunt.

The EERI SLC wishes to thank the seven generous sponsors who made the 15th annual competition possible: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Computer and Structures, Inc.(CSI), Trimble, Inc., Degenkolb Engineers, Kinemetrics, California Earthquake Authority, and Oregon State University (OSU).  

 

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Regional Chapter News

EERI San Diego Regional Chapter Events: Early Bird Rates End Soon

The EERI San Diego Regional Chapter is organizing these upcoming events to be held in August. Special discounts apply when registering for both events. Early bird pricing ends July 24, 2018.  Register Now!

Venue
San Diego State University
Hardy Memorial Tower, Room HT-140
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182

A 1-Day Short Course

“Using DEEPSOIL: An equivalent linear and nonlinear seismic site response analysis software platform”
Presenter: Prof. Youssef Hashash (M.EERI,1999), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Thursday, August 23, 2018, 8:00am – 5:00pm

This short course will introduce the latest release of DEEPSOIL (V7) for seismic site response analysis (SRA). The course will provide attendees with a background on SRA and the development of the DEEPSOIL platform. It will cover the various modules available including motion processing, equivalent linear analysis, and nonlinear analysis with and without pore water pressure generation. The course will also include a number of hands-on exercises to gain familiarity with the development of model input and evaluation of analysis results. 

Kenji Ishihara Colloquium Series on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering 

“Seismic Settlements”
Keynote Speakers: Prof. Jonathan Bray (M.EERI,1990) (UC Berkeley) and Prof. Kohji Tokimatsu (M.EERI, 1994) (TSRC, Japan)  
Friday, August 24, 2018, 8:00am – 5:00pm

This colloquium series will focus on seismic settlements – the topics are oriented towards geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, engineering geologists, architects, civil engineers, researchers, and students. Speakers set to present at this colloquium include Prof. Jonathan Bray (M.EERI,1990) (UC Berkeley), Prof. Kohji Tokimatsu (M.EERI,1994) (Tokyo Soil Research Co.), Prof. Youssef Hashash (M.EERI,1999) (UIUC), Prof. Susumu Yasuda (M.EERI,1995) (Tokyo Denki University), Craig Comartin (M.EERI,1987) (CDComartin, Inc.), Stephen Harris (M.EERI,1986) (SGH), among other professionals and professors from the US and Japan.

REGISTER HERE

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Publications

Earthquake Spectra: Preprint Manuscripts

spectra 150Four (4) preprint manuscripts have been posted to the Earthquake Spectra website prior to formal publication.
The papers to be published are:

  • Local site effects and incremental damage of buildings during the 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence by Anastasios Sextos (M.EERI,1998), Raffaele De Risi, Alessandro Pagliaroli, Sebastiano Foti, Federico Passeri (M.EERI,2017), Ernesto Ausilio, Roberto Cairo, Maria Chiara Capatti, Filiberto Chiabrando, Anna Chiaradonna, Shideh Dashti, Filomena De Silva, Francesca Dezi, Maria Giovanna Durante (M.EERI,2017), Silvia Giallini, Giuseppe Lanzo, Stefania Sica, Armando L. Simonelli and Paolo Zimmaro (M.EERI,2015)
  •  Parametric Catastrophe Bonds for Tsunamis: CAT-in-a-Box Trigger and Intensity-based Index Trigger Methods by Katsuichiro Goda (M.EERI,2009), Guillermo Franco (M.EERI,2005), Jie Song and Alin Radu(M.EERI,2012)
  • Taiwan-Specific Model for VS30 Prediction Considering Between-Proxy Correlations by On-Lei Annie Kwok (M.EERI,2003), Jonathan P. Stewart (M.EERI,1994), Dong Youp Kwak (M.EERI,2014) and Pang-Li Sun
  • Regional Multi-severity Casualty Estimation Due to Building Damage Following a Mw 8.8 Earthquake Scenario in Lima, Peru by Luis Ceferino (M.EERI,2013), Anne Kiremidjian (M.EERI,1976) and Greg Deierlein (M.EERI,1989)

To read all current preprint manuscripts posted, visit Earthquake Spectra preprints.
If you have questions about Spectra, contact Managing Editor Liz Stalnaker at liz@eeri.org

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EERI Donor Appreciation

Thank you EERI's Major Donors! (2017-2018)

EERI is grateful for the generosity of our donors who support the mission of the Institute through gifts to the Endowment Fund, Learning from Earthquakes, and other programs and projects.  Your donations will assure the Institute’s continuing leadership in the earthquake engineering profession. The list below reflects donors of $200 and above received in 2017 and 2018 (alpha by first name).

A.J. Eggenberger Douglas Nyman John Coil R. Jay Love Sissy Nikolaou
Akira Wada Edward Kavazanjian,Jr. Julio Kuroiwa Ramon Gilsanz Stan Zagajeski
Anshel Schiff Farhang Ostadan Keiko Morita Ricardo Dobry Susan Tubbesing
Anthony Shakal Fred Turner L. Thomas Tobin Richard Eisner Thalia Anagnos
Asadour Hadjian G. Rodolfo Saragoni Linda Emery Richard Henige Thomas O'Rourke
Ashraf Habibullah  George Mader Loring Wyllie Jr. Richard Quittmeyer  Tim Hart
Barry Welliver Haresh Shah Lucy Arendt Robert Bachman Timothy McCrink
Carl Josephson Ian Buckle Marko Schotanus Robert Hanson Woody Savage
Craig Davis Jack Moehle Mary Comerio Robert Scher
Cynthia Perry James Goltz Mehri Ansari Ronald Eguchi
Dana Aleshire James Jirsa Mineo Takayama Said Bolourchi
David Breiholz James Kelly Paul Gilbert Saif Hussain
David Friedman Jelena Pantelic Paul Jennings Sandra Hyde
David Frost Jesse Richins Peter May Shamsher Prakash
Donald Wells Joe Hollstein Phillip Gould Sharon Wood
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Links to Recent News & Views

Links to Recent News & Views

Six (6) recent articles, stories, opinions, or reports from around the web.

1oneCould an Earthquake Emoji Save Lives? Experts Seek a Universal Symbol for Ground Shaking (Seattle Times) “We need an emoji so we can communicate quickly with much larger groups of people,” said Dr. Sara McBride (M.EERI,2017), a disaster researcher who works with the USGS. “People can process pictures faster than words, and not everybody is fluent in English.” Read more

2twoAt Risk in a Big Quake: 39 of San Francisco’s Top High Rises (New York Times) A report by the U.S. Geological Survey includes a list of buildings that are potentially vulnerable to a large quake. Some of San Francisco’s most prominent high rises are on the list. The article quotes EERI members Gregory Deierlein (M.EERI,1989), Keith Porter (M.EERI,1998), and others. Read more

3threeAll Risk, No Reward: Funding Disaster Mitigation Can Prove Difficult (GreenBiz) In the last few years, a number of organizations have called for a substantial increase in investment in measures to mitigate against the risks and consequences of natural disasters and climate change. However, investment in mitigation against risk has been relatively small, slow and uncoordinated. Read more

4fourNo, World Cup Fans Didn't Trigger an Earthquake. Here's Why. (National Geographic) Mexico's win over Germany rocked Mexico City. But not literally. No synchronized celebration has ever been able to trigger a true seismic event. Read more

5fiveConstraining Central Washington’s Potential Seismic Hazard (EOS) Fault geometry and slip rate analyses show deformation in the Yakima Fold Province accelerated in the Pleistocene and has remained elevated, offering new insights into earthquake recurrence intervals. Read more

6sixLA Funds Earthquake-Warning Mobile App (Daily Breeze) On Friday, June 29, plans were approved by the Los Angeles City Council, which cleared funding for the project. Designed to work with ShakeAlert, the council approved the negotiation of a contract with AT&T and the GRYD Foundation for the design, creation and deployment of the Early Earthquake Warning System Mobile Application. Read more

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Subscribing Member Spotlight

Trimble: EERI Silver Level Subscribing Member

trimbleR b 500px RGB 300dpiTrimble is an EERI Silver Level Subscribing Member and generous sponsor (Underwriter Level) of the 11NCEE, providing technology and support to the 15th Annual Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition.

Trimble has developed a short survey for customers that are interested in testing their earthquake building code compliance knowledge entitled,  “Test your Building Seismic Instrumentation Code Knowledge.” Think you can ace this quiz? Click here to find out.

About Trimble: Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming a broad range of industries such as agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation and logistics. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB), visit:  www.trimble.com.

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Calendar

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