Past-President
Biography
Farzad Naeim is vice president and general counsel at John A. Martin and Associates, Inc., consulting structural engineers headquartered in Los Angeles, California. He holds doctorate degrees in both engineering and law and is a registered civil and structural engineer in California; a member of California bar, and a patent attorney.
A member of EERI since 1983, Naeim’s five year term as the editor of Earthquake Spectra expires at the end of 2007. He has served EERI as vice president, a member of Board of Directors, and chair of Special Projects and Initiatives and Nominations committees. He is currently a member of the Honors and Publications Policy committees. In addition to his EERI activities, Naeim is a member of industry advisory boards to UCLA, USC, and CSUN civil engineering departments, a director of COSMOS, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Southern California Earthquake Center.
Naeim has received numerous awards for his contributions to earthquake engineering, the latest one being the 2007 Fazlur Khan Medal Award by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
Vision
EERI is indeed a unique organization. Where else can one find such a fascinating mixture of professionals and academicians from various disciplines? In my opinion, expansion of broader horizons for EERI and further enhancing of its multidisciplinary attributes are essential elements of long-term success for EERI.
George Housner made two statements that I will never forget. First, that in earthquake engineering, the young are the exciting force and the old are damping. There is a profound concept hidden in this humorous statement. EERI needs to actively seek the wisdom of its old guard, those who have been around earthquake engineering for a long time, who have had a leading hand in making EERI what it is today, and ask them for their active and frank advice on how to handle future challenges. This could be achieved by treating the veteran members as a council of elders providing seasoned guidance to the organization. EERI is also blessed with a new generation of very talented and hardworking young members of various disciplines. A glimpse at the list of Shah Family Prize recipients shows that we have a group of fantastic future EERI leaders coming up. The active young members should also be treated as a council of advisors who provide EERI with exciting new directions for the future. They can dare to dream bigger than we can, and we should fully utilize that capability. We should redouble our efforts in attracting new members, particularly younger members and students to EERI and expand the number and quality of EERI student chapters as guarantors of the continued vitality of EERI.
The second statement by George Housner was that the EERI acronym does not accurately represent the nature of the organization we have. EERI is not just about earthquakes, not merely about engineering, not solely focused on research, and it is really a broad membership organization rather than an institute. What we have learned from earthquakes can have a profound influence on natural and man-made hazard mitigation of practically all kinds. We need to expand and strengthen our ties to and collaboration with organizations that are focused on non-earthquake hazards, share our experiences with them, and learn from theirs. A broad coalition is the only way to attract direly needed and neglected levels of funding and attention. Something is wrong when the federal funding for EERI’s Learning from Earthquakes program, which has been distinguished as one of a handful of outstanding engineering achievements of the 20th century, is drastically slashed year after year.
EERI is known as the worldwide authority in earthquake engineering. Its various publications are invariably treated as representing the highest standards of professionalism and knowledge. EERI has forged close working relationships with similarly situated national organizations of many countries. While we need to concentrate on addressing the needs of our members, the majority of whom are U.S. based, we cannot underestimate the value of international cooperation with individuals and organizations located outside this country. A glimpse at the pages of Earthquake Spectra and post-earthquake reconnaissance reports is sufficient to reveal the tremendous contribution of our international colleagues to this organization. After all, we are all in this together.
