Susan Tubbesing was recognized for her outstanding leadership, organizational skills, and professional services to EERI members and Board of Directors, and to the earthquake and natural hazards community in general, while serving as the Institute’s first Executive Director, beginning in 1988. EERI’s preeminence as THE international multidisciplinary forum for earthquake risk reduction is a product of her leadership and stewardship. During her nearly 22 years of service, Susan has increased EERI’s involvement in research, public education, and seismic safety policymaking and has distinguished herself as an informed and persuasive leader and as a champion of earthquake loss reduction in the U.S. and abroad. Under her direction, EERI’s membership grew and its budget increased to over $1 million. In addition to organizing memorable annual, national, and international meetings, Susan has served an advisor to the EERI President and Board of Directors, has hired and overseen the EERI staff, and has maintained good connections with the news media. She also organized and managed the first interdisciplinary earthquake clearinghouse after the Northridge earthquake that today serves as the model for collection of post-disaster field observations.

Because of her excellent relationships with national and international funding agencies, EERI has expanded its activities during her tenure. Susan has been successful in securing funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support EERI publications, programs for students and young professionals, technical seminars for engineers, and the web-based Mitigation Center. The National Science Foundation supports the exemplary Learning from Earthquakes Project for post-earthquake field investigations. She has served as the principal investigator for six US-Japan conferences on urban earthquake hazard reduction and, more recently, two international conferences on urban disaster reduction.

Since 1988, Susan has walked the halls of Congress in support of NEHRP reauthorization; testified at state and national legislative hearings; and served on numerous boards and advisory committees for earthquake engineering centers and organizations throughout the country. Susan’s collaborative spirit, keen vision, and good humor have made her an articulate and influential advocate for earthquake loss reduction nationally and internationally. Her achievements were recognized last year when she received the 2008 Alfred E. Alquist Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Earthquake Safety given by the California Earthquake Safety Foundation.

Les Youd was recognized for his important teaching and research on earthquake-induced soils behaviors, and his efforts to apply that knowledge to building and critical facility projects. Les is Professor of Civil Engineering at Brigham Young University and is one of the most eminent international expert researchers on soil liquefaction and ground failure. His best-known papers concern the prediction of the magnitude of lateral spreading.

Les has divided his 40-year career between BYU and the U.S. Geological Survey. He developed procedures to map zones of potentially liquefiable material that help city planners in land use management, and was one of the first to install instrumentation and then gather data during an actual liquefaction event. He documented the occurrence of liquefaction in gravelly soils during the Borah Peak, Idaho earthquake. Prior to this, gravels were thought to be non-liquefiable. Les developed criteria for predicting lateral ground displacement in seismic events, which are widely used and cited today by practicing engineers and researchers. His field experience also led to the development of a wedging system used to position seismic accelerometers in boreholes, a device he has patented. He developed preliminary relationships between lateral ground displacement and bridge and building damage.

Les is a past EERI director. He performed post-earthquake investigations following 11 major earthquakes on 4 continents, and led the EERI reconnaissance team that investigated the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey, earthquake. He chaired the Steering Committee of the 6th International Conference on Seismic Zonation, organized by EERI in 2000. The author of more than 150 publications, Les was named to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 and was made an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2006. He has been honored with ASCE's 2002 H. Bolton Seed Medal, the Utah Engineering Educator of the Year, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Superior Performance Award, and BYU's Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award. Les earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from BYU and a doctorate in civil engineering from Iowa State University. He also completed post-doctoral studies at Imperial College in London. He served as the first chair of the Utah Seismic Safety Commission, 1994-97.