• Overview of EERI Awards | 2008 Award Winners | Past Recipients | Honors Committee

The annual Distinguished Lecture Award of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is awarded to members of the Institute to recognize and encourage communication of outstanding professional contributions of major importance for earthquake hazard mitigation. The contributions of the recipient and the topic of the Distinguished Lecture should be of broad interest to the membership and may range from research to public policy development. The award is established to communicate developments on topics of major significance for earthquake hazard mitigation.

The recipients shall prepare an address on the agreed topic for presentation as the Distinguished Lecture at the upcoming EERI Annual Meeting. This lecture shall be subsequently presented as a nationwide series of lectures throughout the year. The lecture shall be published in Earthquake Spectra (<20 pages). Each recipient shall receive a framed citation and travel costs for presentation of the lecture.

Nomination and Selection Prodedures

Nomination Protocol

1. Nominations shall be requested from the membership via the EERI Newsletter. Nominations shall be requested in the time interval between the second annual Board Meeting and the Annual Meeting of the Institute.
2. All nominations shall be submitted in written format to the Executive Director and chair of the Honors Committee with the understanding that if nominees are selected for recommendation to the Board then written citations (~ 1/2 page) will be requested.
3. Upon receipt of nominations, nominators shall receive a letter of appreciation from the Institute, but nominees shall remain confidential pending formal selection and award of the honor.

Selection Protocol

1. Candidates shall be reviewed and selected annually by the Honors Committee for recommendation in confidence to the Board of Directors. The Honors Committee shall meet bi-annually, once at the Annual Meeting of the Institute, and once in September or October, following the third annual Board Meeting in August.
2. Conflict of interest and bias in the selection of awardees shall be avoided with the utmost of care. Nominees for any of the awards that are also serving as members of the Board of Directors, the Honors Committee, or the Editorial Board for Spectra, shall be precluded from all deliberations concerning the selection of candidates for the award for which they have been nominated. Should preclusion of a Board Member or Committee Chair be required, Board and Committee activities required to nominate and select candidates for the award shall be chaired by an ad hoc chairperson selected by other members of the Board or committee. All oral and written deliberations concerning selection of the ad hoc chairperson and candidates for the corresponding award shall be kept in the strictest of confidence from award nominees.
3. Because this award is to be granted each year, a nominee and two alternates shall be recommended to the Board each year. Candidates shall be selected for recommendation by the Honors Committee at their meeting at the Annual Meeting of the Institute.

Award Protocol

1. The recipient shall be notified prior to the Annual Meeting by the President of the Institute.
2. The award shall be announced and presented at the EERI Annual Meeting.
3. The award together with pictures of the recipient shall be announced in the Newsletter.
4. The recipient shall receive
   • a framed citation
   • publication in Earthquake Spectra
     
   • travel costs for presentation of the lecture at the EERI Annual Meeting and subsequently at appropriate institutions
   • an honorarium in the amount of $2500 for the presentation of the lecture to a minimum of 5 student chapters, in addition to the initial lecture presented at the EERI Annual Meeting
   • honoraria for lectures given to Societies, Organizations or other Institutions shall be arranged with the host institution
5. Citation materials for recipients selected by the Board at their last meeting of the year shall be reviewed immediately by the Executive Director in order that they might be resubmitted to the original authors, if necessary, for improvement in time for printing, framing, and presentation at the EERI Annual Meeting.