EERI committees are an important means for members to advance our mission in reducing earthquake risk. Committees provide many opportunities for you to shape EERI’s impact and enhance your leadership skills. Join, and even lead, one of our open committees.

Open Committees

• Professional Development
• Public Policy and Advocacy
• School Earthquake Safety Initiative
• Younger Members 
• Student Leadership Council
• Student Awards
• World Housing Encyclopedia

Closed Committees

• Annual and National Meeting Advisory
• Earthquake Spectra Editorial Board
• Finance
• Honors
• Nominating
• Shah Family Innovation Prize Selection
• Learning from Earthquakes
• Oral History
• Friedman Family Visiting Professionals
• Housner Fellows

 

Open Committees

To join or learn more about an open committee, please contact the appropriate staff lead. 

 

Professional Development 

Charge:

1. Manage EERI’s technical webinar series
2. Identify appropriate webinar topics and speakers
3. Prepare webinar plans and identify timing of webinars
4. In carrying out these actions, the committee may coordinate with other committees particularly the Earthquake Spectra Committee, to identify timely webinar topics 
5. Host at least six technical webinars each year

C0-Chairs: Mervyn Kowalsky and Paolo Zimmaro | Staff Lead: Elizabeth Angell

 

Public Policy and Advocacy 

Charge:

1. Work with the Board of Directors to craft Institute policy positions
2. Periodically review significant state and federal policy initiatives regarding seismic safety
3. May host a forum at Annual Meetings to discuss public policy issues related to seismic safety. 

Chairs: Zahraa Saiyed and Chris Poland | Staff Lead: Heidi Tremayne (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Learn more about the committee’s work

 

School Earthquake Safety Initiative 

Charge:

1. Serve as a leader in the science, public policy, and advocacy of school earthquake safety. SESI is a global and collaborative network of diverse, expert, and passionate professionals who are committed to creating and sharing knowledge and tools that enable progressive, informed decision making around school earthquake safety.

Chairs: Lucy Arendt and Guillermo Diaz-Fanas | Staff Lead: Silvana Cobos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Learn more about SESI

 

World Housing Encyclopedia

Charge: 

1. Oversee the continued development of the World Housing website and establish linkage to the Learning from Earthquakes website
2. Recruit participants to complete forms on worldwide construction types and building practices to post on the website
3. Establish global links with the earthquake engineering professional community to promote strong collaborative efforts to reduce the seismic risks and losses from earthquakes through better understanding of earthquake-resistant construction practices. 

Co-Chairs: Reza Imani and Shannon Spiers | Staff Lead: Maggie Ortiz-Millan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Learn more about the WHE

 

Younger Members 

Charge:

1. Explore ways of encouraging students and young professionals to join the Institute and become involved in EERI programs and activities
2. Make recommendations to the Board about what policies it might implement to promote greater representation of younger members so that the Institute remains a vital and effective organization
3. Develop social and technical activities for younger members and students at the Annual Meeting and throughout the year to foster their increased participation. 

Co-Chairs: Dustin Cook, Jack English, and Diane Moug  | Staff Lead: Maggie Ortiz-Millan
Learn more about the YMC. To join, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Student Leadership Council

Charge: The members of the EERI Student Leadership Council represent their university’s student chapter to:

1. Promote earthquake engineering practice and research among undergraduate and graduate students
2. Gain practical experience and exposure to earthquake engineering
3. Develop a community and network between EERI student chapters and student members 

Co-Presidents: Preetish Kakoty and Michael Morano | Staff Lead: Maggie Ortiz-Millan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Visit the SLC website for eligibility guidelines.

 

Student Awards 

Charge:Focus on secondary and university education to:

1. Promote and conduct a student paper contest for the EERI Annual Meeting
2. Annually, coordinate with the Executive Director to review applications for the EERI/FEMA Graduate Fellowship and select a recipient

Chair: Troy Morgan| Staff Lead: Silvana Cobos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Learn more about these student award competitions

 

Closed Committees

 

Annual and National Meeting Advisory Committee

Charge: The Annual and National Meeting Advisory Committee provides feedback to the Local Organizing Committees and EERI staff. 

Members are selected based on past involvement in EERI Annual Meeting planning and activities, especially chair of a local organizing committee. 

Staff Lead: Heidi Tremayne (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

 

Earthquake Spectra Editorial Board

Charge: Manage the production of Earthquake Spectra, including:

• Identifying appropriate material, including special issues
• Providing peer review of submitted and solicited manuscripts
• Approving manuscripts for publication
• Working with the Executive Director and Managing Editor to arrange for editorial guidance and final publication and
• Monitoring and enforcing Institute policies regarding commercial product promotion
• Selecting the Outstanding Paper Award

The Board appoints the Earthquake Spectra Editor to a term of five years. A multidisciplinary editorial board serves staggered three-year renewable terms. The editor determines the size of the Editorial Board and its activities.

Editor: Jack Baker | Staff Lead: Managing Editor (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

 

Finance 

Charge

1. Prepare the annual operating budget for the Institute and submit it to the Board of Directors for approval at the fall meeting of the Board. 
2. Monitor the income and expenses of the institute. Chair to submit progress reports to the Board of Directors during regularly scheduled meeting, and recommend modifications to the operating budget of the Institute if necessary. 
3. Review and make recommendations to the Board about proposed expenditures and projected budgets for all non-operating and nonrecurring items or activities of the Institute (i.e., those items not included in the approved annual operating budget). 
4. Review and recommend to the Board of Directors the investment or disposition of reserve funds. 

The Board appoints the members. 

Chair: Lucy Arendt, EERI Secretary/Treasurer | Staff Lead: Maureen Wilmot

 

Honors

Charge: The Honors Committee is in charge of the selection of the following awards:

• Annual EERI Distinguished Lecture Award
• Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Medal
• EERI Honorary Membership
• The George W. Housner Medal
• The EERI Younger Member Award (YMA)

The committee must submit to the Board written justification for one nominee and one alternate for each award, with the exception of the EERI Honorary Membership. The committee must submit to the Board two nominees and one alternate for EERI Honorary Membership. All justifications are presented to the Board during the third board meeting of each year.

Appointment of Chair and Members 

The Chair is nominated by members of the Committee from the current committee membership and approved by the Board to serve a one-year term, and is typically selected from members of the committee in their third year of service. Total membership is composed of six members. One of the six members must be a past YMA recipient. Members serve a maximum term of three years. New members are selected annually by the Board of Directors, from nominations provided by the Committee, with retiring member(s) rotating off the Committee at the time of the EERI Annual Meeting. EERI members eligible to serve on the Committee include: past presidents of the Institute, past members of the Board of Directors, Honorary Members, and past recipients of the Housner Medal, Distinguished Lecturer Award, Alquist Special Recognition Medal, William B. Joyner Lecture, the Bruce Bolt Medal, and the EERI Younger Member Award (YMA).

Chair: Thomas O’Rourke
Members:Chris Poland, Mike Mahoney, Masayoshi Nakashima, and Ezra Jampole 
Staff Lead: Silvana Cobos

 

Nominating

Charge: Nominate a President-Elect and two members of the Board of Directors under the following guidelines:

1. No member of the Nominating Committee may be nominated by the Committee to any EERI office
2. A nominee must have been an active member of the Institute for at least five years at the time of her/his nomination
3. No individual may be nominated to more than one Board position in any two-year period
4. The Board should at all times be representative of the geographic (national) and multidisciplinary mix of the Institute’s membership
5. Nominees will be submitted to the Board for announcement to the membership by August 1
6. The Board will provide guidance in the policy directive issued to the Nominating Committee that at least one international member should sit on the Board and should an affiliate member be nominated as a candidate and stand for election to the Board, that member’s status will be upgraded to regular membership.

The Board appoints the chair and members.

Chair: Danielle Mieler 
Members:Ivan Wong, Abbie Liel, Troy Morgan, David Cocke
Staff Lead:Silvana Cobos

 

Shah Family Innovation Prize Selection 

Charge: Solicit and review nominations and select individuals to receive the prize. The award will be presented at the EERI Annual Meeting. 

Appointment of Chair and Members: The Board appoints the chair and members.

Chair: Charles Menun 
Members: Helen Crowley, Abbie Liel, Scott Brandenberg
Staff Lead: Silvana Cobos

 

Learning from Earthquakes

The mission of the Learning from Earthquakes program is to accelerate and increase learning from earthquake-induced disasters that affect the natural, built, social and political environments worldwide. The Board appoints the chair.

Charge 

1. Advise the Executive Director and LFE Staff in the administration of the program, including the various components funded by external agencies
2. Help the program achieve its mission and goals via feedback and refinement of ongoing activities, as well as recommendations for and development of new activities
3. Plan for and coordinate post-earthquake reconnaissance studies, including immediately after important events and in periods following events during which recovery and resilience lessons can be learned
4. Develop and conduct reconnaissance training programs
5. Ensure that the EERI membership is aware of LFE activities and how members can participate in the LFE program
6. Report progress to the EERI Board annually, or on a more regular basis when appropriate 

Co-Chairs: Michael Mieler and Eduardo Miranda | Staff Lead: Maggie Ortiz-Millan
Learn more about LFE.

 

Oral History 

Charge:Responsible for the Connections series of publications, which are oral histories of individuals who:

1. have made an outstanding career-long contribution to earthquake engineering
2. have valuable first-person accounts to offer concerning the history of earthquake engineering and
3. have backgrounds, considering the series as a whole, that appropriately span the various disciplines that are included in the field of earthquake engineering.

The committee sends its recommendations to the Board of Directors for approval.

Chairs: Thalia Anagnos and Laurie Johnson | Staff Lead: Elizabeth Angell 
Learn more about the oral history series

 

Friedman Family Visiting Professionals

Charge 

1. Improve the understanding of students and faculty of the active professional earthquake engineering and risk reduction community; 
2. Enhance the students’ understanding of the multi-disciplinary nature of earthquake engineering; 
3. Increase the professional’s understanding of the educational process; 
4. Utilize the unique intellectual resources of EERI to broker useful relationships; and 
5. Use the resources of EERI to help students understand and consider professional careers associated with earthquake engineering and earthquake risk reduction. 

The executive committee operates with support of EERI staff and the chair. The Board appoints the chair.

Chair: David Friedman  | Staff Lead: Silvana Cobos
Learn more about the Friedman Family Visiting Professionals Program.

 

Housner Fellows 

The Housner Fellows program is a leadership development program for emerging young and mid-career leaders. The Board appoints the chair and members.

Chair: Lindsey Maclise | Staff Lead: Heidi Tremayne
Learn more about the Housner Fellows Program.