News of the Institute
Don't Forget to Renew for 2022!
Renewal season is here, and we hope that you’ve found your EERI membership valuable this year. With your EERI membership, you’ll continue to gain opportunities to build community and connections, expand your knowledge of the earthquake risk reduction field, and grow your leadership skills. We hope you take a moment to renew your membership for 2022, so that we can do more (and even better!) together in the years ahead.
We have more in store for you in 2022, including a growing portfolio of virtual content and the highly anticipated 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering . If there’s anything that we can do to enhance your membership experience, drop us a line at eeri@eeri.org. There is still time to renew your membership and remain a part of our passionate and dedicated community. It couldn’t be easier—just click here to renew!
EERI Leadership Communique
As the year draws to a close, I am grateful for what EERI and our dedicated members have accomplished in 2021. The Board has established a new mission statement and strategic plan to accelerate how EERI provides members with the technical knowledge, leadership and advocacy skills, collaborative networks, and multidisciplinary context to achieve earthquake resilience in their communities worldwide. We have a new, more user-friendly website. Numerous volunteer committees, like the Public Policy & Advocacy and Younger Members Committees, have continued to connect together virtually and exercise leadership in our profession. We have produced more than 18 webinars, hosted 31 virtual Friedman Family Visiting Professional lectures, and held the first-ever virtual annual meeting–yielding learning opportunities for over 3,200 members and non-members alike! We have reached nearly $2,100,000 in gifts and pledges to our Learning From Earthquakes Endowment, nearly 52% towards our goal, with contributions by so many dedicated members, like you. We’ve also been humbled by the generosity of our colleague Clarence Allen, whose groundbreaking gift demonstrates such confidence in EERI’s ongoing work to reduce earthquake risk in the years to come. Amid so many challenges, this has still been a year of remarkable progress and accomplishment.
Of course, I am also already looking ahead to events in 2022, especially the 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (12NCEE) where I hope to see our many members in-person (at last!). It will be a joyful summer to connect again with so many of you after several years apart.
To ensure that we can meet together carefully and safely in the new year, EERI is continuing to monitor and respond to the evolving situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and adjust our practices appropriately. Our priority remains to ensure the safety of members, partners, staff, and guests. I appreciate your willingness to support these efforts at future EERI in-person events in 2022.
Until further notice, all EERI regional chapter or committee in-person events and activities will require participants to sign a liability waiver to attend. Student chapter events will continue to follow the guidelines of their academic institution.
12NCEE will take place as an in-person event in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 27 to July 1, 2022. The 12NCEE Organizing Committee and EERI’s staff and volunteers are all working hard to make 12NCEE an effective and enjoyable in-person event while prioritizing your safety. Our decisions and preventive measures are guided by the requirements and recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and federal, state, and local health authorities. View the 12NCEE COVID-19 Policy here.
As the situation continues to evolve, so will our strategy for COVID-19 risk mitigation. Full vaccination, or proof of a negative PCR test within 48 hours, will be required to attend all 12NCEE events, and masks will be required except when eating, drinking, or delivering a talk. EERI will also work with venue staff to ensure social distancing is possible. The Salt Lake Palace Convention Center, our conference venue, is extremely spacious, and rooms will be set up to encourage 3-6 ft of distance between those attending sessions. All lunches will be provided as boxed lunches that attendees can eat in the conference venue or carry outside, and lunch breaks will be two hours long to permit extra time for distanced eating as well as participation in meetings and networking events. For more information, visit the COVID-19 portion of the FAQ on the conference website. I welcome continued feedback and suggestions from members on these efforts.
I wish you a joyful holiday season with family and friends, and remain hopeful to connect with you in 2022 at the 12NCEE.
Heidi Tremayne
Executive Director
Registration is Open for 12NCEE!
Registration is now open for the 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering! Join us next summer in Salt Lake City, Utah for this milestone conference reuniting the earthquake community. Discounted early bird registration rates are available now through February 2022.
12NCEE will bring together professionals from a broad range of disciplines, including architecture, civil and structural engineering, seismology, geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, business, public policy, the social sciences, regional planning, emergency response, and regulation. Over 600 technical papers and more than 35 special sessions are planned, as well as a series of lectures, meetings, tours, and networking events. The 2022 EERI Annual Meeting and EERI’s Annual Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition will take place concurrently. Learn more about the conference—including our COVID-19 precautions and policy—at the 12NCEE website.
2020 Outstanding Paper Award
EERI is pleased to announce that the 2020 Outstanding Paper Award has been awarded to “Development of a global seismic risk model,” Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 36, No. S1, pp. 372-394, by Vitor Silva (M.EERI 2014), Desmond Amo-Oduro, Alejandro Calderon (M.EERI 2020), Catarina Costa, Jamal Dabbeek, Venetia Despotaki, Luis Martins, Marco Pagani, Anirudh Rao, Michele Simionato, Daniele Viganò, Catalina Yepes-Estrada, Ana Acevedo, Helen Crowley (M.EERI 2008), Nick Horspool, Kishor Jaiswal (M.EERI 2007), Murray Journeay, and Massimiliano Pittore.
The Outstanding Paper Award recognizes authors of Earthquake Spectra papers judged to be outstanding contributions to earthquake hazard mitigation. Papers must have made a significant impact on the profession, provided a significant advance in the state-of-the-art or understanding of a particular topic, be of exceptional technical quality with concise and informative illustrations, and be well-written for a broad audience.
The award citation notes that the development of a Global Seismic Risk Model was a mammoth undertaking that involved hundreds of people and for the first time presented a detailed view of seismic risk at the global scale. For some developing countries, this was the first time that a seismic risk map was produced, and the associated country profiles are being used by the local authorities. The development and delivery of a modern global seismic risk model required unprecedented technical, algorithmic, coding, databasing, and collaborative research and development—all well documented by Silva et al. Noting its importance, all three reviewers recommended this seminar paper for an award. This paper was released as a part of the 2020 Earthquake Spectra Special Issue titled "GEM's 2018 global hazard and risk models." Though it was released only last year, it has already garnered 27 citations and more than 1,700 views on the Earthquake Spectra SAGE portal.
Vitor Silva is the Seismic Risk Coordinator at the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, and an Associate Professor at the University Fernando Pessoa in Portugal. To learn more about Silva and the rest of the authorship team, read the news post on the EERI website here.
Back to top >Students
Rodrigo Costa et al. Receive 2021 Graduate Student Paper Award
EERI is pleased to announce that the 2021 Graduate Student Paper Award has been awarded to “Agent-based model for post-earthquake housing recovery," Earthquake Spectra Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 46-72, by Rodrigo Costa (M.EERI 2018), Terje Haukaas (M.EERI 2005), and Stephanie Chang (M.EERI 1994). The award recognizes a paper published in Earthquake Spectra that has a graduate student as the first author. The award citation commends the paper for its combination of "a rigorous quantitative framework with the important societal goal of modeling and mitigating loss of housing following major earthquakes." Rodrigo Costa is a post-doctoral scholar at the Stanford Urban Resilience Initiative who works at the interface between engineering and social sciences, examining how communities' physical, economic, and social systems interact to exacerbate disaster risk and further socioeconomic and racial inequalities. He holds a Ph.D. in Earthquake Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and a master’s and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Brazil.
The honorable mentions for the 2021 Graduate Student Paper Award are:
- Mohamad M Hallal (M.EERI 2020) and Brady R Cox (M.EERI 2004), "An H/V geostatistical approach for building pseudo-3D Vs models to account for spatial variability in ground response analyses Part I: Model development," Earthquake Spectra Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 2013-2040.
- Irene Alisjahbana (M.EERI 2020) and Anne Kiremidjian (M.EERI 1976), "Modeling housing recovery after the 2018 Lombok earthquakes using a stochastic queuing model," Earthquake Spectra Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 587-611.
To read more about Costa and the award, visit the news post on the EERI website here.
2022 Seismic Design Competition: Rules Now Available
The Student Leadership Council has published the rules for the 2022 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition, which will take place in conjunction with the 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Salt Lake City from June 27 to July 1, 2022. The Seismic Design Competition is always one of the highlights of the EERI Annual Meeting, and in 2022 we are excited to return to an in-person event with shaking-table tests of balsa wood models. The problem statement for this year's competition focuses on Salt Lake City and the seismic risks posed by the Wasatch, West Valley, and Taylorsville Faults. Student teams will be tasked with designing a complex tall building in downtown Salt Lake City that also meets green and resilient building standards to minimizes the carbon footprint. Visit the SLC website for announcements, competition rules, proposal requirements, the SDC schedule, sponsors, and other information.
Back to top >Learning From Earthquakes
LFE Endowment Campaign Surpasses 50% of Goal
EERI is delighted to announce that thanks to contributions from members like you, we have reached $2,096,171 in gifts and pledges to our Learning From Earthquakes (LFE) Endowment—nearly 52% of our goal! From all of us at EERI, we want to say thank you to everyone who has donated so far—our work is made possible by your support and dedication. Together, we can ensure the continuation of a robust and dynamic LFE program for generations to come! To learn more about this landmark campaign, visit the LFE website here.
Back to top >Announcements
IAEE Launches Masters Series
The International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) has launched a new initiative named the “Masters Series.” The motivation is for IAEE to connect the past, present, and future of earthquake engineering and secure knowledge transfer across generations. The concept is to connect legendary figures in earthquake engineering with contemporaries.
The series consists of three components: Read the Masters (monographs written by legendary figures in earthquake engineering and distributed during the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE), in which their efforts on the advancement of earthquake engineering research and practice are documented); Meet the Masters (lectures during the WCEE featuring with legendary figures, in which we can learn the details of how they worked in various places and interacted with other people to lead the research and practice of earthquake engineering); and Greet the Masters (casual opportunities when students and young researchers converse with legendary figures during the WCEE, and learn their experiences and exchange ideas in a relaxed and friendly manner). The monographs and lectures from 17WCEE are now available as pdfs and videos on the Masters Series website here.
Back to top >News of the Profession
Links to Recent News and Views
- 7.3 magnitude earthquake hits off coast of Indonesia (CNN)
- Recycled Tennis Balls Could Protect Buildings from Earthquakes (Scientific American)
- S.F.’s plans to protect the Embarcadero from earthquakes and sea level rise could transform the Ferry Building (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Structural engineers want stronger penalties for errors within industry (Radio New Zealand)
- Utah engineers make a 3D model of BYU's campus (Fox13 Salt Lake City)
- Center touts smart city quake system (Taipei Times)
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