The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) is pleased to announce that the 2024 Outstanding Paper Award has been awarded to Eyitayo Opabola and Kenneth Elwood for their paper “Seismic design of concrete structures for damage control,” published in Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 40, No. 3 (August 2024). 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.
According to the award citation, “Opabola and Elwood address a critical gap between current building codes and society's expectations for post-earthquake recovery…The paper's approach of simplifying performance-based concepts into design criteria while maintaining technical rigor represents the kind of research needed to advance earthquake-resistant design and meet societal expectations.”
Eyitayo (Tayo) Opabola (M.EERI 2020) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the design and evaluation of civil infrastructure under extreme loading conditions.
Tayo obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He earned his B.E. in Civil Engineering and M.S. in Structural Mechanics from Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Russia. He was the recipient of the 2023 EERI Shah Family Innovation Award.
Kenneth (Ken) Elwood (M.EERI 1994) is a Professor at the University of Auckland and currently serves as Chief Engineer (Building Resilience) for New Zealand Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment and the Natural Hazards Commission. He is involved in research and provides policy advice in relation to the seismic risk of existing buildings and design of new buildings. Ken received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002, M.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995, and BASc from the University of British Columbia in 1993.
Ken has previously served on the EERI Board of Directors and as Chair of the EERI Learning from Earthquakes Committee. He was the 2022 EERI Distinguished Lecturer.
For more information about the Outstanding Paper Award, visit the EERI awards and honors page here.
