News and Events
2026 EERI Northern California Chapter Election
It’s time again to vote for new EERI NC Board Members! Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election. The election period will be from January 22, 2026 - February 10, 2026.
Download the CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES & STATEMENTS
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
Please complete the online ballot to cast your vote for the open positions on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Chapter of EERI. The open positions are for President, Secretary/Treasurer, and 5 Directors at-large, each for a term of two years.
The 2026 EERI NC Chapter election will only accept ballots submitted online. At the start of the election period, all EERI NC Chapter members who are eligible to vote and have paid their 2026 dues will receive an email with a link to the anonymous members-only online ballot. You must submit your online ballot by 5:00 PM PT on Thursday, February 10, 2026.
Election results will be announced by email.
CANDIDATES
For the Office of President:
- Sarah Atkinson
For the Office of Secretary/Treasurer:
- Mohamed Talaat
For the Position of Director at-large:
- Laurel Mathews
- Luis Ceferino
- Bahareh Heidarzadeh
- Saeed Fathali
- Katerina Ziotopoulou
Download the CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES & STATEMENTS
CURRENT & OUTGOING BOARD MEMBERS
The EERI Northern California wants to recognize and thank the following outgoing Board members who have served the Chapter for several years, especially during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Their service is greatly appreciated:
- Dick McCarthy, President 2023 - 2025
- Volkan Sevilgen, President 2021 - 2022 and Past President 2023 - 2025
- Bruce Maison, Secretary/Treasurer 2019 - 2025
- Emel Seyhan, 2021 - 2024
- Mehmet Unal , 2019 - 2023
- Donald Wells, 2019 - 2025
Board Directors Sarah Atkinson, Tracy Becker, and Tal Feinstein will remain on the Board in 2026.
QUESTIONS?
If you have questions, please contact your Chapter Board at
The goal of EERI's NC School Safety Committee is to educate school administrators and teachers and help high seismic risk schools reduce their risk and minimize life loss in a big earthquake. We hope to do this through a combination of outreach programs, risk surveys, emergency planning assistance, disaster response training, and self-help equipment anchorage programs. The committee is developing a resource list of volunteers for the following activities:
The Concrete Coalition, continues to build a database of older concrete buildings in northern California cities with the help of our Chapter, SEAONC members and other volunteers. Already, we’ve learned many lessons in the process of evaluating the risks to our communities from older concrete buildings.
A committed group of volunteers has created a project that is documenting earthquake retrofits performed in the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. This team has launched a new community mapping site to collect this information as a way to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake and to determine how our communities have reduced their earthquake risk in the last 20 years.
It is time to vote for new EERI NC Board Members! Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election. Election results will be announced by email on Thursday, November 19.
On Wednesday November 18th, 2009 elections were held to select new members for the board of directors. There were 5 open positions: president-elect, secretary-treasurer, and three director positions. The list of directors is summarized in the table below. The newly elected members are show in bold.
The 2009 “Innovation and Exemplary Practice in Earthquake Risk Reduction” Awards were given during the December 2nd Holiday Party for the chapter. This year's award recipients represent best practice examples of putting the science and engineering of earthquakes to work and demonstrate valuable contributions of our various disciplines and pursuits. They both embody the spirit of EERI.
Are YOU looking for ways to network with important and influential people in the earthquake engineering community?
Are YOU wondering how to get involved in the EERI NC Chapter?
It is time to vote for new EERI NC Board Members! The 2010 ballot also contains a proposed revision to Article III of the chapter bylaws that is up for approval by the chapter membership. Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election.
The EERI Northern California Chapter urges you to support San Francisco's Proposition A, which represents a significant advance in promoting seismic safety and earthquake resilience in the City.
EERI NC Board Elections - Votes Due October 29, 2010
The 2010 election came to an end on Friday October 29th. Sixty-six chapter members completed their online ballots to elect one new at-large board member and approve a change to the chapter bylaws.
The Chapter presented its 2010 "Innovation and Exemplary Practice in Earthquake Risk Reduction" awards during the Dec. 2 holiday party at Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco. Each year the chapter gives two awards, to an individual and an institution, in recognition of their hard work and dedication towards the reduction of seismic risk in Northern California.
