List of Visiting Professionals

The 2025-2026 FFVP Program student chapter application is now open! Click here to apply. Applications are due Monday, November 24, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

• Geotechnical Engineers
• Risk Analysis, Lifelines, and Industrial Facilities
• Seismologists
• Structural Engineers
• Emergency Management
• Architecture

Geotechnical Engineers

Janna Bonfiglio, Principal Geotechnical Engineer, Kleinfelder, San Diego, CA

Ms. Janna Bonfiglio, PE, GE is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer and currently manages the geotechnical team for Kleinfelder’s San Diego Headquarters. She is the current President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) San Diego Chapter and is involved with several other professional organizations including the Geo-Institute of ASCE, American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), and United States Society on Dams (USSD) having given several presentations and serving in various roles with these organizations. She has over 11 years of experience as a geotechnical engineering consultant and has provided engineering and project management services for projects all over the U.S. as well as for several projects internationally.

Ms. Bonfiglio received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Virginia Tech in Civil Engineering in which time she became involved in earthquake engineering research projects. She continued specializing in the earthquake engineering field by joining Kleinfelder’s California Geotechnical Engineering team and has co-authored several papers and reports in the field of earthquake engineering including the San Diego Earthquake Planning Scenario. Most notably, Ms. Bonfiglio was selected as 2025 Leaders of Influence in Engineering by the San Diego Business Journal. This recognition highlights her leadership, technical expertise, and significant contributions to San Diego’s infrastructure and seismic resiliency. This was the second consecutive year Ms. Bonfiglio has been honored by the San Diego Business Journal where in 2024 she was honored as a Woman of Influence in Engineering. Other specialties of Ms. Bonfiglio’s include foundation design, slope stability analysis, project management, and other geotechnical aspects of design and construction.

Topics:

1. Seismic Challenges and Mitigation Methods for the San Diego Terminal 1 Replacement Program
2. Site-Specific Ground Motion Hazard Analysis per Current and Forthcoming Building Code Standards
3. Regional Seismic Hazard Mapping using GIS and Python Tools
4. Deterministic and Probabilistic Fault Rupture Displacement Hazard Analysis
5. Liquefaction Analysis, Consequences, and Mitigation Methods
6. Structural and Geotechnical Engineering Collaboration in Selection of Ground Motion Time Histories in for Non-Linear Time History Analysis

James Gingery, Chief Engineer, Keller North America, San Diego, CA

James (Jim) Gingery is a Chief Engineer at Keller where he manages a team performing engineering and design of ground improvement and geo-structures across the Western United States and beyond. He has broad experience in geotechnical engineering with specialization in soft ground, seismic hazards, soil-structure interaction and numerical modeling. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from San Jose State University, an M.S. in Geotechnical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering from U.C. San Diego. He’s a Professional Engineer in multiple states and a Registered Geotechnical Engineer in California. He is a member of the Deep Foundation Institute (DFI) Ground Improvement and Deep Soil Mixing Committees, and the ASCE Soil Improvement Committee. Jim has participated in earthquake reconnaissance missions in the 2002 Au Sable Forks, New Your earthquake and the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake in northern Baja California, Mexico. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 conference and journal papers. In 2015 he was awarded the Shamsher Prakash Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Geotechnical Engineering.

Dr. Gingery’s PhD research evaluated the effects of liquefaction on ground motions using empirical and numerical modeling approaches. He also participated in the French PRENOLIN nonlinear site response research program. His current research efforts are focused on the seismic analysis and design of rigid inclusion ground improvement and other ground improvement topics.

Dr. Gingery spent the first 20 years of his career working in consulting and for the past 8 years he has worked in design-build engineering for the largest specialty geotechnical contractor in the world. Prior to his engineering career, he was a factory sponsored skateboarder who appeared in magazines and videos, and toured the U.S. performing demonstrations and competing. He can offer students a broad perspective from his diverse experience in athletics, academia, consulting and construction.

Topics:

1. Surface fault rupture hazard mitigation with ground improvement and deep foundations.
2. Liquefaction hazard mitigation using ground improvement.
3. Seismic slope stabilization analysis and design using nonlinear deformation analyses.
4. Nonlinear bending behavior of rigid inclusion ground improvement and implications for seismic design.

Ramin Golesorkhi, Principal/Vice President and Director, Langan, San Francisco, CA 

He is a registered civil (California and New York) and geotechnical engineer (California) and a Fellow of ASCE. He is a principal/vice president and director of earthquake engineering services at Langan, an over 1,050-person geotechnical, environmental, and civil design engineering firm, with more than 30 years of experience in seismic analysis and foundation engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Tufts University and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Golesorkhi directs the development of seismic and geotechnical design criteria appropriate for industrial, residential, private and government office buildings, hospitals and healthcare facilities, bridges, elevated freeways and viaducts, base isolated structures, tunnels, and seismic strengthening of existing structures. He has developed seismic design criteria for performance-based design of structures since early 2,000’s and has been active in the development of seismic design criteria in building codes. He is one of the primary authors of Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Technical Guide on Performance-Based Seismic Design for Tall Buildings (2017). Some of his projects include: the new Asian Art Museum, numerous high-rise towers, a major refinery in Peru, AT&T Park, Levi’s Stadium, and the State office building in San Francisco. His experience stretches throughout the United States, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East.

Dina Hunt, Vice President and Chief Seismic Hazard Engineer, Gannett Fleming TranSystems, Sacramento, CA

Dina Hunt, PE is Vice President and Chief Seismic Hazard Engineer at GFT Infrastructure, where she leads the firm’s seismic group and specializes in the development of seismic design parameters for critical water and hydro-infrastructure. With over 20 years of experience, Dina’s group is nationally recognized for their expertise in site-specific seismic hazard evaluations, advanced ground motion modeling, and the application of seismic codes and design guidance.

Currently, as past President of the United States Society on Dams (USSD), Dina advocates for innovation, collaboration, and seismic resilience across the dam and levee community.

Dina’s fun fact: Dina has helped design infrastructure that can stand up to the Earth literally shaking beneath it—but her superpower might just be how she inspires people to stand strong, too. Whether it’s mentoring future leaders or shaping national conversations on seismic resilience, Dina doesn’t just build safety into dams and bridges—she builds it into people. (Just don’t catch her too early—she’s not a morning person, and coffee is a must.)

Topics:

1. Seismic Hazard Analyses (probabilistic and deterministic)
2. Seismic Hazard in Risk Analyses for Dam Safety
3. Development of Time Histories

Andrew Makdisi, Research Civil Engineer, Earthquake Hazards Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, CO

Dr. Andrew Makdisi is a research civil engineer at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geologic Hazards Science Center in Golden, Colorado. Andrew’s work deals broadly with seismic hazard and risk analysis and mitigation, with specific focuses on (1) seismic hazard and risk modeling to develop engineering design criteria and design parameters, (2) development of probabilistic methods to forecast earthquake ground failures, (3) use of physics-based numerical models and ground motion simulations to evaluate liquefaction hazards and other engineering demands, and (4) characterization of strong ground motion for engineering impacts analysis. As part of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, Andrew contributes to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) and Engineering and Risk project teams, where he was one of many co-authors to the 2023 USGS NSHM 50-state update and is engaged in ongoing seismic risk research work and collaborative efforts to adopt the NSHM into various seismic design guidelines. As part of these efforts, Andrew serves as a USGS liaison to and member of a number of seismic design development committees, including the Building Seismic Safety Council, ASCE 7 Seismic Subcommittee, and the AASHTO Committee on Bridges and Structures.

Andrew received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2012, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 2016 and 2021, respectively. During his Masters studies, he spent 2015 on a Valle scholarship and visiting researcher appointment at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. During his doctoral studies he was an EERI/FEMA NEHRP Graduate Fellow in Earthquake Hazards Reduction during the 2019-2020 academic year, and participated in the EERI Learning From Earthquakes Travel Study Program in New Zealand in 2019. He served as co-president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) student chapter at the UW, on the EERI Board of Directors for the Washington professional chapter from 2018 - 2022, and the EERI Student Awards Committee from 2022-2024. Andrew is a registered professional engineer in the state of California; his experience as a practicing engineer includes two years as a senior staff geotechnical engineer in Seattle, and one year as a staff geotechnical engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Topics:

1. Earthquakes and earthquake design: A history of seismic hazard modeling and its role in seismic safety policy in the United States
2. Soil liquefaction: probabilistic approaches for forecasting earthquake-induced ground failure
3. A primer on the science and engineering behind the USGS National Seismic Hazard Model
4. Using physics-based simulations to improve how we estimate the impacts of earthquakes on infrastructure

Jorge Meneses, Advisian, The Worley Group, San Diego, CA

Jorge Meneses is an expert in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. Areas of expertise include seismic hazard analysis, selection and modification of earthquake time histories, liquefaction and lateral spread evaluation and mitigation, deep and shallow foundations, seismic stability of earthworks, site response and characterization, numerical modeling and advanced geotechnical testing. Dr. Meneses specializes in seismic soil-structure interaction analysis, and analysis and design of pile foundations subjected to liquefaction and lateral spread. He has experience with seismic hazard evaluation and ground motions development in different earthquake environments. Dr. Meneses was the lead member of one of the GEER (Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance) missions to evaluate damage and seismic performance after the M9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake in April 2011. Dr. Meneses has research and working experience in USA, Japan, Peru, Venezuela, India, and Mexico. He has been involved in numerous projects serving as a technical lead in earthquake geotechnical engineering and foundation engineering for various markets including nuclear, energy, transportation, high rise buildings, commercial and industrial. He is currently a part-time faculty in the graduate school of San Diego State University and part-time instructor at the University of California San Diego Extension. He is the President and Founder of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) San Diego Chapter, Honorary Chair of the ASCE Geo-Institute San Diego Chapter, and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He was also a member of the California Seismic Safety Commission appointed by the state governor and confirmed by the state senate (2017-2021).

Topics:

1. Practitioner approach to site-specific seismic hazard evaluation
2. Development of earthquake ground motions for seismic deformation analysis of earthworks
3. Earthquake Safety for All: The challenge of reducing seismic risk in developing countries
4. Impact on practical design of low-probability events with large consequences
5. Significance of Earthquake Scenarios for Mitigation and Planning

Devjyoti Mitra, Director - Analytics & Modeling, Moody's, Newark, CA

Devjyoti Mitra is a Director in Analytics & Modeling at Moody’s (formerly RMS Inc.), specializing in earthquake engineering and geotechnical model development for catastrophe risk modeling and insurance applications. With over a decade of experience, Devjyoti leads the design and deployment of geohazard models, covering Vs30 site classification, basin and site period, liquefaction, landslide, and groundwater, that are integrated into Moody’s Global Earthquake Risk Platforms across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

His work focuses on building scalable, data-driven frameworks enhancing predictive accuracy, spatial coverage, and scientific rigor for regional and continental-scale earthquake models. These models support hazard and loss assessments for the Catastrophe modeling industry, enabling transparent calibration, rigorous validation, and actionable analytics for risk transfer, underwriting and portfolio management.

His approach emphasizes bridging scientific development with practical, real-world applications, ensuring that model updates are both technically sound and operationally relevant. He collaborates closely with industry and academic partners in addition to mentoring teams on geohazard mapping and spatial uncertainty, model integrations, and loss analytics.

Topics:

1. Geohazard Modeling for Catastrophe Risk: From Site Classification to Loss Analytics
2. Uncertainty in Earthquake Modeling: How Spatial Variability Shapes Risk Outcomes
3. Career pathways in earthquake engineering and risk analytics
4. Landslide risk in catastrophe models: exposure mapping and loss analytics
5. Modeling debris flow and shallow landslides: challenges and innovations
6. Liquefaction Modeling at regional and continental scales

Sissy Nikolaou, Leader of the Earthquake Engineering Group of the Materials and Structural Systems Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Dr. Sissy Nikolaou is the Leader of the Earthquake Engineering Group of the Materials and Structural Systems Division of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Earthquake Engineering Group (EEG) is one of four research groups in the Division, which serves as a world-class resource for developing, advancing, and deploying measurement science for reducing the risks to buildings and infrastructure lifelines from earthquake hazards. Nikolaou provides leadership for EEG to support global competitiveness of U.S. industry through innovations in building materials and construction technology and enhance the security, safety, and sustainability of the built environment across the nation. Her group also supports the National Construction Safety Team (NCST), and National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).

Nikolaou earned her 5-year Civil Engineering Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece on Structural Engineering, and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University at Buffalo with focus on Earthquake and Geotechnical Engineering. She has served as Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Applied Technology Council (ATC), and is an advisory member of the NSF-funded Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association. She is currently a Governor and Treasurer of the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE-GI), where she holds the Fellow status, and is member of the Executive Committee of the Infrastructure Resilience Division (ASCE-IRD). She enjoys developing and teaching graduate classes in Manhattan College where she serves as an Adjunct Professor. Her recognitions include receiving the Prakash Prize for Excellence, the WSP Technical Fellow of Earthquake Engineering distinction, and a Board Certification by the Academy of the Geo-Professionals (AGP).

She has led national reconnaissance missions around the world that brought together universities, agencies, and firms, following major earthquakes and hurricanes. She was part of the response/recovery work of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 Terrorist Attack and Hurricane Sandy, while she has played a key role in the development of new generation of seismic guidelines and frameworks for buildings, bridges, tunnels, and other lifeline infrastructure systems in the US and abroad. One of her passions is to support and inspire the new generation of engineers, and she is meaningfully involved with organizations that enhance the inclusion and equity of women, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other underrepresented groups in the engineering community. Nikolaou’s experience has highlighted the need to emphasize quality of life in developing solutions to earthquake, climate, and other human-induced problems. Her future oriented approach connects research and practice to innovate and improve standards which help communities bounce forward, rather than simply bouncing back, after an earthquake or other extreme events.

 Topics: 

1. Functional Recovery: The Next Frontier of Earthquake Engineering
2. Geo-Seismic Design: From Empirical Methods to Performance Based Frameworks
3. Learning from Success rather than Failures after Extreme Events
4. Soil-Structure Interaction: Basic Concepts and Future Direction

John Thornley, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, WSP USA, Anchorage, AK

John Thornley, PhD, PE, BC.GE is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer at WSP USA in Anchorage, Alaska. He has over 20 years of geotechnical and earthquake engineering experience. Recently, John was a co-lead for the EERI Learning from Earthquakes Reconnaissance effort for the November 30, 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake. John is currently the chair of the Municipality of Anchorage Geotechnical Advisory Commission. He has served as field manager of geotechnical studies and prepared recommendations for a variety of infrastructure projects including buildings, roads and airports, large liquefied natural gas and water storage tanks, pipelines, wind and cellular towers, and utilities. As part of John’s work across Alaska, he has been involved in seismic hazard studies, seismic site response analyses planning studies for large infrastructure buildouts, and cold regions and permafrost engineering. His design work includes ground improvement in liquefiable soils, deep and shallow foundations, slope stabilization, retaining structures, and embankments. One of John’s study areas relates to thawing permafrost and the resulting liquefaction hazard that can develop. John has led a variety of repair and post-earthquake mitigation projects in southcentral Alaska including repair work for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. John completed his MS focused in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Nevada Reno and a PhD focused in geotechnical earthquake engineering at University of Strathclyde Glasgow, evaluating the variability of earthquake site response within Anchorage, Alaska.

Topics:

1. Observations from the November 30, 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake.
2. Anchorage Geotechnical Advisory Commission – Engineers and Planners shared impacts on public policy.
3. Deep Dynamic Compaction – A case study on two buildings and how ground improvement works.
4. Liquefaction-related deep soil mixing ground improvement projects – lessons learned from design and construction.
5. Slope stabilization using ground improvement – Protecting a shoreline from an Alaska Subduction Zone earthquake.

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Risk Analysis, Lifelines, and Industrial Facilities

Ronald T. Eguchi, CEO and Co-Founder, ImageCat Inc., Long Beach, CA 

Mr. Eguchi is President and CEO of ImageCat, Inc., a risk management company specializing in the development and use of advanced technologies for risk assessment and reduction. He currently serves or has served on several Editorial Boards including the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s Journal SPECTRA. He is a past member of the National Research Council’s Disaster Roundtable whose mission is to identify urgent and important issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural, technological, and other disasters. He is a past member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey, a committee that reports to Congress on recommended research directions for the USGS in the area of earthquake hazard reduction. In 1997, he was awarded the ASCE C. Martin Duke Award for his contributions to the area of lifeline earthquake engineering. In 2006, he accepted an ATC Award of Excellence on behalf of the ATC-61 project team for work on An Independent Study to Assess Future Savings from Mitigation Activities that showed that a dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves the nation about $4 in future benefits. He was recognized by EERI as the 2008 Distinguished Lecturer where he discussed the topic of “Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and other Disasters: A View from Space.” He was awarded the 2017 Civil & Environmental Engineering Department Distinguished Alumnus Award from UCLA. In 2023, he was appointed to the California Governor’s Advisory Board on Wildfire Technology Research & Development, and in 2024, he was appointed as the Founding Chair of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Lifeline Advisory Panel. He has authored over 300 publications, many of them dealing with the seismic risk of utility lifeline systems and the use of remote sensing technologies for disaster response.

Arash Nasseri, Director of Earthquake Engineering, Verisk, Boston, MA

Dr. Arash Nasseri is the Director of Earthquake Engineering team within the Catastrophe and Risk Solutions unit at Verisk, a global leader in risk modeling software and consulting services. With over two decades of experience in earthquake engineering—including 15 years specializing in catastrophe modeling—Dr. Nasseri oversees the development of global earthquake vulnerability models that integrate structural engineering, geospatial analytics, and damage assessment to support resilience-focused decision-making across the insurance, reinsurance, and financial sectors. His work leverages advanced structural analysis and post-earthquake damage observations, including data from EERI’s Learning from Earthquakes (LFE) Program, to evaluate and enhance model accuracy and applicability. Prior to joining Verisk, Dr. Nasseri contributed to structural design projects for buildings and industrial facilities subject to seismic and wind loads.

Dr. Nasseri earned his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Northeastern University, where his research focused on utilizing strong motion data to improve performance-based design methodologies. He has participated in projects sponsored by the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program and continues to advocate for the use of empirical data in advancing seismic risk quantification. A passionate mentor and collaborator, Dr. Nasseri is committed to bridging the gap between research and practice, fostering innovation, and empowering the next generation of earthquake engineers.

Topics:

1. Catastrophe modeling and earthquake risk assessment
2. Building codes and their role in seismic resilience
3. Application of lessons learned from global earthquake events

Charles Scawthorn, Principal at SPA Risk LLC and Visiting Researcher at Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Charles Scawthorn is internationally recognized as an authority for the analysis and mitigation of natural and technological hazards. He retired in 2008 as Professor and head of the Earthquake Disaster Prevention Systems Laboratory, Kyoto University (Japan), has been Visiting Professor at Stanford, Beijing Normal and Waseda (Tokyo) Universities and is now Visiting Researcher, Univ. California at Berkeley. He is widely recognized for the development of methods for rapid risk analysis of buildings (FEMA 154), seismic vulnerability assessment of US national infrastructure (FEMA 224), stochastic models of fires following earthquakes, models for optimizing urban land use with respect to natural hazards risk, general loss estimation models for earthquake, wind and flood, and seismically reinforcing low-strength masonry buildings. From 1998 to 2003 he led technical development of the US national Flood Loss Estimation Model (HAZUS) for FEMA. He teaches a course on Disaster Risk Assessment, Mitigation and Financing at the World Bank and has taught a weeklong seminar on California earthquake risk for the London Market Association. As President of SPA Risk LLC, he consults to the global insurance industry, the World Bank, local/state/federal agencies and Global 1000 corporations. Dr. Scawthorn is a graduate of the Cooper Union, holds an M.S.C.E. degree from Lehigh University and received his D.Eng. from Kyoto University. He is the author or co-editor of a number of books and technical papers on earthquake engineering, fire following earthquake, catastrophe risk and human casualties.

Topics:

1. Designing your career in engineering
2. Infrastructure – analysis and design
3. Modeling of natural hazards (foundation of planning and design, and also for the insurance industry)
4. National risk management strategies – their design and implementation
5. Earthquake engineering
6. Fire following earthquake
7. Optimization of infrastructure networks

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Seismologists

David Wald, Seismologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, CO

David Wald is a seismologist with the USGS National Earthquake Information Center and is an Affiliate Faculty member in Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines. He completed his Ph.D. at Caltech in 1993. Wald leads the development and operations of real-time information systems, including ShakeMap, Did You Feel It?, PAGER, ShakeCast, and Ground Failure. Wald served on the Board of Directors for the Seismological Society of America (SSA) and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and received SSA’s Frank Press Public Service Award and their Distinguished Lecturer. David is the Past Editor-in-Chief of the journal Earthquake Spectra and has been EERI’s Distinguished Lecturer. In 2021, Wald was awarded the EERI-SSA Joyner Lectureship, an AGU Fellow, and received the USGS Shoemaker Lifetime Achievement Award in Communications, an award granted annually to a scientist who creates excitement and enthusiasm for science among non-scientists by using effective communication skills. In 2023, David received the Presidential Rank Award, which recognizes a select group of U.S. Government Senior Executive Service career members for exceptional performance over an extended period. Wald is also the recipient of EERI’s 2025 Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Medal, in recognition of “his extraordinary contributions to earthquake hazard and risk reduction in the U.S. and worldwide”.

Topics:

1. New ShakeMap intensity measures (IMs) for ShakeMap to assess lifeline infrastructure fragilities: Towards the Development of Static Ground Displacement and Transient Ground Strain ShakeMaps
2. Challenges in Estimating & Communicating Real-Time Earthquake Shaking and Impacts
3. The importance of Macroseismology for Earthquake Research, Engineering, and Hazard and Risk Assessments
4. Practical Limitations of Earthquake Early Warning
5. Case Studies of Financial Decision-Making using Near–Real-time Post-Earthquake Information.

Ivan G. Wong, Senior Principal Seismologist, Lettis Consultants International, Concord, CA

Ivan Wong is a Senior Principal Seismologist with Lettis Consultants International in Concord, California. He is an internationally recognized expert in seismic hazard analyses with 50 years of experience. A major focus in his career has been earthquake hazard reduction and awareness and public outreach. Ivan has directed the seismic hazard evaluations of more than 700 critical and important facilities worldwide including some of the largest seismic hazard evaluations performed in the U.S. such as the Yucca Mountain Project. For FEMA, Ivan has been involved in the education and implementation of the seismic risk assessment software HAZUS in several regions in the U.S. He has been the recipient of 20 NEHRP external research grants from the U.S. Geological Survey that have supported the development of urban probabilistic and scenario hazard maps and other earthquake hazard-related studies.

Ivan has been actively involved in EERI for 50 years including past member of the Board of Directors, the Earthquake Spectra Editorial Board, past-President of the Northern California Chapter, founding member of SESI, and member of numerous committees. He was named an Honorary EERI member in 2024 for his contributions to earthquake engineering and seismology. Ivan is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Seismological Society of America and has been an Associate Editor for the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America for the past 25 years. He has been or is a member of numerous scientific and engineering committees, panels, and working groups and has been particularly active in serving the USGS. He serves on the Steering Committees for the USGS National Seismic Hazard Model and the Advanced National Seismic System and has been a member of several NSHM review panels. In 2017, Ivan was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve on the California State Seismic Safety Commission for a four-year term. He has authored more than 400 journal and conference papers, book chapters, maps, regulatory and technical guidelines, and abstracts. Ivan has degrees from Oregon State University, Portland State University, and the University of Utah and also attended the University of California at Berkeley.

Topics:

1. Learning From Earthquakes: Lessons Learned for Evaluating Seismic Hazards
2. Induced Seismicity: Addressing the Hazard and Risk With Energy Development and Its By-Products (includes oil/gas wastewater injection, geothermal development and carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration)
3. Keeping Up With the Science for Seismic Design in the Pacific Northwest (or other regions in the U.S. including the Intermountain, Central, Eastern, or Southeast U.S.)

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Structural Engineers

Erik Bishop, Associate Principal, Reid Middleton, Inc., Everett, WA

Erik Bishop is an Associate Principal at Reid Middleton, Inc., in Everett, WA and has experience working on a variety of earthquake-focused projects types throughout the western United States, Japan, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates. Erik’s experience includes new design, seismic evaluation and rehabilitation design for buildings and lifeline utilities, seismic resiliency studies, and the development of seismic instrumentation and earthquake response technologies. Erik has also had opportunities to participate in post-earthquake reconnaissance and response efforts following the M8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake in China (2008), the M8.8 Chile Earthquake & Tsunami (2010), the M7.1 Puebla, México Earthquake (2017), and the M7.1 Searles Valley, CA Earthquake (2019). After observing the devastating effects of these events first-hand, he has worked in several capacities in order to improve the seismic safety and resiliency of our communities, including providing post-earthquake safety evaluation trainings, working on the development of innovative earthquake response tools for emergency managers, and participating in various earthquake preparedness advocacy and professional committee efforts. He was selected as a Housner Fellow in 2017 through the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Topics:

1. Post-Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings (ATC-20/Cal OES SAP/WAsafe) Training Classes
2. Lessons Learned from Earthquake Reconnaissance following Earthquakes in California (2019), Mexico City (2017), Japan (2011), Chile (2010), and China (2008)
3. Real-Time Structural Instrumentation as an Emergency Response and Business Continuity Tool
4. Tools for Advancing Resilience Reconnaissance with a Jojutla, México Case Study
5. Evaluating the Seismic Resilience of Community Lifeline Infrastructure
6. Seismic Upgrades for Essential Facilities – Case Studies

David Cocke, Founder and President, Structural Focus, Los Angeles, CA

David started Structural Focus in 2001 after 15 years in San Francisco with Degenkolb Engineers, and another five years founding and managing their Los Angeles office. While at Degenkolb, David worked on notable historic projects such as the EQ repairs to the SF Ferry Building, several quad buildings at Stanford, and the Hotel del Coronado. At Structural Focus, David has worked on the design of new buildings including a new Amazon Studios campus, and the evaluation and retrofit of hundreds of buildings including film studio facilities, university buildings, the Red Bull Headquarters, Google LA Headquarters, and historic buildings ranging from some historic barns at Rancho Los Alamitos to the adaptive reuse of a 1930’s concrete sound stage at Sony Studios. Some other significant recent projects include the restoration of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the new Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, the historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and numerous adaptive reuse projects. David is an expert in and has led the establishment of Accelerated Building Reoccupancy (formerly Building Occupancy Resumption) Programs in southern California jurisdictions for multiple large corporate client inventories. In addition to his work in preservation, David has served on the Board of Directors of the Structural Engineers Association of both SEAONC and SEAOSC, as well as SEAOC. He also served on the California Preservation Foundation Board, on the Board of Pasadena Heritage, Los Angeles Conservancy, and the USC Architectural Guild in 2007. David has served as the SEAOC-appointed Alternate Structural Member on the State Historical Building Safety Board since 2007. David also is a member and past chair of the Alumni Board of the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech and recently stepped down from the Advisory Board for the Architectural Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He is a past President of the Structural Engineers Institute (SEI) of ASCE and is a Fellow of SEI, ASCE, and SEAOC. David is a past president of EERI and is a current member of the federal government's Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazard Reduction, as well as the University of California Seismic Advisory Board.

Topics:

1. Retrofit of historic buildings and some significant case studies.
2. Private/Public partnerships in support of community resilience.
3. Functional Recovery – How to communicate with our clients.
4. Real life as a practicing Structural Engineer and life lessons learned.

David Friedman, Senior Principal (retired), Forell | Elsesser Engineers, San Francisco, CA

Senior Principal (retired) and immediate past President, CEO and Board chair, with more than 40 years at Forell | Elsesser and 45 years in the industry, David’s strength is a holistic approach to a project’s planning, design and construction, and the collaborative integration of creative structural solutions with architects, engineers, and builders. With a specialty in designated historic structures, David has creatively solved numerous engineering challenges. Principle examples of his solutions include the base isolation retrofits for both the San Francisco City Hall and Asian Art Museum, the adaptive reuse and retrofit for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the seismic safety corrections and remodel of UC Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium. The practicing structural engineer today must have a broad understanding of not just structural engineering, but must be knowledgeable about architecture, M/E/P systems, construction delivery methodologies, and the construction process. All projects come with their own litany of challenges and constraints, and the structural engineer is one of the key players in achieving the optimal solution: The project’s budget, the selected performance and design criteria, the architectural form, and the operating systems all affect the selection of the appropriate structural materials and lateral force resisting system. Then the analysis must get translated into a design, and the design must clearly and carefully be delineated into construction documents including plans, details, sections and technical specifications, with appropriate attention to sequencing, phasing and constructibility. This all gives rise to the notion of today’s structural engineer as a “Master Builder”, one who can articulate their way through a complex labyrinth of form finding, criteria setting, risk evaluation, design and documentation, and construction.

 Topics:

1. Base Isolation: A Primer with Case Studies: San Francisco City Hall & UCSF Center for Regenerative Medicine
2. The Practice of Structural Engineering Today with Project Examples: UCB Memorial Stadium, Stanford’s McMurtry Hall, Facebook
3. The Seismic Retrofit of California Memorial Stadium, University of California, Berkeley: Straddling the Hayward Fault

John Hooper, Senior Principal and Director, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, WA

John Hooper is a Senior Principal and the Director of Earthquake Engineering at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, a 150-person consulting structural and civil engineering firm in Seattle, Washington. John has over 40 years of engineering experience in the fields of seismic renovation, seismic design of new buildings (including the use of performance-based seismic design), structural analysis and standards and code development. He is active on numerous research, standards and code committees, including serving as past chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE 7’s) Seismic Subcommittee, member of the ASCE 7’s Main Committee, and chair of the Building Seismic Safety Council’s (BSSC’s) NEHRP Provision Update Committee. John’s project experience includes major healthcare facilities, high-rise buildings, emergency operations centers, and structures with unique architecture.

Topics:

1. ASCE 7-22 Seismic Design Requirements
2. Performance-based Seismic Design: Current Approaches and Future Trends
3. Research collaborations between academics and practitioners

Ezra Jampole, Principal Engineer, Exponent, New York, NY

Dr. Jampole is a Principal Engineer at Exponent in New York City, specializing in evaluating the performance of structures subjected to extreme loads such as earthquakes, wind, and flood events and in performance-based analysis and risk assessments. He has served as a consultant on projects assessing the origin of damage and cause of collapse of structures following earthquakes, extreme weather events, adjacent construction incidents, corrosion and deterioration, settlement, and long-term issues. He is experienced in expert witness investigations for international arbitration and domestic litigation cases.

Dr. Jampole has developed engineering-based quantitative risk analysis models of utility components for electric and gas transmission and distribution systems, including evaluating the risk due to contact with foreign objects and failures due to wind and earthquakes. He has evaluated the effectiveness of wildfire mitigations in reducing components failures that may lead to arcing and ignitions.

Dr. Jampole has performed post-earthquake reconnaissance as part of several EERI teams. He currently serves as an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University, where he teaches a course on forensic structural engineering.

Topics:

1. Engineering failure investigations and evaluating the standard of care, through several example tall building and infrastructure projects that have been the subject of litigation and arbitration.
2. Developing probabilistic risk models, ranging from seismic risk to utility structures to wildfires to climate change risk models.

Rebecca Laberenne, Principal, Climate Risk and Resilience, U.S. Green Building Council, New York, NY

Rebecca Laberenne is the Principal for Climate Risk and Resilience at the U.S. Green Building Council, leading the development and execution of the organization’s strategy to increase the relevance and quality of USGBC’s risk and resilience-related activities. She has over two decades of experience focused on improving the quality and safety of the built environment with particular interest in housing, social infrastructure and building regulations in communities with high natural hazard risk in the United States and internationally.

Rebecca started her career as a practicing structural engineer (P.E., S.E.), working for over a decade at Guy Nordenson and Associates in New York where she led structural design projects including acting as the lead structural engineer for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. While working as a structural engineer, she was introduced to the non-profit social enterprise Build Change and her experiences working for the organization on post-earthquake housing reconstruction in China in 2008 and subsequently in Haiti in 2010 ignited her interest for disaster risk reduction, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Since then, she has worked and consulted for a variety of non-profit organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative, the Resilience Shift, GeoHazards International, Resilient Cities Catalyst, the Applied Technology Council, Build Change and Resilient Cities Network on disaster risk reduction, resilience, and climate adaptation planning efforts, programs and projects related to buildings and infrastructure. She also worked for 5 years as a senior consultant to the World Bank supporting the Global Program for Safer Schools and the Building Regulation for Resilience program. Rebecca was a 2017 EERI Housner Fellow and is currently on the Board of Directors of EERI. She has participated in a diverse range of post-disaster response and reconnaissance projects including the 2001 WTC Terrorist Attacks, 2007 Peru Earthquake, 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, 2010 Haiti Earthquake, 2012 Hurricane Sandy, and the 2017 Puebla Morelos Earthquake.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Certificate in Architecture from Princeton University; a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials from University of California, Berkeley; and a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from New York University.

Topics:

1. Engineering and international development
2. Working in resilience
3. Crafting a non-traditional career in structural engineering
4. Intersections of resilience and sustainability

Lindsey Maclise, Principal, Forell | Elsesser Engineers, San Francisco, CA

Lindsey is a Principal at Forell Elsesser with over 15 years of experience in the structural engineering field, during which she has led the engineering effort for many large and complex projects. Lindsey received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from UC Berkeley where she is currently serving as a member of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Advisory Board. Lindsey is also an active member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and has been named a Housner Fellow of the EERI.

Lindsey is passionate about sustainability for the built environment and leads many efforts that promote the design, construction, and operation of buildings that are environmentally responsible and healthy places to live and work. Lindsey currently leads Forell Elsesser’s Carbon Neutral Initiative which takes progressive action to help reduce, educate, and implement carbon reduction design strategies in structural systems. Lindsey also served as past chair of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) Sustainable Design Committee and has given many presentations on sustainable design and the vital role that structural engineers can play to design more sustainable and resilient structural systems. In addition, she has lectured nationally and has written many reports and papers that focus on sustainable design strategies for the built environment.

Topics:

1. Sustainable Design in Structural Engineering
2. Career Development
3. Women in Engineering

Janiele Maffei, Chief Mitigation Officer, California Earthquake Authority, Sacramento, CA

Janiele Maffei received an M.S. degree (1980) in Civil (Structural) Engineering and A.B. degree (1978) in Architecture, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Maffei is licensed as both a Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer in California with over 40 years of experience in the design of new buildings, retrofit designs of existing buildings, seismic evaluations, seismic loss estimation studies, design of equipment anchorages, preparation of construction documents, project management, and construction administration. After fifteen years as a project manager and regional office director with Degenkolb Engineers, she opened her own practice where she managed complex design projects involving many disciplines. In 2011, Ms. Maffei joined the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) as its Chief Mitigation Officer. In this capacity, she serves as the Executive Director of the California Residential Mitigation Program and manages the CEA research department.

As Executive Director of the California Residential Retrofit Program, Ms. Maffei has been responsible for developing policies, plans, and incentives for retrofitting wood frame residential construction throughout California intended to mitigate the consequence of a major earthquake in California. She also co-managed, with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the CEA/FEMA-funded Applied Technology Council (ATC) Project 110, Prestandard for the Seismic Retrofit of Single-Family Wood-Framed Dwellings, now published as FEMA P-1100. For CEA, she managed the 2014 South Napa Earthquake single-family dwelling research project and the CEA/PEER Project, “Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings” published in 2020.

Her professional leadership positions include: Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC), Board of Directors, (1995-1997); SEAONC, President (2019 – 2021); Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Northern California Chapter, President (2010-2011); and EERI, Board of Directors, Secretary and Treasurer (2012-2018).

James Malley, Senior Principal, Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco, CA

James O. Malley is a Senior Principal with Degenkolb Engineers of San Francisco, California. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. A registered Structural Engineer in California, Mr. Malley has over 40 years of experience in the seismic design, evaluation and rehabilitation of building structures. He has specialized in the seismic design of steel frame structures, especially for health care facilities. Mr. Malley served as the Project Director for Topical Investigations for the SAC Steel Program. In that position, he was responsible for directing data collection and interpretation of steel frame buildings damaged by the Northridge Earthquake and all of the analytical and testing investigations performed as part of the SAC Steel Project. In 2000, this work was recognized by AISC in presenting Mr. Malley its’ Special Achievement Award. Mr. Malley serves as Chair of the AISC Specifications Committee and the past Chair of the AISC Seismic Subcommittee that is responsible for developing the AISC Seismic Provisions. He was named the 2010 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award winner for his work on the AISC Seismic Provisions, and in 2012 was given presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by AISC. Mr. Malley is also a member of the AWS D1.l Subcommittee on Seismic Welding Issues that publishes the AWS D1.8 Seismic Supplement to AWS D1.1. He was a member of the steel subcommittee of the ATC 33 project that developed FEMA 273/274, “NEHRP Guidelines for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings” and is a member of the Building Seismic Safety Council Provisions Update Committee. Jim has served as a member of the SEAONC and SEAOC Board of Directors and was President of SEAONC in 2000- 2001. He was President of SEAOC in 2003-2004. He was named a SEAOC Fellow in 2007 and an Honorary Member of SEAONC in 2014 and Brunnier Lifetime Achievement Award from SEAONC in 2022. Mr. Malley was also a member of the Board of Directors of NCSEA, serving as President in 2010-2011. He was also presented the James Delahay Award by NCSEA in 2014 for his contributions to the development of building codes and standards. He served on the Board of Directors of EERI and was Vice- President from 2017 through 2019. Mr. Malley was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Applied Technology Council and served as President from 2020-2021. He has made numerous presentations on the effects of the Northridge Earthquake on Steel Frame Buildings, as well as the seismic design of steel structures. The author of over fifty technical papers, Mr. Malley was the Co-Recipient (with the late Egor Popov) of the 1986 ASCE Raymond C. Reese Research Prize ASCE for the paper “Shear Links in Eccentrically Braced Frames”.

Topics:

1. The basis for the AISC Seismic Provisions
2. Seismic retrofit project of a 15 story steel moment frame building with connection modifications and viscous dampers
3. Seismic Evaluation of Tall pre-Northridge Steel Moment Frame Buildings: Observations and Trends on Performance and Examples of Seismic Retrofits
4. Lessons learned from peer review of complex buildings designed using Performance Based Seismic Design
5. Innovation in the Seismic Design of Steel Structures

Chiara McKenney, Senior Project Engineer, Estructure, Bay Area, CA

Chiara is a Senior Project Engineer at Estructure, a structural engineering firm specializing in seismic protection of nonstructural components and hospital renovations. Previously, Chiara served as an Associate Director of Projects at the Applied Technology Council, where she guided multi-disciplinary teams across academia and practice to find consensus on complex issues in earthquake engineering. As a volunteer with Build Change’s Nepal and Haiti offices, she has supported their engineering teams in the development of earthquake-resistant masonry housing designs.

Chiara holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis, and a B.A. in Architecture from Barnard College. Since interning at EERI in 2011, Chiara has served on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Chapter of EERI and the Editorial Board of the World Housing Encyclopedia. As a member of the 2020 Class of Housner Fellows, she helped create a post-earthquake data collection tool intended to inform the development of functional recovery-based code provisions. She participated in post-earthquake investigations following the 2014 South Napa and 2019 Albania earthquakes. Chiara is licensed as a structural engineer and civil engineer in California

Topics:

1. How to think like a Nonstructural Engineer
2. What do earthquake engineers do all day?
3. Training on the new Post-Earthquake Recovery Data Collection Tool (developed by the 2020 Class of Housner Fellows)
4. A world tour of common construction types in seismically active areas

Maria Mohammed, Associate, Structural Focus, Los Angeles, CA

Maria Mohammed joined Structural Focus in 2013 after graduating from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2012 and an M.S. in Structural Engineering in 2013. Maria is a licensed Structural Engineer in California and has extensive experience working on the retrofit and renovation of historic structures and existing buildings, as well as the design of new buildings. She has worked on significant projects at Structural Focus, including Google LA HQ, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, CBRE Masonic Temple, and several projects on the Paramount Studios lot, among others. Maria has participated in post-earthquake reconnaissance efforts after the 2019 M7.1 earthquake in Searles Valley, CA. Maria was also selected to participate in EERI’s class of Housner Fellows in 2020. In addition to her involvement within EERI, Maria is also actively involved in the Structural Engineers Association of California and the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California. She has served and continues to serve as the Chair of various committees in both associations and is currently serving as the President of SEAOSC. As a student, Maria greatly appreciated and was inspired by the limited opportunities she had to interact with practicing structural engineers; now as a practicing structural engineer, she participates in programs like the Friedman Family Visiting Professionals with hopes that her story of becoming a structural engineer, and her day-to-day experiences of working as a structural engineer, will inspire the future generation into entering a field that she’s very passionate about.

Topics:

1. Adaptive reuse and working with existing buildings. Especially in the context of earthquake safety, existing buildings are as crucial as improving the practice of design for new buildings.
2. Business resiliency and back-to-business (B2B) programs.
3. Advocacy and various community involvements for engineers. I have been involved in various organizations and committees throughout my career and have grown notably through these professional involvements. Sharing my experiences may alleviate the fear that professional involvements are limited for young engineers.

Bob Pekelnicky, Senior Principal and Director of Technical Advancement, Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco, CA

Bob Pekelnicky is a Senior Principal and Director of Technical Advancement at Degenkolb Engineers. Over his 24-year career, Bob has contributed to advancements in the earthquake engineering practice through his extensive work in professional technical, codes, and standards committees. His career bridges the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world application – bringing research to his practice and challenges from his practice to research. Bob has led seismic evaluations and retrofits for hundreds of buildings, including numerous recognizable high-rise structures, developing innovative performance-based approaches that have reduced retrofit costs and tenant disruptions while maintaining safety objectives.

Bob chaired the ASCE 41 standard for both the 2017 and 2023 editions, shaping how existing buildings are evaluated worldwide. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the NEHRP Provisions Update Committee and is an active member of the ASCE 7 main committee, seismic subcommittee, and general requirements subcommittees Bob also participates as a member of AISC’s Task Committee of Existing Buildings and a member of the ASCE 11 Structural Condition Assessment standard committee.

Bob has been instrumental in advancing community resilience. As a member of SPUR's pioneering Resilient City project – the first multidisciplinary effort to develop comprehensive disaster recovery guidelines – he helped address critical gaps between building codes and emergency response expectations of the built environment. He has authored key resilience guidelines and contributed to defining performance objectives for post-earthquake functionality for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He has also developed corporate seismic programs for Fortune 500 clients.

Bob's extensive speaking experience includes presentations at national conferences, NIBS webinars, and guest lectures at numerous universities, including UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Davis. His teaching philosophy emphasizes practical application through real case studies, making complex seismic concepts accessible to diverse audiences—from students to practicing engineers to business executives.

Topics:

1. Seismic evaluation and retrofit for resilience
2. Seismic performance and retrofit of tall buildings
3. Seismic Risk Assessment
4. Building Codes' and Standards' roles in Community Resilience
5. Codes and Standards Development

Rafael Sabelli, Senior Principal & Director of Seismic Design, Walter P Moore, Oakland, CA

Rafael Sabelli is a Senior Principal and Director of Seismic Design at Walter P Moore. Rafael has earned a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Special Achievement Award from AISC, as well as the T.R. Higgins Lectureship award. He is a member of the AISC Committee on Specifications, where he is vice-chair of the Technical Committee on the Seismic Provisions, and a member of the AISC Committee on Manuals, where he is chair of the Seismic Design Manual committee.

He is a member of the ASCE 7 Main Committee and the Seismic Task Committee, and the NIST Building Seismic Safety Council’s Provisions Update Committee.

Rafael is co-author of Ductile Design of Steel Structures and has written extensively on the design and behavior of steel seismic systems. He has published technical papers on braced frames, connection design, and structural stability. He is the past President of the Structural Engineers Association of California.

Rafael was Structural Engineer of Record of landmark projects including the award-winning San Francisco International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower and of the Los Angeles Rams SoFi Stadium.

Topics:

1. A1. Case Study of San Francisco Air Traffic Control Tower: Performance-based design using a self-centering system.
2. Case Study of an NFL Stadium: Performance-based design using seismic isolation.
3. Steel Connection Design: Limit states, equilibrium, load path, and ductility.
4. Design for Stability: A review of principles and methods.

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Emergency Management

Jay Wilson, Resilience Coordinator, Clackamas County Disaster Management, Portland OR

Jay has served as the Resilience Coordinator for Clackamas County Disaster Management since 2008. He is the past-Chair (2014-17) of the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC) and served as champion for the 2013 Oregon Resilience Plan. During his earlier career Jay worked as a Mitigation Reservist with FEMA Regions IX and X and then for Oregon Emergency Management as the Earthquake, Tsunami and Volcano Coordinator. Of special note, Jay served a two-year appointment as a Resilience Fellow with the National Institute of Standards and Technology during the development of the 2015 Community Resilience Planning Guide. He is a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and has completed post-earthquake reconnaissance trips to Japan (2011) and Central-Italy (2017). Jay holds an M.A. in geography and a B.A. in film and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Topics:

1. Policy advocacy: Aligning seismic risk policies for vulnerable oil storage tanks with climate adaptation policies to address environmental justice issues and leverage the transition to green energy in the context of Oregon’s Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub.
2. The 2013 Oregon Resilience Plan: Discuss the implementation and challenges from policies, and programs to on-the-ground projects.

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Architecture

Ghazala Naeem, Architect and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) consultant, Islamabad, Pakistan

Ghazala Naeem is an architect and disaster risk management (DRM) consultant with over two decades of professional experience advancing earthquake resilience, climate adaptation, and community-based disaster preparedness across Asia and Africa. A Housner Fellow of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), she has led and contributed to diverse projects in Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Japan, and Liberia—bridging the gap between engineering practice, community engagement, and policy implementation.

Her interdisciplinary background combines architectural design, seismic risk reduction, and applied disaster management. Ghazala has worked extensively with national and subnational governments, UN agencies, and research institutions to strengthen multi-hazard risk governance, develop early warning systems (EWS), and promote inclusive resilience strategies.

She has served as visiting faculty at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), where she integrated architectural design with disaster management education, and has delivered training for UNESCO-IOC, the National Institute of Disaster Management (Pakistan), and several universities and professional bodies. Her work emphasizes translating technical knowledge into community-driven action and fostering collaboration across disciplines and sectors.

Ghazala’s professional vision centers on connecting science, policy, and people to build safer, more resilient communities. She is passionate about mentoring emerging professionals, promoting gender equity in disaster management, and strengthening local capacities for seismic and climate resilience.

Topics:

1. Challenges in implementing building codes and risk governance in resource-constrained regions.
   • Overcoming practical barriers to policy enforcement and resilience planning.
2. Integrating Indigenous Knowledge, Gender Perspectives, and Community Engagement in Seismic Risk Reduction
   • Strengthening inclusivity and local ownership in resilience initiatives.
3. From Early Warnings to Action: Translating Scientific Hazard Data into Community-Level Preparedness
   • Bridging the science–practice gap through effective communication and trust-building.
4. Designing Earthquake- and Tsunami-Resilient Public Infrastructure and Early Warning Systems in Resource-Constrained Contexts
   • Integrating technical innovation with social realities and local capacity.
5. Learning from Global Post-Disaster Recoveries: Insights from the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake (Pakistan), 2015 Gorkha Earthquake (Nepal) 2018 Palu Earthquake (Indonesia) and Other Case Studies like recurring floods in Pakistan (from 2010-2022)
   • Drawing actionable lessons from diverse reconstruction experiences

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