News of the Institute

Nominations and Applications Open for EERI Honors and Awards

Nominate someone or apply today for one of EERI’s prestigious awards! Each selection committee depends on your nominations and applications to identify members whose contributions should be recognized. Each committee considers all submissions and provides recommendations to the EERI Board of Directors.

Nomination and Application Process:

Please review each award's description, criteria, and nomination requirements at the links below and submit the appropriate form found on that webpage. All nominations and applications are due June 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

Nominations are being accepted for the following awards:

• George W. Housner Medal
• Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Medal
• Distinguished Lecture Award
• EERI Honorary Membership
• Bruce A. Bolt Medal
• William B. Joyner Memorial Lecture Award
• Shah Family Innovation Prize

Applications are being accepted for the following award:

• EERI Younger Member Award

The recipients of these awards and honors will be announced in fall 2025. They will also be recognized during the 13th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering.

Click here for a list of past award recipients.

Next Generation Liquefaction Workshop: May 16, 2025

Date & Time: May 16, 2025, 1:00 - 5:00 PM

Location: 601 12th St, Oakland, CA

REGISTER HERE

Description:

In this in-person, half-day seminar, members of one of the Next Generation Liquefaction (NGL) model development teams, known as the SMT, will highlight the main outcomes of a project jointly supported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to use the extensive NGL project’s case history database to develop a suite of models for the probabilities of liquefaction susceptibility, triggering, and ground surface manifestation. View the news post here for a full list of presentation topics and speakers.

Attendance is limited to 100 participants. Register now to guarantee your spot! Sponsorship opportunities are available. For more information, contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan at maggie@eeri.org.

Sponsors:

Slate Geotechnical Consultants offers the latest techniques in geotechnical engineering, dam and levee safety, seismic hazard, and geohazard assessment. With offices throughout California, Slate’s practice includes a full range of services from site investigation and characterization to performance-based foundation evaluations, and strives to be innovative and implement cutting-edge techniques in all practice areas.

Langan provides an integrated mix of engineering and environmental consulting services in support of land development projects, corporate real estate portfolios, and the energy industry. Our clients include developers, property owners, public agencies, corporations, institutions, and energy companies around the world.

Additional sponsorship opportunities are available. For more information, contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan at maggie@eeri.org.

EERI also thanks our Advertising Partner, the California Geotechnical Engineering Association.

 

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Learning From Earthquakes

2025 LFE Travel Study Participants Announced

EERI is excited to announce the participants of the 2025 LFE Travel Study Program to Mexico. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) has teamed up with the Sociedad Mexicana de Ingeniería Sísmica (SMIS) to host the program.

Over the course of the weeklong program, participants will build an understanding of the role and importance of reconnaissance and gain hands-on experience with reconnaissance activities. Participants include:

• Andres Acosta, Degenkolb Engineers
• Paul Acuna, North Carolina State University
• Gustavo Araujo Rodriguez, Stanford University
• Sarah Atkinson, SPUR
• Ana Paula Bona, North Carolina State University
• Kenny Buyco, GeoVera
• Christopher Cattron, Lund Opsahl
• Connie Chen, Exponent
• Peter Cruz, Degenkolb Engineers
• Claudia Deveaux, University of Miami
• Maria Jose Echeverria, California State University, Sacramento
• Roni Fraser, Arizona State University
• Anna Gasha, Columbia University
• Mohammed Ibrahim, McGill University
• Kamrul Islam, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
• Amory Martin, Exponent
• Laurel Mathews, City and County of San Francisco
• Pedro Ramos, University of Aveiro/ Global Earthquake Model Foundation
• Morgan Sanger, University of Washington
• Keri Scholte, Forell Elsesser Engineers
• Rocio Segura, Santa Clara University
• Facundo Sirri, Kinemetrics, Inc.
• Paola Vargas, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Luis Velasco, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• Charlie Zhang, University of California San Diego

The 2025 LFE Travel Study Program in Mexico has been made possible with generous financial support from the trip’s Anchor Sponsor Computer and Structures, Inc. and donors to EERI’s LFE Endowment Fund.

The LFE Travel Study Committee is actively planning for the 2026 travel study program. The program location and application will be announced in fall/winter 2025.

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Webinars

ATC-EERI Webinar on Post-Earthquake Investigations

Wednesday, May 14, 2025
12:00 - 1:30 PM Pacific Time
REGISTER HERE

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) and EERI will co-host a joint webinar on “Post-Earthquake Investigations: Coordination, Collaboration, and Participation in NEHRP Activations.” Last year, the U.S. Geological Survey published USGS Circular 1542, an updated Plan to Coordinate Post-Earthquake Investigations Supported by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The circular presents a plan for the activation and coordination of post-earthquake investigations among the four NEHRP Agencies (FEMA, NIST, NSF and USGS) and with other entities. These coordinated investigations, focused on collaborative data gathering and leveraging new technologies, can capture critical information needed to understand the causes and impacts of events and lead to lessons that can substantially improve the nation’s resilience to future earthquakes.

This webinar will present an overview of USGS Circular 1542, share examples of how the plan has been used in recent earthquakes, and discuss how other agencies and entities can collaborate and participate in NEHRP post-earthquake investigations. The webinar will also review the current landscape for Technical Clearinghouses, including recent examples operated by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Speakers:

• Chris Poland, Structural Engineer, Project Technical Director for USGS Circular 1542.

• Michael Blanpied, Associate Program Coordinator, USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

• Maggie Ortiz-Millan, Director of Programs, EERI

Issues Associated With Simplified Procedures to Evaluate Liquefaction Triggering and Consequences

Wednesday, June 18, 2025
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
REGISTER HERE

This webinar, presented by the San Diego Regional Chapter, will address some issues associated with simplified procedures to evaluate liquefaction triggering and consequences. These issues include earthquake source type, ground motion shape, loading duration related to liquefaction triggering, and other limitations. New approaches for the calculation of CRR, CSR (subduction environment) and MSF will also be presented. In addition, discussion will include the mismatch between surface evidence and the likelihood of liquefaction that may reach unacceptable values in subduction environments. Case histories presented by the three speakers will be the basis for the discussion in the webinar. Martin Hudson will also open the webinar with an eulogy for Marshall Lew, founding President of the San Diego chapter.

Speakers:

• Gonzalo Montalva (Universidad de Concepcion, Chile): “Liquefaction Triggering in Subduction Zones”

• Robert Pyke (Consulting Engineer): “The Limitations of Simplified Methods for Evaluating Earthquake-Induced Liquefaction and its Consequences”

• Trevor J. Carey (University of Toronto): Toward Improved Magnitude Scaling in the Simplified Liquefaction Triggering Procedures

• Martin Hudson (Hudson Geotechnics)

• Jorge Meneses (moderator)

2023 United States National Seismic Hazard Model

Part II: May 7, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
REGISTER HERE

Join EERI and USGS next week for the second in a webinar series focusing on the 2023 update of the United States National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). The 2023 NSHM is the first comprehensive assessment of seismic hazard for all 50 states—it refines the previous model for the continental U.S. published in 2018 and integrates the first updates for Alaska since 2007 and for Hawaii since 1998. The NSHM incorporates new science on seismicity statistics, fault ruptures, ground motions, and probabilistic techniques, and aims to produce a standard of practice for public policy and engineering. The May 7 webinar will look at the NSHM’s engineering applications, including building code adoption, design ground motion standard, geohazards design guidelines, and earthquake loss estimates.

Speakers:

• Bob Pekelnicky, Degenkolb: Opening Remarks

• Sanaz Rezaeian, USGS: Building Code Adoption of the 2023 NSHM

• Nicolas Luco, USGS: Replacing Deterministic Capping on Design Ground Motions with Increased Target Risks of Collapse

• Andrew Makdisi, USGS: Use of the 2023 NSHM in Advancing Geohazards Design Guidelines

• Kishor Jaiswal, USGS: An update to annualized earthquake loss estimates based on the 2023 NSHM of the United States

Quick Quake Briefing: ShakeAlert and the 2025 Earthquake Swarms in Southern California

Thursday, May 15, 2025
12:00 - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
REGISTER HERE

The EERI Northern California Regional Chapter is hosting a free webinar on the recent earthquake swarms in Southern California. Over the past year, Southern California has been experiencing a notable increase in seismic activity, with a surge in moderate earthquakes (< M4.9) not seen in decades. Fortunately, the earthquake intensities are such that little to no damage has occurred to the built environment. During some of these earthquakes, many residents received warning notifications on their cell phones from the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system. Two speakers will discuss the seismology of the earthquake swarms and the performance of the ShakeAlert system pursuant to the swarms.

• Susan E. Hough, PhD, Seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Seismic Hazards Program, will present on the seismology of the earthquake swarms.
• Robert de Groot, PhD, Physical Scientist with the USGS, will present on ShakeAlert performance.

The webinar will include time for participants to ask questions of the speakers.

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