2016-2017 ANNUAL REPORT University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Report Date: October 19, 2017 This report summarizes the membership and activities conducted by the Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute at the University at Buffalo (abbreviated as UB-EERI Student Chapter) during the 2016-2017 academic year. MISSION & GOALS The mission of UB-EERI Student Chapter is to build a community of students and professionals. Social activities are supported among the student chapter, bringing together students with similar career objectives and interests and thus allowing a space for lifelong friendships to form. Networking events with engineering professionals can also bridge the gap between the UB-EERI Student Chapter and the greater EERI community. Our goals include reaching out, beyond the research lab and classroom, to give back to our local community. Finally, direct volunteer efforts that specifically use our talents as engineers, in addition to fundraising efforts, are undertaken to positively affect the community. AFFILIATION The UB-EERI Student Chapter is headquartered at the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering (CSEE) at the University at Buffalo. The parent organization of the UB-EERI Student Chapter is the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. The UB-EERI club mentors the UB Seismic Design Competition Team (SDCT). This student chapter is also recognized as a Special Interest Club by the Graduate Student Association (GSA) of University at Buffalo. CONTACT ADDRESSES Primary Address: UB-EERI Student Chapter 212 Ketter Hall Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260-4300, USA Secondary Address: UB-EERI Student Chapter 310 Student Union Box 602100 Buffalo, NY 14260-2100, USA WEBSITE The website of UB-EERI Student Chapter presents abstracts, pictures, additional links and materials regarding our activities. Please visit the website to learn more about each of the 2016-2017 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute activities listed in this report. The link to UB-EERI Student Chapter s webpage is http://gsa.buffalo.edu/eeri/. University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 1
MEMBERSHIP The UB-EERI Student Chapter had a total of 20 official members in 2016-2017. OFFICERS The Board consisted of the following members: Joseph Colletti President Mark Hare Treasurer Joseph Fremante Senator Suraj Natarajan Vice President Shubham Anand Senator Rimjhim Kashyap Senator, Webmaster Joshua Reichardt Secretary Aishwarya Bansode Senator Robin Kumar Senator FACULTY ADVISER Andreas Stavridis, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering University at Buffalo, State University of New York 224 Ketter Hall Buffalo, NY 14260 astavrid@buffalo.edu University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 2
MEMBERS A complete list of members is shown members: Role Name EERI Member Number Email Student Status President Joseph Colletti 18301 jacollet@buffalo.edu Graduate Vice President Suraj Natarajan 18687 surajnat@buffalo.edu Graduate Secretary Joshua Reichardt 17605 jgreicha@buffalo.edu Graduate Treasurer Mark Hare 17200 markhare@buffalo.edu Graduate Senator Shubham Anand 14748 shubhama@buffalo.edu Graduate Senator Aishwarya Bansode 18952 abansode@buffalo.edu Graduate Senator Joseph Fremante 19080 jjfreman@buffalo.edu Graduate Senator Rimjhim Kashyap 18894 rimjhimk@buffalo.edu Graduate Senator Robin Kumar 18945 rkumar24@buffalo.edu Graduate Member Daniel Barron 16704 dmbarron@buffalo.edu Graduate Member Shoma Kitayama 18210 shomakit@buffalo.edu Graduate Member Rohit Krishnakumar 18922 rohitkri@buffalo.edu Graduate SDCT Paolo Bourdeau 19220 paolobou@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Joseph Suk 19236 jesuk@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Tyler Hurlbutt 19237 tylerhur@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Michael Zullo 19224 mfzullo@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Foley Chew 19233 foleyche@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Casey Bunce 18683 caseybun@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Jack Kennedy 17456 jackkenn@buffalo.edu Undergraduate SDCT Damian Andreani 17448 damianan@buffalo.edu Undergraduate Faculty Adviser Dr. Andreas Stavridis 09914 astavrid@buffalo.edu BUDGET & FINANCIALS The budgetary details of the UB-EERI Student Chapter are presented below for the 2016-2017 academic year. Sponsor / Event Amount (USD) UB GSA +1,388.46 UB CSEE +150.00 UB CSEE GSA +150.00 NYC Trip (Nov 17, 2016) +0.00 McMaster Mini-Conference (March 21, 2017) -180.00 Friedman Family Visit (April 28, 2017) -174.63 UB-EERI Symposium (May 5, 2017) -1,238.46 Final 2016-2017 Balance: +95.37 University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 3
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES INTRODUCTORY MEETING A meeting was held on September 15, 2016 to introduce the mission and goals of the UB-EERI Student Chapter to the new members. Students across various departments of the university were invited for this meeting. The club officers for the year 2016-2017 introduced themselves to the new members. An initial plan of the events to be organized throughout the year was also discussed. REGULAR CHAPTER MEETINGS The officers of the UB-EERI Student Chapter met [at minimum] biweekly to discuss and plan events throughout the semesters as well as discuss current earthquake engineering research and design. The details of the various major events organized by UB-EERI Student Chapter during the academic year 2016-2017 are presented next in chronological order. NYC TRIP On November 17, 18 and 19, 2017, 25 students from UB, visited three consulting engineering firms and two projects in the New York City area. The field trip was organized by Dr. Andreas Stavridis, Assistant Professor at UB and UB-EERI faculty adviser, in collaboration with the New York- Northeast Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI- NYNE) and members of the Advisory Board of Dean Folks. It was financially supported by UB s School of Engineering, the UB Student Association, and the participating firms. The trip was attended by 17 seniors enrolled in Reinforced Concrete Design (CIE429) and 8 graduate student members of the UB-EERI student chapter. This was a pilot event with aiming at: (i) introducing students to engineering firms and exposing them to the consulting engineering culture; (ii) fostering relations between UB and practicing firms to develop a direct link for internship and employment opportunities; (iii) enhancing the learning experience through real-world largescale projects as they are presented on-site by the designers and contractors; (iv) providing the students the chance to network with practicing engineers and discuss career paths. The projects visited included World Trade Center Campus including Tower 4, Tower 7, and the WTC Memorial as well as the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site in Tarrytown, NY. The participating and sponsoring firms included WSP-Parsons Brinckerhoff, HDR and Exponent. A detailed report of this event is available by request. McMASTER UNIVERSITY The UB-EERI section was personally invited to McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, to participate in a mini conference. A dozen students from UB traveled in to Canada on March 22, 2017. The itinerary, that day, included breakfast and coffee during eight student presentations, by both UB and McMaster participants, on current studies, interests and continuing research. Following the student-run presentations UB-EERI was given an up-close tour of the Applied Dynamics Laboratory at McMaster and the interesting experimental research going on there. Finally, lunch was provided and there was a keynote presentation by Dr. Andreas Stavridis on the topic of Seismic Performance of Infilled Masonry Walls. University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 4
After the visit to McMaster, Dr. Stavridis and the UB-EERI students made a stop in Niagara Falls for some sightseeing, food and fun. This was a good event as some of the participants had never been there. Please see the Attachments section at the end of this document for supplemental information. FRIEDMAN FAMILY VISITING PROFESSIONAL VISIT On April 28, 2017, UB-EERI was fortunate to be awarded a visit, due to the generosity of the Friedman Family, by Dr. Sissy Nikolaou, geotechnical engineer at WSP and member of the EERI Board of Directors. Events, on the day of the visit, included breakfast, tours of the UB Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory (SEESL), a keynote presentation by Dr. Nikolaou, titled Rapid Reconnaissance Technologies for Multi Hazards and lunch. Additionally, a small roundtable of UB-EERI officers with Dr. Nikolaou was formed to discuss the current state of our student section. Finally, Dr. Nikolaou was gracious in extending her time to host a mock-interview workshop for students to brush up their resumes, interview skills and learn about the current state of the civil-engineering hiring market. Please see the Attachments section at the end of this document for supplemental information. Please refer to the Friedman Family Report submitted to EERI from UB at the end of May 2017 for supplemental information. FIRST UB-EERI SYMPOSIUM This year, the UB-EERI section planned for and hosted, on May 5, 2017, an Earthquake Engineering Symposium. We were extremely lucky to have Stanford University Professor Gregory Deierlein, PhD as our keynote presenter. The symposium included breakfast, a student research presentation competition, tours of the UB SEESL, lunch and the keynote lecture by Dr. Deierlein on the topic of Performance Based-Engineering to Earthquake Resilience. The student research presentation competition was judged by a faculty and student panel and the top three prizes were 250, 150 and 50 USD. The event was co-sponsored by the UB Department of Civil Structural and Environmental Engineering, CSEE GSA and primarily the UB GSA. Here we would like to publicly thank these co-sponsors. The goal of this and future symposiums is to provide students, professors, researchers, practicing engineers and other professionals an opportunity to exchange ideas, experience and goals in the field of earthquake engineering and impact mitigation. UB and the UB-EERI chapter is we ll equipped to host such an event. This event hopefully will become an annual-regional event and plans for the 2018 Symposium are in the works. Please see the Attachments section at the end of this document for other supplemental information. SEISMIC DESIGN COMPETITION TEAM The SDCT at UB is doing well. With the ASCE club at UB we have a strong membership and there is a lot of interest, at the undergraduate level, in seismic civil engineering. The UB SDCT meets regularly to discuss EERI topics as well as prepare for the flagship competition event. Please see the Attachment section for some 2016-17 photos. University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 5
SDCT Members A complete list of members is shown below. Name EERI Member Number Email Role Paolo Bourdeau 19220 paolobou@buffalo.edu Member Joseph Suk 19236 jesuk@buffalo.edu Member Tyler Hurlbutt 19237 tylerhur@buffalo.edu Member Michael Zullo 19224 mfzullo@buffalo.edu Member Foley Chew 19233 foleyche@buffalo.edu Member Casey Bunce 18683 caseybun@buffalo.edu Member Jack Kennedy 17456 jackkenn@buffalo.edu Member Damian Andreani 17448 damianan@buffalo.edu Member Team results and lessons learned After discussing and modeling multiple designs, we decided to construct a structure with exterior bracing as well as an interior core. With the help of 20+ members we were able to finish our tower about a week before competition. This year we performed well: Our successful presentation placed us fifth out of thirty-three which helped us to improve to an overall 10th place finish - the best finish since placing 3rd in 2009. One area for improvement that the team is going to emphasize is to create a better rendering of the tower so we can get a better architecture score. Last year we were very close to coming in over the weight limit and we are now aiming to be lighter. ELECTION There was an open-informational discussion on September 1, 2016 at 7 PM in the student lounge at 202 Ketter Hall. Graduate students interested in running for officer positions in the club were encouraged to attend. On September 7, 2016 at 12 PM in 140 Ketter Hall the 2016-2017 UB-EERI Elections were held. At this election meeting, people interested in EERI membership were able to learn about the club, vote and obtain studentmembership applications. Pizza and light refreshments were served at the election. FEEDBACK FOR EERI One of the things discussed during our meetings this year pertained to the "Student Chapters" portion of the EERI website, located at https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/student-chapters/. We suggest a slight modification to make things a little easier for users. Problem: On the Student Chapters page every school that is officially recognized as an EERI Student Chapter is listed in alphabetical order. However, the length of the page is quite long. For example, to look for the UB portion of the page it is a hassle as one must sift through all the other schools and their varying content. Often it is quicker to just "Control-F" and find the word "Buffalo." There is no concise list of participating schools. University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 6
Possible Solution/Improvement: At the EERI home screen to get to the student chapter page, one would click the "About EERI" tab and then move down to "Student Chapters" (no changes here, this would bring you to the link above). However, it is at this point we would suggest there is a page for the Student Chapters that simply lists the schools and maybe some general facts, e.g. the number of schools officially recognized, a map showing the scattering of schools across the globe. On this page, that has the short list of only the school names, there would be individual links for each school that would go to separate school-specific pages. On the individual pages the school-specific information would be available, e.g. SDT information, list of officers/faculty, and annual reports. Another [simpler] option is to provide the concise list of schools at the top of the [current] Student Chapters page. Then, the list entries can be clicked so one could jump down to the desired school with a back to top button next to the school-specific information. This way it would be easy to see a full list of the schools associated with EERI without having to scroll through a huge web page of information. University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 7
LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Included at the end of this report are various attachments to supplement the information included above. A list of the attachments is included below: Pages 9-11 Photos of McMaster Trip Page 12 McMaster Invitation Letter Pages 13 Photos of Friedman Family Visit Page 14 Friedman Family Visit Flyer Pages 15-17 Photos of 2017 UB-EERI Symposium Pages 18 Results of Symposium competition Page 19 Symposium Flyer Page 20 Seismic Design Competition Team Photos University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 8
MCMASTER TRIP ATTACHMENTS Participants in front of the John Hodgins Engineering Building at McMaster University Morning-Student Presentation Workshop University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 9
Keynote Presentation by Professor Stavridis Nidhish, Abishek and Robin (L-R) at Niagara Falls University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 10
Dinner at the Hard Roc Café in Niagara Falls, Canada University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 11
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 12
FRIEDMAN FAMILY VISIT ATTACHMENTS Dr. Nikolaou giving her Friedman Family presentation Dr. Nikolaou and Sonia Pang discuss EERI topics University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 13
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 14
SYMPOSIUM ATTACHMENTS Professor Deierlein (far left) enjoying a bit of breakfast the morning of the symposium Chingching Yu presenting her work on Seismic Isolation during the student competition University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 15
Professor Deierlein getting a tour of the SEESL Lunch during the symposium gets off to a good start University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 16
Professor Deierlein about to give his keynote presentation University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 17
Award Participant School Title of Presentation 1st Place Supratik Bose UB Numerical Investigation of Seismic Performance of High-Rise Buildings Damaged During the 2015 Nepal Earthquake 2nd Place Taylor Steel McMaster University Collapse Modelling and Risk Assessment of Controlled Rocking Steel Braced Frames: Base Rocking Joint vs. Capacity-Protected Frame Elements 3rd Place Chingching Yu UB Using seismic isolation to reduce risk and construction cost of nuclear structures - Seyedsina Yousefianmoghadam UB Shake Testing of an Existing Reinforced- Concrete Building Under Progressive Damage - Siddharth Parida UB - Joseph Colletti UB Probabilistic Geotechnical Site Characterization through Stochastic Inverse Analysis of Geophysical Test Measurements The UB Geotechnical Laminar Box: Past, Present and Future University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 18
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 19
SDCT ATTACHMENTS The UB SDCT shaking their 2017 competition tower The UB SDCT looking confident and dapper University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 20