National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

Members

In August 2006, pursuant to the July 25, 2006 Federal Register Notice (PDF 60KB), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) concluded a 30-day formal solicitation period for nominations for individuals to serve on the Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction (ACEHR). Stakeholders in NEHRP, from around the United States, showed strong interest in and support for NEHRP by submitting over 85 nominees for service on the committee.

Following an extensive evaluation period, William Jeffrey, then director of NIST, named 15 distinguished academic, industry, and government experts to serve on ACEHR in February 2007. In 2009, Patrick Gallagher, deputy director of NIST and acting chair of the NEHRP Interagency Coordinating Committee, named two new members to fill vacancies on the committee. The September 22, 2009 Press Release is available online.

ACEHR members will serve nominal 3-year terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms of service before having to step off the committee for a minimum of 1 year. The initial terms for the 15 original members were staggered, with members serving 1, 2, or 3 years, with possible full 3-year second terms. The 2009 appointees' terms have been matched to those of the members whom they replaced.

Norman A. Abrahamson
Engineering Seismologist
Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Francisco, CA
Term Expires: July 11, 2014

Dr. Abrahamson has extensive experience in the practical application of seismology to the development of seismic criteria for engineering design and analysis. As an engineering seismologist at Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) and as an engineering seismology consultant with an international practice, he has developed or reviewed ground motions for hundreds of buildings and lifeline facilities ranging from nuclear power plants, dams, and electric substations to ports, pipelines, bridges, and hospitals. At PG&E, Dr. Abrahamson works on seismic evaluations of company facilities and is responsible for technical management of PG&E's seismic research programs, which are conducted in cooperation with the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center and the Southern California Earthquake Center. He serves on the Caltrans Seismic Advisory Board and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Seismic Safety Task Force, and is an adjunct professor at the University of California's Berkeley and Davis campuses and at the Rose School in Italy. He has degrees in geophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.

James E. Beavers
Director, Construction Industry Research and Policy Center and Research Professor, Civil Engineering
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Term Expires: August 1, 2014

Dr. Beavers is a structural engineer who has specialized in natural and technological hazards during more than 35 years as a university professor, private consultant, corporate manager, author, and editor. In addition to his positions at the University of Tennessee, he serves as principal of James E. Beavers Consultants and is the founder and co-editor of Natural Hazards Review, a journal of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He formerly served as deputy director of the Mid-America Earthquake Center, as vice president for MS Technology's Natural and Technological Hazards Services Division, as director of the Center for Natural Phenomena Engineering at Martin Marietta Energy Systems, and as chairman of the board of directors for the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC). Dr. Beavers has served on more than 80 national committees, authored or coauthored more than 200 papers, and participated in professional exchange programs with Russia, China, India, and Australia. In 2007, he received the Duke Lifeline Earthquake Engineering Award from ASCE. He has degrees in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University and the University of Missouri at Rolla.

Craig A. Davis New Member!
Manager of Geotechnical Services/Geotechnical Engineering Group
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles, CA
Term Expires: July 31, 2015

Dr. Davis is a registered civil and geotechnical engineer who has worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) since 1987 as an engineer, engineering manager, project manager, and contract manager. He currently manages geotechnical engineering, contract management, and project management groups for LADWP geotechnical projects and oversees the department’s water system seismic improvement program and dam and reservoir development program. He is a member of the executive committee of the ASCE Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering, and serves as an adjunct professor at the Beijing Institute of Civil and Architectural Engineering. Dr. Davis has participated in many national and international professional committees and organized numerous international workshops and symposiums related to geotechnical and lifeline earthquake engineering. He has degrees in civil engineering, with emphases in structural and geotechnical earthquake engineering, from California Polytechnic State University and the University of Southern California.

Richard K. Eisner, FAIA
Regional Administrator and Manager (retired), California Integrated Seismic Network and California Earthquake and Tsunami Programs
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Oakland, CA
Term Expires: April 30, 2013

An architect, urban planner, and urban designer, Mr. Eisner, for the last 30 years, focused his career on issues of seismic design and urban earthquake hazard reduction, including serving as program manager on a NSF-funded project to develop model hazard reduction and preparedness techniques based on Japanese practice. A key element of his work as director of the Bay Area Regional Earthquake Preparedness Project was the implementation of these models and integration of knowledge from the earth- and social-science communities into mitigation and preparedness programs. In 1993, Eisner joined the team developing HAZUS, FEMA's software for estimating losses from earthquakes. He is a recognized expert in community preparedness and emergency management, and was actively involved in response and recovery operations following the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes. His degrees are from the University of California at Berkeley.

Robert B. Herrmann New Member!
Chair of Natural Sciences
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
Term Expires: July 31, 2015

Dr. Herrmann is the Paul C. Reinert Chair of Natural Sciences in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Saint Louis University (SLU). He has been on the faculty of the SLU Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences since 1975, advancing to full professor of geophysics. In 2004 he was awarded the Otto Nuttli Professorship in Geophysics. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, which are focused on earthquake seismology, Dr. Herrmann serves as the director of SLU’s graduate geoscience programs. He has published extensively in scientific journals. Dr. Herrmann has served on the Missouri Seismic Safety Commission, on panels convened by the National Research Council, and on the board of directors (and in other capacities) for the Seismological Society of America, and is currently a member of the AFTAC Seismic Review Panel. He has degrees in physics and geophysics from Xavier University and Saint Louis University, respectively.

John Hooper
Director of Earthquake Engineering
Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, WA
Term Expires: September 14, 2015

Mr. Hooper is a registered civil and structural engineer with 28 years of experience in structural analysis and seismic and renovation engineering. He is chair of the ASCE Seismic Subcommittee and a past chair of the BSSC Technical Subcommittee TS-2, and is very involved with EERI, FEMA, and the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. Through his project and technical-committee experience, and his role as mentor of the earthquake and wind specialist groups at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Mr. Hooper remains at the forefront of research and industry advancements, especially in the areas of seismic analysis, design, and retrofitting. As a nationally recognized expert, he is frequently asked to give seminars on the 2006 International Building Code, ASCE Standard 7-05, and performance-based seismic design issues. He has degrees in civil engineering from Seattle University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Michael K. Lindell
Professor, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and Adjunct Professor, Psychology
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Term Expires: August 1, 2013

Dr. Lindell has over 30 years of experience in the field of emergency management. He has conducted extensive research on the processes by which individuals and organizations respond to natural and technological hazards. He also has had extensive experience in assisting government agencies, industry groups, and corporations with the development of emergency plans and procedures. In addition to his positions at Texas A&M University, he serves as editor of the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. He formerly served as director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, as associate director of the Institute for Crisis and Disaster Management at George Washington University, as a research scientist for the Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers, and as an adjunct faculty member at FEMA's National Emergency Training Center. Dr. Lindell has spoken extensively for conferences, workshops, and short courses, and has authored or coauthored 10 books and some 160 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has degrees in social/quantitative psychology and psychology from the University of Colorado.

Ronald L. Lynn New Member!
Director and Building Official
Clark County Department of Development Services, Las Vegas, NV
Term Expires: August 31, 2015

Mr. Lynn is the director and building official for the Clark County, NV, Department of Development Services, where he has worked since 1981. In addition to directing the building department for this 8,000-square-mile jurisdiction, Mr. Lynn is a frequent speaker on topics related to building codes, building performance standards, construction issues, and building-department administration. He has served on numerous building-safety-related boards, councils, and committees at local, state, and national levels. Formerly president of the board of directors of the International Code Council (ICC), Mr. Lynn now serves on the board of managers of the ICC Evaluation Service and as chairman of the Nevada Organization of Building Officials. Mr. Lynn chairs the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council, the Western States Seismic Policy Council’s Engineering, Construction and Building Codes Committee, and recently was appointed by the National Institute of Building Science to the Board of Directors of the Building Seismic Safety Council.

Jack P. Moehle
Professor, Structural Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Berkeley, CA
Term Expires: November 8, 2013

Dr. Moehle has been active in both teaching and research since joining the Berkeley faculty in 1980. His main technical interests are reinforced concrete construction and earthquake engineering. He has played a leading role in the development of building codes and professional engineering guidelines for the design of new construction and for the assessment and rehabilitation of seismically vulnerable existing construction. A licensed civil engineer in California, he is regularly engaged in professional engineering activities. His recent work has included seismic consulting and design reviews for high-rise buildings, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Hetch Hetchy water system, and the Transbay Transit Center. His work has been recognized through awards from the American Concrete Institute, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and the Structural Engineers Association of California. Dr. Moehle has degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chris D. Poland (ACEHR Chairperson)
Structural Engineer and Senior Principal, Chairman, President, and CEO
Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco, CA
Term Expires: April 30, 2013

Mr. Poland, a registered civil and structural engineer, has worked as an advisor on government programs for earthquake hazard mitigation and as an effective leader in related professional activities for more than 30 years. His professional experience includes projects of all construction types, ranging from new design to seismic retrofit and rehabilitation and historic preservation. Through his personal advocacy and leadership skills, Mr. Poland has promoted and advanced earthquake hazard reduction in California and nationwide. In 2006, he was awarded the California Earthquake Safety Foundation's Alquist Medal for his significant contributions to earthquake safety in California and in other earthquake-prone areas of the United States. Mr. Poland has also made substantial contributions in the advancement of structural and earthquake engineering practice. He served as a founding co-chair of the NEHRP Coalition for Seismic Safety and chaired the ASCE Standards Committee on Seismic Rehabilitation and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Structural Safety. He has degrees from Stanford University and the University of Redlands.

Brent H. Woodworth
President and CEO
Global Crisis Services, Inc., Calabasas, CA
Term Expires: June 15, 2014

Mr. Woodworth is president and CEO of Global Crisis Services, Inc. He is the founder of "The Crisis Response Team," an international disaster preparedness and response team that has responded to over 70 major natural and man-made crisis events in 49 countries. Mr. Woodworth consults on a global basis with business leaders, elected officials, and heads of state on comprehensive risk and disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery operations. He has placed a special focus on building collaborative support for global humanitarian relief operations and has coordinated efforts with United Nations organizations, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, private-sector businesses, and government leaders. Mr. Woodworth is chairman of the Disaster Recovery Institute and the Multihazard Mitigation Council. He is also on the board of the National Institute of Building Sciences.

Mary Lou Zoback New Member!
Consulting Professor
Department of Environmental Earth System Science
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Term Expires: July 31, 2015

Dr. Zoback is a seismologist and a consulting professor in Stanford University’s Department of Environmental Earth System Science. She was vice president for earthquake risk applications at Risk Management Solutions (RMS) from 2006 to 2011, where she used the company's commercial risk models to explore the societal role of earthquake insurance and to quantify the costs and benefits of disaster management and risk reduction activities. Before joining RMS, Dr. Zoback worked for USGS for 28 years as a research geophysicist and senior research scientist, as chief scientist for the agency's Earthquake Hazards Team, and as senior research scientist and program coordinator for the Northern California Earthquake Hazards Program. She is a member of the Disasters Roundtable at the National Academy of Sciences and of the National Research Council panel on "Increasing the Nation's Resilience to Natural and Man-Made Disasters." Dr. Zoback is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, past president of the Geological Society of America and has served on many professional committees, boards, and advisory groups. She received her BS, MS, and PhD in geophysics from Stanford University.

Top of Page