2016-2017 ANNUAL REPORT€¦ · 2016-2017 Annual Report, ... for internship and ... was a keynote...

2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017

University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 1

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/.



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

Suraj Natarajan

Vice President

Joshua Reichardt

Secretary

Mark Hare

Treasurer

Shubham Anand

Senator

Aishwarya Bansode

Senator

Joseph Fremante

Senator

Rimjhim Kashyap

Senator, Webmaster

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

[email protected]



MEMBERS

A complete list of members is shown members:

Role Name EERI Member

Number Email Student Status

President Joseph Colletti 18301 [email protected] Graduate

Vice President Suraj Natarajan 18687 [email protected] Graduate

Secretary Joshua Reichardt 17605 [email protected] Graduate

Treasurer Mark Hare 17200 [email protected] Graduate

Senator Shubham Anand 14748 [email protected] Graduate

Senator Aishwarya Bansode 18952 [email protected] Graduate

Senator Joseph Fremante 19080 [email protected] Graduate

Senator Rimjhim Kashyap 18894 [email protected] Graduate

Senator Robin Kumar 18945 [email protected] Graduate

Member Daniel Barron 16704 [email protected] Graduate

Member Shoma Kitayama 18210 [email protected] Graduate

Member Rohit Krishnakumar 18922 [email protected] Graduate

SDCT Paolo Bourdeau 19220 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Joseph Suk 19236 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Tyler Hurlbutt 19237 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Michael Zullo 19224 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Foley Chew 19233 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Casey Bunce 18683 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Jack Kennedy 17456 [email protected] Undergraduate

SDCT Damian Andreani 17448 [email protected] Undergraduate

Faculty Adviser Dr. Andreas Stavridis 09914 [email protected]

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



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 large-

scale 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.”



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.



SDCT Members

A complete list of members is shown below.

Name EERI Member

Number Email Role

Paolo Bourdeau 19220 [email protected] Member

Joseph Suk 19236 [email protected] Member

Tyler Hurlbutt 19237 [email protected] Member

Michael Zullo 19224 [email protected] Member

Foley Chew 19233 [email protected] Member

Casey Bunce 18683 [email protected] Member

Jack Kennedy 17456 [email protected] Member

Damian Andreani 17448 [email protected] 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 student-

membership 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.



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.



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



MCMASTER TRIP ATTACHMENTS

Participants in front of the John Hodgins Engineering Building at McMaster University

Morning-Student Presentation Workshop



Keynote Presentation by Professor Stavridis

Nidhish, Abishek and Robin (L-R) at Niagara Falls



Dinner at the Hard Roc Café in Niagara Falls, Canada



FRIEDMAN FAMILY VISIT ATTACHMENTS

Dr. Nikolaou giving her Friedman Family presentation

Dr. Nikolaou and Sonia Pang discuss EERI topics



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



Professor Deierlein getting a tour of the SEESL

Lunch during the symposium gets off to a good start



Professor Deierlein about to give his keynote presentation



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

Probabilistic Geotechnical Site

Characterization through Stochastic Inverse

Analysis of Geophysical Test Measurements

- Joseph Colletti UB The UB Geotechnical Laminar Box: Past, Present

and Future



SDCT ATTACHMENTS

The UB SDCT shaking their 2017 competition tower

The UB SDCT looking confident and dapper

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