Research Assistants Symposium 2001
The Research Assistant Symposium 2000 From Start to Finish – Solving an Earthquake Engineering Problem highlighted student involvement in MAE Center research. Forty-five research assistants participated in the event, which provided an opportunity for meeting and discussing current research and cross-disciplinary activities. Held in conjunction with the MAE Center Annual Meeting at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana on November 17-20, the RA Symposium was organized and coordinated by the Student Leadership Council. Omer Erbay, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign SLC President and Scott Johnson, Washington University undergraduate student, moderated the meeting and introduced the speakers.Warner Howe and Richard Howe, EQE, were the keynote speakers at the Symposium lunch. They discussed the Future of Earthquake Engineering – Dealing with Code Officials, Developers and the Public. Nine Research Assistants were invited to present overviews of their research projects. These MAE Center projects were selected because they model the process of "real world" earthquake engineering problems – from start to finish.
Forty-five students participated in the three Poster Sessions. These breakout sessions through out the day allowed students and faculty an opportunity for cross-disciplinary interaction and discussion of current research. Students had an opportunity to stand next to their poster and discuss results, as well as a chance to view and listen to other poster participants. Laurel Clark, University of Memphis, was the recipient of the Best Student Poster award. Her poster outlined work on MAE Center Project SG-3 Paleoseismology and Paleoliquefaction. Laurel works under the direction of Professor Roy Van Arsdale. The SG-3 project is designed to investigate prehistoric liquefaction sites in order to assemble a chronology of prehistoric earthquakes, magnitude estimates, spatial patterns, and susceptibility. SG-3 will be able to produce effective seismic hazard maps that will be useful to the engineering community as well as the general public.
The RA Symposium concluded with a Student Leadership Council overview including a discussion of new activities. 2000-01 SLC elections were held.
