Research Assistants Symposium 2004
The 2004 Research Assistants Symposium, Disaster Response, was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 17-18, 2004, in conjunction with the MAE Center Annual Meeting. A new student orientation, conducted by MAE Center Director Dan Abrams and Acting Director Amr Elnashai, initiated the event. Student Leadership Council chairperson, Carrie Wagener, presented a SLC review, followed by student presentations. Presenters included: Jing Chein Lu, Texas A&M University, The Evolution of Housing Demand Due to Dislocation After an Earthquake; Bryant Nielson, Georgia Institute of Technology, Bridge Fragility and Functionality for Seismic Risk Assessment of Highway Transportation Systems; Erdem Karaca, MIT, Uncertainty in Seismic Loss Estimation; Yang Zhang, Texas A&M University, Evaluating the Business Impact of a Major Earthquake: A Research Proposal; Leonardo Duenas-Osorio, Georgia Institute of Technology, Interdependent Response of Critical Infrastructure Systems; and Jong-Wha Bai, Texas A&M University, Consequence Minimization Through Seismic Retrofit of a Reinforced Concrete Structure.A poster session was scheduled with poster abstracts included in the Annual Meeting and RA Symposium notebook. The Best Poster award was granted to Ryan Bresnahan from the University of Memphis. Christa G. von Hillebradt-Andrade, University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Seismic Network, gave the keynote talk, Beyond the Beautiful Beaches: Earthquakes and Tsunamics in Puerto Rico. An afternoon disaster response exercise was conducted by Carla Prater and Mike Lindell, Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, Texas A&M University. The symposium concluded on the 18th with a field trip to the Las Cavernas de Camuy and the Arecibo Observatory. Jon Hagen, senior engineer, spoke to the students about the Observatory history and current research activities. Jose Alonso gave the group a tour of the facilities.
