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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/.
2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 2
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
2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 3
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
2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 4
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.”
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 5
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.
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 6
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.
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 7
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.
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 8
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
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 9
MCMASTER TRIP ATTACHMENTS
Participants in front of the John Hodgins Engineering Building at McMaster University
Morning-Student Presentation Workshop
2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017
University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 10
Keynote Presentation by Professor Stavridis
Nidhish, Abishek and Robin (L-R) at Niagara Falls
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Dinner at the Hard Roc Café in Niagara Falls, Canada
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FRIEDMAN FAMILY VISIT ATTACHMENTS
Dr. Nikolaou giving her Friedman Family presentation
Dr. Nikolaou and Sonia Pang discuss EERI topics
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2016-2017 Annual Report, October 19, 2017
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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
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 16
Professor Deierlein getting a tour of the SEESL
Lunch during the symposium gets off to a good start
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 17
Professor Deierlein about to give his keynote presentation
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University at Buffalo Student Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute page 18
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
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SDCT ATTACHMENTS
The UB SDCT shaking their 2017 competition tower
The UB SDCT looking confident and dapper