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Planning Committee Members Biographies

Ron Eguchi (chair) is President and CEO of ImageCat, Inc. He has over 30 years of experience in risk analysis and risk management studies. He has served on several Editorial Boards in the past including the Natural Hazards Review published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) Journal, Earthquake Spectra. He is a past member of the following national committees: the National Research Council’s Disaster Roundtable, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Executive Committee of the ASCE Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering. Eguchi is currently starting a new committee for the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE that will encourage the advancement and application of information technologies in structural engineering. In 2006, Mr. Eguchi accepted an ATC Award of Excellence on behalf of the ATC-61 project team for work on An Independent Study to Assess Future Savings from Mitigation Activities that showed that a dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves the nation about $4 in future benefits for every dollar spent. He was recognized by EERI as the 2008 Distinguished Lecturer where he discussed the topic of “Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and other Disasters: A View from Space.” He has authored over 300 publications, many of them dealing with the seismic risk of utility lifeline systems and the use of remote sensing technologies for disaster response.

Maria Feng received her B.S. from Southeast University in China in 1982 and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1992. She started her academic career at Princeton University in 1990 as a Research Associate. She joined the faculty at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 1992 where he served at first as an Assistant Professor, then an Associate Professor, a Professor, and most recently as a Chancellor’s Professor. She was the founding Director of the Center for Advanced Monitoring and Damage Inspection at UCI. Professor Feng joined the Columbia faculty in 2012 as Renwick Professor of Civil Engineering, an endowed professorship. Professor Feng’s research is on the forefront of multidisciplinary science and engineering in sensors, structural health monitoring, smart structure and system control for civil infrastructure and military applications, with an emphasis on structural safety and system resilience against natural and man-made hazards. She has made a number of original contributions to the state-of-the-art in both academic research and engineering practice through the development of novel fiber optic dynamic sensors, vision-based remote sensors, microwave imaging technology, vibration-based system identification algorithms for damage assessment, as well as the friction-controllable sliding isolation system and mega-sub structures for wind and seismic hazard mitigation. Professor Feng’s achievements have been recognized by her election as a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and numerous national and international awards. The honors include the CAREER Award by the National Science Foundation, the Collingwood Prize by ASCE, and the Alfred Noble Prize awarded jointly by the

ASCE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, and the Western Society of Engineers. Professor Feng also received the Water L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE “for innovative, interdisciplinary and practical research on sensing, monitoring and controlling dynamic response of civil engineering systems subjected to earthquake and wind loads.” In addition, she has received the Best Paper Award and the Best Presentation Award by the Japan Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, along with recognitions from other professional journals and conferences. Her work has been reported by national media, including a special feature “The Bridge Doctor” on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. She was named the Top Researcher on Wearable Sensors by MIT Technology Review.

Ting Lin directs the Multi-Hazard Sustainability Research Group (HazSus.org) with parallel tracks in earthquake engineering and climate change. Interfacing engineering with earth science facilitated by high performance computing, her research focuses on earthquake and sea-level rise hazards, risk, and uncertainty. Her recent projects include ground motion simulation validation of tall buildings, Probabilistic Sea-Level Rise Hazard Analysis, and virtual reality of earthquake shaking. She completed her Ph.D. and M.S. in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, and B.S. (Hons.) in Civil Engineering and a concentration in Architecture from Cornell. Prior to joining Stanford, she worked on lifeline research at Cornell and structural design at Leslie E. Robertson Associates. Dr. Lin was a Worldwatch Institute delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15), a working group member of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Consultants Joint Venture, and a recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Paper Award from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). She is Marquette University’s Institutional Representative in the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), the Secretary of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Community Resilience Panel (CRP) Data, Metrics, and Tools (DMT) Committee, and the inaugural Vice-Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) Advances in Information Technology (AIT) Committee.

Steve Moddemeyer is a thought leader with more than 22 years of experience leading governments, land owners, and project teams towards increased sustainability. He specializes in creating tools and policies that lead to resilient infrastructure systems for neighborhoods, cities and new town developments. He has extensive experience with complex public/private development issues and the development of sustainable strategies for major capital improvement projects. As a consultant, Mr. Moddemeyer led and authored Phase 1 of the Seattle Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan for the City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management. Disaster recovery planning requires a broad range of skills that span restoration of infrastructure, strategic land use decision-making, collaboration between government agencies, high interactivity with the public, and a deep understanding of the relationship between resilience and sustainability. Steve also helped to create the global program called Cities of the Future for the International Water Association (IWA). The effort brought together experts from around the world on the challenges and responses that cities are taking in light of global population growth, resource constraints, new technology, and climate change. He helped to launch a partnership between IWA and the Turkish Ministry of the Environment to assist Istanbul, Kayseri, and Trabzon to implement City of the Future strategies. In Seattle, Steve led the Sustainable District Study for the Yesler Terrace

redevelopment in Seattle. His multi-disciplinary team identified cost-effective district scale approaches for sustainable energy, water and solid waste systems. Mr. Moddemeyer was also the principal author of the Seattle Green Factor, a powerful regulation that accelerates the use of green roofs, vegetated walls, and porous pavement in districts throughout the city. Steve’s practice blends sustainability and resilience thinking. He participated with FEMA officials in the development of the National Mitigation Framework called for in the Presidential Policy Directive 8: National Preparedness. He co-authored the Benefit Cost Analysis for Seattle officials on policies to address seismic risk from unreinforced masonry buildings and is working with FEMA Region IX on the National Academy of Sciences’ Resilient America Pilot Project in Seattle.

Farzad Naeim is the founder and president of Farzad Naeim, Inc. Previously, he was the Technical Director at John A. Martin & Associates (JAMA) and its legal counsel. He regularly managed and facilitated activities of internal teams of experts in research and development activities, special seismic studies, and the design of specialized computer applications. Mr. Naeim founded JAMA’s R&D Department in 1984 on the premise that today’s unique structural design solutions demand more than what is provided by off-the-shelf computer software packages, with the mission to take the best technology publicly available and develop it into tailor-made computing facilities, design methodologies, analysis software, and earthquake-resistant design technologies. He developed an international reputation for cutting edge engineering and computer technology, and was awarded grants by such diverse agencies as the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the County of Los Angeles, the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program, Applied Technology Council (ATC), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), for studying various damage characteristics of earthquakes and their impact on seismic design practice. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Earthquake Spectra, President of EERI, inaugural Chair of the Governance Board of the U.S. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and the Chair of the 10th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering.

Chris Poland (NAE) is an internationally recognized authority on earthquake engineering and champion of disaster resilience. His passion for vibrant, sustainable, and healthy communities drives his consulting practice. He focuses on community resilience and the buildings and systems that contribute to it. Poland is currently a Community Resilience Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and member of the NIST Community Resilience Panel. Poland is the past Chair of the Advisory Committee to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, and current Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Structural Safety of Department of Veterans Affairs Facilities. As Chair of the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference in San Francisco in April 2006, Mr. Poland shared the stage with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein in an internationally covered event that brought the nation to think proactively about earthquake danger. He served as the Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings Standards Committee completing both ASCE 31 and ASCE 41, standards for the evaluation and rehabilitation of existing buildings that are used worldwide. Mr. Poland served on the Board of Directors for SPUR, co-chaired their Resilient City Initiative, and led the publication of “The Disaster Resilient City.” He serves on the Board of the ASCE Structural Engineering Institute, has a leadership position in the ASCE Infrastructure Resilience Division, and is a member of the

Board of the US Resiliency Council. He served on the Board for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and was the co-chair of the San Francisco Lifelines Council with City Administrator Naomi Kelly. Poland was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2009. He received EERI’s Alquist Award in 2006 and the Housner Medal in 2017. He is a Fellow of the American Council of Engineering Companies and the American Society of Civil Engineers Structural Engineering Institute. He is an honorary member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Structural Engineers Association of California. His structural engineering career spans 40+ years and includes new design work, seismic analysis and strengthening of existing buildings, structural failure analysis, and historic preservation. Until his retirement, he was a Senior Principal, Chairman and CEO of Degenkolb Engineers during his 40 years with the firm from 1974 through 2014. Poland received his M.S. in structural engineering from Stanford University.

Seymour M.J. Spence is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Previously to joining the University of Michigan in 2014, he spent three years as a Research Assistant Professor in the NatHaz Modeling Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his M.S. in Civil Engineering in 2005 from the University of Perugia, Italy, and received a joint Ph.D. from the University of Florence, Italy and the University of Braunschweig, Germany in 2009. His main research interests are centered on the areas of performance-based design and optimization theory applied to large-scale and uncertain structural systems. Mr. Spence is currently focusing on the development of a framework for the performance-based topology/design optimization of structural systems subject to wind loads, with combined time-variant/-invariant uncertainties, as well as on the definition of methodologies and procedures for the efficient CFD-based aerodynamic shape optimization of tall buildings. He has authored more than 60 publications in leading journals and conferences proceedings over the past six years and has given a number of invited talks at leading institutions around the world. In 2015, he was the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) J. James R. Croes Medal.