Feature Stories Archive


2019

NHERI RAPID Joins DUNEX Pilot(opens a new window)
posted 12-11-19 | The NHERI RAPID facility team spent a week in October collecting coastal data as part of the large-scale DUring Nearshore EXperiment (DUNEX) pilot, a multi-agency collaborative field campaign to study nearshore coastal processes during coastal storms.

2020 NHERI REU Applications Now Open(opens a new window)
posted 12-09-19 | The NSF-funded NHERI network is preparing their annual summer research opportunities for undergraduate students at NHERI experimental facilities (EFs) located across the country to take place once again from May through August 2020 at the facilities throughout the United States.

Peek Co-authors Articles on Research Ethics for Nature(opens a new window)
posted 12-06-19 | Lori Peek, principal investigator of the NHERI CONVERGE initiative, co-authored an article in the November 2019 issue of Nature to urge researchers studying natural hazards to do so with sensitivity to the ethical dilemmas and power imbalances of the communities impacted.

The FIU Wall of Wind Featured in the News(opens a new window)
postted 12-06-19 | Connecticut local FOX Channel 61 recently aired a feature story about Florida International University's Wall of Wind NHERI facility, showcasing the capabilities for simulating a category 5 hurricane while interviewing researchers Ioannis Zisis and Eric Salna.

Rouche Presents Findings on Devastating March 2019 Alabama Tornadoes(opens a new window)
posted 12-06-19 | Auburn University researcher and associate professor David Roueche recently presented findings on the March 2019 tornado that devastated Beauregard, Alabama, to a meteorology class at Columbus State University.

NSF-funded CONVERGE Releases Social Vulnerability Training for Extreme Events Researchers(opens a new window)
posted 11-13-19 | The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder has released the CONVERGE Social Vulnerability and Disasters Training Module, the first in a series of online trainings that can assist natural hazards researchers.

NSF-supported Natural Hazards Cyberinfrastructure Provides Tools, Data, Education(opens a new window)
posted 11-11-19 | DesignSafe, the cyberinfrastructure component of NSF’s NHERI, provides a robust platform for over 4000 researchers to build new ideas via a cloud strategy for managing the mountains of information generated by natural hazards engineering and social science researchers.

NHERI Goes to THWARTS(opens a new window)
posted 11-04-19 | Dan Zehner, NHERI NCO facility scheduling and operations coordinator, and Seungwook Seok, research assistant at Purdue University, attended the Tornado Hazard Wind Assessment and Reduction Symposium (THWARTS), October 14 and 15, to promote NHERI network capabilities.

University of Florida Wind Engineers: On a Mission(opens a new window)
posted 10-29-19 | As Hurricane Dorian began bearing down on the Bahamas, University of Florida's Forrest Masters and his team of wind engineers were looking for the perfect place to park mobile weather stations during landfall along U.S. east coast.

Tokyo Metropolitan Resilience Project E-Defense Test, December 2019(opens a new window)
posted 10-28-19 | The University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Instititute (ERI) is pleased to announce a blind prediction competition for an E-defense test to be performed in December 2019 as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Resilience Project.

NSF Workshop on Strengthening Large Facility Cyberinfrastructure(opens a new window)
posted 10-09-19 | In September the National Science Foundation held a workshop for the purpose of promoting collaboration within the CI community of NSF projects like NHERI, and several representatives from NHERI facilities were present.

Wired Magazine Features Fritz, OSU Experimental Facility(opens a new window)
posted 09-30-19 | Professor Hermann Fritz of Georgia Tech is featured in the October issue of Wired magazine for his work at the Oregon State University wave laboratory with fellow tsunami researcher Costas Synolakis.

StEER Activates Dorian Recon Mission(opens a new window)
posted 09-25-19 | StEER activated its first Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) to survey impacts of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, through a joint mission with NHERI RAPID to measure building performance with a mixture of door-to-door surveys and aerial imaging.

Slab STRESS Research Project Underway at ELSA(opens a new window)
posted 09-16-19 | At the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA), a blind contest for the prediction of the response of flat-slab structures under seismic and quasi-static cyclic loads is underway.

Small Grants, Big Impact: Mitigation Matters Call for Proposals Open(opens a new window)
posted 09-09-19 | The Natural Hazards Center is excited to announce a partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Science Foundation to create the Mitigation Matters Research Program.

NHERI REU Students Present Posters, Network at the Natural Hazards Workshop(opens a new window)
posted 08-09-19 | This summer, sixteen of the students working with the NHERI Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) had the chance to attend the 44th annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado, to present posters on their research.

NHERI at the 2019 Natural Hazards Workshop and Researchers Meeting(opens a new window)
posted 08-02-19 | For 44 years, the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder has hosted the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. This year, the meeting focused on the theme of Convergence, and staff from NHERI attended to make presentations about the program.

MECHS 2019: Research Agenda and Workshop Update(opens a new window)
posted 07-29-19 | The Multi-hazard Engineering Collaboratory on Hybrid Simulation (MECHS) virtual community recently held a joint workshop with ETH Zurich in Switzerland to discuss the agenda for bringing more hybrid simulation techniques to natural hazards research.

SimCenter Releases New Research Tool: WE-UQ(opens a new window)
posted 07-15-19 | The NHERI SimCenter has released a new tool to help researchers calculate the response, including uncertainty quantification, of a structure to wind loading, and the DesignSafe platform allows researchers to execute these simulations online through the website.

Postdoctoral Position Available: Software Development for Scientific Workflows(opens a new window)
posted 07-12-19 | UC Berkeley’s NHERI SimCenter has an immediate opening in software development for a postdoctoral researcher through the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure program.

After Ridgecrest Earthquakes, NSF-funded Researchers Spearhead Reconnaissance, Data Collection(opens a new window)
posted 07-10-19 | Natural hazards engineers and other researchers funded by the National Science Foundation through NHERI and other programs are responding to the recent Searles Valley M6.4 and M7.1 earthquakes in Southern California

2019 NHERI REU Cohort from Rice University(opens a new window)
posted 07-03-19 | Rice University is hosting two civil engineering students this summer for the NHERI Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Both students will be working on projects to help hazard researchers process and analyze hurricane debris datasets.

2019 REU Students at the NHERI-REU Wall of Wind Facility(opens a new window)
posted 07-03-19 | Following a successful first summer REU program in 2018, the NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility is hosting three REU students at FIU this summer. Over ten weeks the students will be involved in a variety of projects inside a multi-disciplinary team of researchers at all levels.

2019 REU Cohort at the University of Texas, Austin(opens a new window)
posted 06-28-19 | The University of Texas in Austin is hosting four students for this summer's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, a ten-week internship placing students at NHERI facilities within natural hazards research teams from the community.

2019 NHERI REU Students at Lehigh University(opens a new window)
posted 06-28-19 | NHERI Lehigh is hosting three students this summer as part of NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, which promotes education and research through internships in active research.

2019 REU Cohort at the NHERI UC San Diego Facility(opens a new window)
posted 06-28-19 | This summer, the NHERI@UC San Diego Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table facility is privileged to host five students as part of the NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

NHERI at the 44th Annual Natural Hazards Center Conference(opens a new window)
posted 06-20-19 | Members of the NHERI community will be presenting at the 44th annual Natural Hazards Center conference held July 14-18 in Broomfield, Colorado. The theme for this year is "Convergence."

Buildings that Withstand Tsunami Wave Inundation(opens a new window)
posted 06-17-19 | For World Oceans Day, NSF promoted one of the exciting projects underway at the NHERI OSU experimental facility testing the structural vulnerabilities of buildings in coastal areas that are prone to wave inundations from tsunamis.

SimCenter Welcomes 2019 Summer REUs(opens a new window)
posted 06-17-19 | The NHERI SimCenter is hosting four REU students at UC Berkeley this summer for an intensive ten-week internship where they complete independent research projects mentored by domain experts.

In Memoriumm: Jon Peterka, 1941-2019(opens a new window)
posted 06-14-19 | Jon Peterka—honored wind engineer, emeritus professor of Colorado State University, and active figure within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)—has passed away at the age of 77.

2019 Hurricane Season: NSF-Funded Natural Hazards Experts Aavailable for Comment(opens a new window)
posted 06-01-19 | For the 2019 hurricane season, experts from the NSF-supported Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) are available to discuss hurricane-related topics.

New NSF-funded Wind Research Center Aims to Reduce Property Damage, Protect Communities(opens a new window)
posted 05-22-19 | NHERI wind researchers and facilities are part of a new, NSF-funded Industry–University Cooperative Research Center. The Wind Hazard and Infrastructure Performance Center (WHIP) is the first of its kind under the NSF IUCRC program.

SimCenter Collaborates on $4.9M PEER Research Project(opens a new window)
posted 05-17-19 | The NHERI SimCenter is a collaborator on a $4.9 million, 2.5-year research project led by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and awarded by the California Energy Commission.

SimCenter's Deierlein Named ASCE Distinguished Member(opens a new window)
posted 05-07-19 | Greg Deierlein, co-director of the NHERI SimCenter, has been honored with inclusion in the American Society of Civil Engineer's 2019 class of Distinguished Members for major contributions to the field of structural engineering.

At NSF's Large Facility Workshop, A New Focus on Communications(opens a new window)
posted 05-06-19 | At this year's meeting of the annual NSF Large Facility Workshop, a new track with a focus upon helping NSF projects building public awareness was launched for Education, Public Outreach (EPO), Branding and Communications.

StEER Launches Website, Membership Drive(opens a new window)
posted 05-02-19 | The Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance network (StEER) has recently launched its website full of information about the group's vision, event responses, products, and a formal invitation for members of the NHERI community and DesignSafe website to join StEER.

David Roueche Talks Tornadoes on NPR(opens a new window)
posted 05-02-19 | Auburn University engineering professor and StEER Associate Director for Data Standards David Roueche spoke with National Public Radio (NPR) about simple fixes that can help reduce the loss of life when tornadoes strike.

UC Davis Team Takes Part in Geotechnics Workshop in Osaka, Japan(opens a new window)
posted 04-26-19 | A crew from the Center for Geotechnical Modeling at UC Davis took part in the LEAP-ASIA 2019 workshop held in Osaka, Japan. The collaborative effort is a step forward for creating a database on DesignSafe of numerical models.

NHERI's International Workshop, March 2019(opens a new window)
posted 04-26-19 | At NHERI's spring international workshop, participants gathered in interdisciplinary teams, discussed disruptive technologies, and developed research campaigns to advance the NHERI 5-Year Science Plan.

User Forum Welcomes New Member and Officers for 2019(opens a new window)
posted 03-22-19 | The NHERI User Forum welcomes two new members to serve on the committee from the recent public election process and has internally elected new officers for 2019. The User Forum is composed of members from non-awardee institutions as an additional governance voice for the NHERI community.

New Report on Essential Simulations Advances Natural Hazards Mitigation(opens a new window)
posted 03-14-19 | The UC Berkeley-based NHERI SimCenter recently released a comprehensive report on simulation requirements and software tools for natural hazards engineering of the built environment.

NHERI Network Social Media Roster Now Online(opens a new window)
posted 03-04-19 | More and more of the NHERI experimental facilities are embracing social media! Find the roster on the DesignSafe website, under the NHERI Community menu.

Large Facilities Workshop in Austin, TX, April 2-4(opens a new window)
posted 03-04-19 | Mark your calendars for the annual NSF Large Facilities Workshop, this year sponsored by the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NHERI, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center, TACC.

U.S. and Japan Collaborate on Shake Tests of Three-Level Housing(opens a new window)
posted 03-04-19 | The NHERI NCO sponsored a February 7-8 trip to Japan’s Earthquake Defense, or E-Defense, facility for the second meeting of the research collaboration between NHERI and NIED/E-Defense where U.S. attendees observed and participated in two large-scale tests on the E-Defense shake table.

Advancing the NHERI Science Plan(opens a new window)
posted 03-01-19 | On March 18-19, the NHERI network is hosting a special workshop in Alexandria, VA, to advance the NHERI Science Plan. A multidisciplinary, international group of invited experts will discuss ways to use traditional and disruptive technologies for building a more sustainable civil and social infrastructure.

SimCenter at 2019 USACM Conference(opens a new window)
posted 02-18-19 | Sanjay Govindjee of the NHERI SimCenter and graduate student Fei Ding participated at the recent USACM Uncertainty Quantification in Computational Solid and Structural Materials Modeling Workshop at Johns Hopkins University.

SimCenter at Two Upcoming Conferences — Plan to Attend!(opens a new window)
posted 02-18-19 | The NHERI SimCenter will participate in two conferences this summer. Plan to attend EMI 2019 or USNCCM 15 to hear how the SimCenter’s computational framework is being applied.

SimCenter Early Career Research Webinars — A Call for Candidates(opens a new window)
posted 02-18-19 | The NHERI SimCenter is seeking graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty who would like to share their simulation-based natural hazard engineering research with their peers. Webinars are anticipated to be 45 minutes in length followed by 15-30 minutes of Q&A.

NHERI Researcher David Prevatt on the Phenomenon of Wind(opens a new window)
posted 01-31-19 | Wind researcher and University of Florida faculty member David Prevatt was recently interviewed by UF News about the challenges and future of building for wind resilience.

NHERI Researchers at E-Defense Japan, February 2019(opens a new window)
posted 01-31-19 | The NHERI NCO is sponsoring a February 7-8 trip to Japan’s E-Defense facility for the second meeting of the research collaboration between NHERI and NIED/E-Defense.

NHERI RAPID Makes TV News(opens a new window)
posted 01-22-19 | Jake Dafni and Jeff Berman of the NHERI RAPID experimental facility appeared on Seattle's KOMO News for a story on how they are offering field equipment to natural hazards researchers.

Feb. 1 Deadline Nears for NHERI REU(opens a new window)
posted 01-15-19 | NHERI faculty and staff: now is the time to nudge promising undergraduates to apply for outstanding, NSF-funded summer research program in natural hazards engineering.

Lori Peek on DesignSafe Radio(opens a new window)
posted 01-15-19 | Find out what’s in store for NHERI’s new CONVERGE center, based at Colorado University Boulder. CONVERGE principal investigator Lori Peek appears on the latest episode of DesignSafe Radio podcast, hosted by Dan Zehner.

ASCE Honors for Jonothan Bray(opens a new window)
posted 01-15-19 | ASCE has honored NHERI researcher Jonathan D. Bray with the 2019 Karl Terzaghi Award for his effective leadership and contributions to the geotechnical engineering profession, and for following in the footsteps of Karl Terzaghi in expanding the state of the art of that profession.

Honors for Boulanger(opens a new window)
posted 01-15-19 | Ross Boulanger, director of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling at UC Davis, received the prestigious Indian Society of Earthquake Technology’s (ISET) Shamsher Prakash Prize for Excellence in Geotechnical Engineering.

NHERI-Lehigh Takes to Social Media(opens a new window)
posted 01-15-19 | Did you know? The Lehigh experimental facility is now sharing site updates and natural hazards info on Facebook and Twitter.