ATC and JSCA Announce 9th U.S.-Japan Workshop on Structural Design and Construction Practices

NEWS RELEASE
May 15, 2000

For More Information, Contact:
650/595-1542
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The Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Japan Structural Consultants Association (JSCA) are pleased to announce the Ninth U.S.-Japan Workshop on Improvement of Structural Design and Construction Practices, to be held August 21-23, 2000, at the Laurel Point Inn in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Prior workshops in this series sponsored jointly by ATC and JSCA, have been held in Honolulu (1998, 1984), Kobe (1996), Victoria (1994), San Diego (1992), Kailua-Kona (1990), Tokyo (1988), and San Francisco (1986). The workshops have provided unique opportunities for leading engineers from the two countries to discuss state-of-the-art structural engineering issues in both formal and informal surroundings.

The 9th U.S.-Japan Workshop will be held following the Annual Convention of the Structural Engineers Association of California in Vancouver, British Columbia, August 16-20, 2000. The program for the 9th Workshop includes technical presentations by structural and earthquake engineering design practitioners and researchers from Japan, Canada, and the United States, as well as working group discussions and several social functions. The Workshop program (see second page of the Workshop Brochure) is expected to include papers on the following topics:

Performance-Based Engineering, including case studies pertaining to new and existing construction
Near-Field Earthquake Ground Motion
Innovative Concepts and Techniques for Improving Seismic Performance
Current Design Challenges and Opportunities
Issues in Professional Design Practice

Deadline for Paper Submittal. . Selected authors will be notified by July 1, 2000. Final papers (12 pages in length, maximum) will be due August 1, 2000.

Workshop Registration. Persons interested in participating in the Workshop (presenting a paper or not) may do so by completing and submitting the Workshop Registration Form, which can be obtained from ATC (Phone, 650/595-1542), or downloaded from ATC's web site (www.atcouncil.org). As in the past, ATC and JSCA are organizing this workshop on a self-funded basis (i.e., without external funding). Accordingly, all participants will be required to pay their own travel and hotel expenses and the Workshop registration fee (approximately $200), which includes workshop luncheons, break refreshments, and workshop preprints.

Hotel Reservations. A block of overnight rooms is being held at the Laurel Point Inn at the rate of Canadian$145 (US$98 at the current exchange rate) for a standard room, and Canadian$200 dollars (US$135) for a suite. For room reservations, contact the Laurel Point Hotel directly (1-800-663-7667) and reference Applied Technology Council. A reservation form can also be downloaded from ATC's web site (www.atcouncil.org) and faxed to the hotel.

Welcome to the ATC Team!

As a former Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates in Seattle, Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of structural engineering experience in new design, evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, applied research, and codes and standards development. Mike’s design experience includes the landmark Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and his research and development experience includes the FEMA 356 Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings, FEMA P-2012 Assessing Seismic Performance of Buildings with Configuration Irregularities (ATC-123 Project), and NIST GCR 10-917-9 Applicability of Nonlinear Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Modeling for Design (ATC-76-6 Project).

Mike also has extensive experience as an ATC consultant serving as a reviewer, a technical contributor, and Project Director on multiple ATC projects. We look forward to how Mike’s unique experiences as a successful team member will contribute to ATC projects in the future.

Retired from federal service as a Senior Geophysicist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of experience in hazard mitigation program management and policy development, post-disaster response and recovery, and problem-focused research and development in support of FEMA’s efforts under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). He has led FEMA’s earthquake-related work with the International Code Council and has been involved with the development of national model codes and standards since 1984.

In his career at FEMA, Mike has led the development of countless major FEMA publications, including: FEMA 350 Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings and its series of companion reports (ATC-41 Project series), FEMA P-58 Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings, Methodology and Implementation (ATC-58 Project series), FEMA P-695 Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors (ATC-63 Project), FEMA P-2018 Seismic Evaluation of Older Concrete Buildings for Collapse Potential (ATC-78 Project), and FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254 Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time (ATC-137 Project). With Mike’s extensive knowledge of federal government programs, and past collaboration with state and local agencies, hazard mitigation partners, and code development organizations, we look forward to how his unique experiences will help serve ATC’s client needs and objectives in the future.