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The ATC&SEI Conference on Improving the Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures took place on December 9-11, 2009 in San Francisco, California.  The first of what is hoped to be a series of joint events between the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineering (SEI/ASCE), this inaugural conference was well-attended with more than 500 participants from 23 countries.  In addition to the technical sessions, there were more than 25 poster displays and 20 exhibitors in the exhibit hall.

Daily plenary sessions included world-class presentations by Mary Lou Zoback and William Holmes on National Seismic Hazard and Risk and the Report Card on Seismic Rehabilitation Progress, respectively, by Ron Hamburger and Maryann Phipps on a 2020 Vision for Performance-based Seismic Rehabilitation of Building Structural Systems and Seismic Anchorage and bracing of Nonstructural Components, respectively, and by Lucile Jones and Chris Poland on the Great California Shake Out and a Call to Action at the Professional and Political Level, respectively.  Luncheon plenary speakers were Thomas Tobin, who spoke on San Francisco’s Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety, and Masayoshi Nakashima on the Role of Large Scale Structural Testing in Seismic Rehabilitation.

The Conference offered a strong program on state-of-the-art seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of existing buildings in four concurrent tracks of technical sessions including papers and presentations on:
•  Improvements to Guidelines, Standards and Analysis Procedures,
•  Seismic Performance and Rehabilitation of Non-Building Structures,
•  Seismic Performance of Nonstructural Components,
•  New Materials and Innovative Approaches for Seismic Rehabilitation,
•  Innovative Approaches to Rehabilitation,
•  Mitigation Policy Issues, Strategies and Ongoing Programs, and
•  Case Studies on Analysis and Rehabilitation.
By attending these sessions, participants could earn up to 16.5 professional development hours.

Among the technical sessions, one highlight was a presentation by Kit Miyamoto of Miyamoto International on work in Turkey to protect the population from the devastating effects of earthquakes.  Outlining a broad program funded by the World Bank, the presentation illustrated the dramatic difference committed professionals can make in raising awareness of the need to improve a community or nation’s response to seismic risk, thus impacting the lives of millions who benefit from buildings, schools or bridges that can withstand the rigors of seismic loading.  Another highlight was the hands-on demonstration in the hotel lobby by Patrick Buscovich of Buscovich Associates and Laurence Kornfield of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection on the use of garage doors to resist lateral forces with a full-scale model.

Submitted paper abstracts and presentations from the conference are available for download here. In addition, if you  were a registrant at the conference but did not obtain a copy of the Proceedings on site, please contact the ATC office for your complimentary copy. If you would like to purchase a copy of the Proceedings, you can do so in the ATC and ASCE online stores.

12/2009

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 Welcome to the ATC Team!

Valley Mike crop 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.

Mahoney Mike crop

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.