Fifteen named to Earthquake Hazards Reduction Advisory Committee

William Jeffrey, director of the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), named 15 academic, industry, and government experts to serve on the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction. Established by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, NEHRP is the federal government’s program to reduce the risks to life and property from earthquakes. NEHRP consists of four federal agencies: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and NIST. Congress designated NIST as the lead agency for NEHRP in 2004.

Responsibilities of the new independent advisory committee include assessing trends and developments in the science and engineering of earthquake hazards reduction; the effectiveness of NEHRP in performing its statutory activities (improved design and construction methods and practices, land use controls and redevelopment, prediction techniques and early-warning systems, coordinated emergency preparedness plans, and public education and involvement programs); any need to revise NEHRP; and the management, coordination, implementation, and activities of NEHRP.

The initial terms for the advisory committee will be staggered, with the following appointed members serving one, two, or three years, with a possible full three-year second term:

• Jonathan D. Bray, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
• David E. Cook, senior manager/fire chief, Enterprise Fire and Disaster Preparedness, Boeing Co., Seattle.
• Lloyd S. Cluff, director, Geosciences Department and Earthquake Risk Management Program, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Francisco.
• James R. Harris, president, J.R. Harris and Co., Denver.
• Paul Somerville, principal seismologist and manager, Seismic Hazards Group, URS Corp., Pasadena, Calif.
• Ronald O. Hamburger, senior principal, Structural Engineering West, Simpson Gumpertz and Heger, Inc., San Francisco.
• Howard Kunreuther, professor, Decision Sciences and Business and Public Policy, and co-director, Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
• Thomas D. O’Rourke, Thomas R. Briggs Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Anne R. vonWeller, chief building official, Murray (Utah) City Corp., and former board of directors president, International Code Council, Bountiful, Utah.
• Yumei Wang, geotechnical engineer and geohazards team leader, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Portland, Ore.
• Walter J. Arabasz, research professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and director, Seismograph Stations, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
• Richard K. Eisner, regional administrator and manager (retired), California Integrated Seismic Network, and California Earthquake and Tsunami Programs, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, Oakland, Calif.
• Chris D. Poland, chairman, president, and CEO, Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco, who has agreed to serve as the chair of the advisory committee.
• Kathleen J. Tierney, professor, Department of Sociology and Institute of Behavioral Science, and director, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
• Sharon L. Wood, Robert L. Parker Centennial Professor of Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

For more information on NEHRP, including biographical information on the advisory committee members, go to www.nehrp.gov.