Workshop Details for the 2023 Annual Meeting
May 25, 2023
RFP Research Project Stories: Tom Logan
June 14, 2023
Te Hiranga Rū QuakeCoRE offers its congratulations to the many members of the QuakeCoRE Community that have won awards this year at the 2023 New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) Conference: Facing the Seismic Challenge, held in Auckland in April.
NZSEE/QuakeCoRE Emerging Women Leaders in Earthquake Engineering award: Annie Scott
The NZSEE/QuakeCoRE Emerging Women Leaders in Earthquake Engineering award was decided by a judging panel that included representatives of both NZSEE and of our partner organisation for this award, Te Hiranga Rū QuakeCoRE.
This year’s winner is Annie Scott. Annie is a Structural Engineer at Jensen McArley & Associates in Auckland and has amassed a considerable amount of professional leadership early in her career. Annie was an organising committee member for the 2021 NZSEE before taking over at the helm as convenor for the 2022 conference, having to plan this twice, first as an in-person event, and then again as an online event. Annie was also part of the small team that organised the inaugural Advancing Women in Engineering and Construction (AWEC) Symposium in November last year, which brought together nearly 200 engineers from around Aotearoa New Zealand to discuss challenges and opportunities to create a more inviting and inclusive work environment.
During Annie’s career at both Holmes and JMA, she has taken an active leadership role in organising co-curricular, volunteering and CPD events, including the Social Good team, organising events where staff were encouraged to volunteer their time or donate money to worthy causes.
Annie has worked as a structural engineer both in New Zealand and in the Netherlands. She has worked on projects including new builds and heritage retrofits, where she has included her passion for sustainability, leading to several environmental awards. She has undertaken design projects to design structures in timber, concrete and steel, and has been involved in many different projects, ranging from small office fitouts, to high-end private dwellings, and was one of the lead design and construction engineers for the retail component of the Commercial Bay development.
For her leadership as a technical engineer, and for pioneering initiatives to support diversity, inclusion, and a more welcoming work environment for everyone, Annie is awarded the 2023 NZSEE/QuakeCoRE Emerging Women Leaders Award.
Toka Tū Ake EQC/NZSEE Ivan Skinner Award: Lucas Hogan (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator)
Lucas Hogan is conferred the 2023 Toka Tū Ake EQC/NZSEE Ivan Skinner award for his research in the seismic design and assessment of reinforced concrete structures, including field and laboratory testing of large-scale structures, full scale tests of concrete and unreinforced masonry buildings, bridge structures, and pile foundations. Lucas has also worked extensively on the repairability of seismically damaged concrete structures, seismic behaviour and retrofitting of precast concrete walls and floors, and the use of digital technologies for post-earthquake assessment.
Lucas was also a key team member investigating the response of new hollow-core floors as part of the ReCast Floors, a project which has prompted change to engineering practice nationally. For his extensive research portfolio in the lab and in the field, across building and bridges, Lucas is recognised as this year’s Toka Tū Ake EQC/NZSEE Ivan Skinner award recipient.
2023 NZSEE Research Scholarship: Ayushi Tiwari (QuakeCoRE Student)
Ayushi is a PhD student at the University of Canterbury and will work on a project entitled: Advancing predictability of physics-based ground-motion simulations in New Zealand: Empirical and Theoretical modelling advancements”. This project utilises spiral science concepts to gain fresh insights into ground-motion phenomena through physics-based simulations with large, unique validation datasets, aimed at advancing the predictability of ground motion simulations in NZ.
Otto Glogau Award: Riwaj (Ribu) Dhakal (former QuakeCoRE Scholar), Misko Cubrinovski (former QuakeCoRE Flagship Leader), Jonathan Bray, and Christopher de la Torre (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator)
This year’s Otto Glogau award was conferred for the paper “Liquefaction assessment of reclaimed land at Centreport, Wellington” by the above authors.
Published in the March 2020 issue of the Bulletin this paper has been viewed, download, and cited many times in the relatively short period since publication. The paper also received commendation for the rigorous and innovative research methods and for the regard with which this work is regarded within the profession.
Bulletin Service Award: Quincy Ma
Quincy is the main reason the Society members could access all past Bulletin papers via the Society webpage. Until the recent establishment of the new Bulletin portal, Quincy managed and regularly updated the Bulletin archive in the NZSEE webpage for more than 10 years. He has also been instrumental in migrating all past Bulletin papers from the old archive to the Bulletin’s new open-access portal. Quincy is also a regular reviewer for the Bulletin and is among the Chief Editor’s few go-to persons for advice and assistance on issues related to the Bulletin. These make Quincy a very well-deserved recipient of the Bulletin Service Award.
NZSEE Presidents Award: Charlotte Toma (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator), Annie Scott, Elly Rishworth, Patrick Cummuskey (QuakeCoRE Industry Affiliate) - The Advancing Women in Engineering and Construction (AWEC) team.
The President’s award is given to people who have contributed significantly to the Society or the profession more broadly in the past year. In considering the last 12 months, there is one key group of people who stood out as having contributed a significant amount of time and effort for the good of the profession. This group is the Advancing Women in Engineering and Construction (AWEC) team, who organised the inaugural AWEC event in November 2022, and their ongoing efforts to support diversity, inclusion, and retention of minority groups within engineering and construction in New Zealand. This is an area where the profession is making progress, but where there is still significant ground to be made. This ground-up initiative received very strong, positive feedback from many of the attendees and represented a huge amount of time and effort from the organising team.
Newly conferred Fellow of NZSEE: Greg MacRae (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator)
Greg is conferred Fellowship of the NZSEE for his services both to the Society, the Bulletin, and for his work in earthquake engineering academia and contribution to professional practice in New Zealand. Greg has been teaching and undertaking research in structural and earthquake engineering since 1986 in New Zealand, Japan, the USA, India, and China.
In New Zealand, Greg made the single most significant impact towards the current provisions for the seismic design of steel structures, through his landmark PhD project and thesis, The Seismic Response of Steel Frames, published in 1989. This thesis formed the basis for the current capacity design procedures for moment resisting and eccentrically braced steel frames, with the concept and procedure subsequently extended to concentrically braced steel frames. The excellent performance of these systems in the severe earthquakes of 2010 to 2016 is testament to the soundness of his work. He has made a major contribution to all revisions of, and amendments to, the Steel Structures Standard, NZS3404, from 1992 to the revision currently underway. He has also contributed to the development of the Earthquake Loadings Standard, NZS 1170.5 and to the publication of many design guides.
Greg is also a member of the NZSEE Bulletin Editorial Board, has published 24 papers in the Bulletin, and has chaired numerous sessions and presented dozens of papers in the NZSEE Conferences over several decades. In addition to his very significant contribution to standards in New Zealand, his work has been incorporated into standards in the USA and Japan.
His efforts are very greatly appreciated by the Society and are acknowledged with the award of a New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Fellowship.
Life Membership of NZSEE: Des Bull (QuakeCoRE Industry Affiliate)
Des is conferred Life membership of NZSEE for his services to earthquake engineering, structural engineering, and Urban Search and Rescue in New Zealand.
Des completed a Master of Engineering at the University of Canterbury in 1984, before gaining practical experience in consulting and joining the Cement & Concrete Association as a structural engineer. In 1993, Des took up a Cement & Concrete Association Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, teaching and conducting research on concrete structures, materials, seismic assessment, and retrofit. In 1996, he became Technical Director at Holmes Consulting Group. In 2000, while still at Holmes, Des was appointed the Holcim Adjunct Professor in Concrete Design at the University of Canterbury, where he brought together teaching, research and practice, benefiting students, academics, and practitioners. His work played a crucial role in shaping the profession, which was cemented by his authorship of structural design manuals used by both students and practitioners. His work on floor diaphragms has, and continues, to lead the world and has resulted in major changes in practice.
Des has formally disseminated his findings for over 30 years by regularly presenting at industry training seminars and conferences, contributing to the New Zealand Standards for Concrete Structures and Seismic Design Actions, aspects of the NZSEE Earthquake Assessment Guidelines, authoring or editing many widely used national and international guidance publications, as well as through conventional academic publications.
Des was a member of the MBIE Engineering Advisory Group, the DBH Precast Floor Overview Group, and the SESOC flange hung Double Tee Floor study group. He has acted as Chair of the NZS 3101: Concrete Structures Standard Review Committee, President of the NZ Concrete Society, and has received numerous industry awards. Des is a Life Member of the Structural Engineering Society New Zealand (SESOC), an Honorary Life Member of the Concrete New Zealand Learned Society, and a Distinguished Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.
In addition to all of this, over the past 20 years Des has significantly contributed to New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue operational capability, by training USAR personnel. His leadership was fundamental to the effective USAR response to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
For these reasons, Des a very worthy recipient of Life Membership of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering.
Paper / Poster Awards:
2023 Best Research Paper Award – Catalina Miranda (former QuakeCoRE Student) “Public Expectations of damage and disruption to existing multi-storey buildings in earthquakes.
2023 Best Poster Award – Soheil Assadi (QuakeCoRE Student) “Low Damage wall to floor connections for Seismic Resilient Timber Structures”
2023 NZSEE/NZ Timber design Society Best timber Conference Paper Award – Younes Shirmohammadli, Ashkan Hashemi (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator), Pierre Quenneville (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator), Reza Masoudnia “High Performance Glued- in Rod Connections in Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Structures.
2023 NZSEE SCNZ Best Steel Conference Paper Award – Hafez Taheri, Michail Karpenko, Charles Clifton (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator), James Lim, Shahab Ramhormozian (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator), Pingsha Dong, Kris Roy (QuakeCoRE Associate Investigator) “Seismic Application of fillet and partial penetration butt welds”
