News & Upcoming Events
Second Professional Development Seminar to Focus on Bridge Inspection
Monday, November 23 at 5:00 p.m. | Bell Hall Room 340C
Dr. Sreenivas Alampalli, P.E., F.ASCE; Director, Bridge Evaluation Services Bureau, New York State Department of Transportation, will deliver the second presentation in the new Bridge Engineering Distinguished Speaker Series. His talk, entitled “National and New York State Highway Bridge Inspections,” will focus on the evolution of national bridge inspection practices and standards. Continuing with the status of current bridge inspection programs as mandated by the Federal Highway Administration, the presentation will include the history and status of New York State Bridge Inspections, reasons for inspecting bridges, views on the possible future improvements to bridge inspections, and on-going state and national efforts due to Minnesota bridge failure.
The lecture qualifies as 1.5 PDH credits, which are available for a fee of $75. Call (716) 645-3307 to reserve a seat as soon as possible, as space is limited to 20 people. For questions, or to register to watch the seminar as a webcast, email
or call him at (716) 645-5155.
Seminar Flyer
NY State Bridge Engineer Presents Seminar on Bridge Security
George Christian, Jr., P.E., Director, Office of Structures, NYSDOT and Chair, AASHTO Technical Committee on Bridge Security (T-1), was the first speaker in a new series on bridge engineering. His presentation, held November 16, 2009, provided an overview of the strategies being used by the bridge engineering industry to address bridge security, including risk assessment, mitigation strategies and response planning. A brief introduction to analysis and design concepts for blast loadings on bridges was also be presented. Email questions and comments to
or call him at (716) 645-5155.
Seminar Flyer
8M Earthquake Generates Tsunami in Samoa; 7.6M Earthquake Occurs in Indonesia
On Tuesday, September 29, 2009, an earthquake struck, generating 15ft (4.5m) tsunami waves in some areas of the Samoa Islands.² Based on currently available location and fault mechanism information, the USGS infers that the earthquake occurred as a normal fault rupture on or near the outer rise of the subducting Pacific plate.³ Several countries have been hit by the tsunami including: Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Japan.
On Wednesday, September 20, 2009, a 7.6M earthquake occurred in Indonesia as a result of oblique-thrust faulting near the subduction interface plate boundary between the Australian and Sunda plates. MCEER's Information Services website has links to preliminary reports, news releases, relief agencies and photo galleries for the quakes in Samoa and Indonesia.
Measuring Community Resilience is Aim of NIST-Sponsored Project
MCEER investigators are expanding the resilience concept to establish a framework to measure the disaster resilience of communities in a new project sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). "A Framework for Defining and Measuring Disaster Resilience at the Community Scale" will build on previous research at MCEER linking the four resilience properties (robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, and rapidity) and resilience dimensions (technical, organizational, societal, and economic). Andrei Reinhorn, University at Buffalo, is the principal investigator of the project.
MCEER and Calspan Partner for Full-Scale Bridge Test
In partnership with Calspan, MCEER will develop two full-scale bridge tests at Calspan’s 700-acre Ashford facility. The Ashford facility will enable Center researchers to subject two adjacent single lane bridges equipped with state-of-the art isolation technologies to harsh, real-world conditions and earthquake vibrations.
The MCEER-Calspan partnership will leverage the infrastructure-research skills of MCEER with the testing expertise of Calspan Corporation, internationally recognized for its rich heritage of innovation and proven excellence in technology and science.
MCEER Research Focuses on Improving Earthquake Response of Substation Equipment
MCEER researchers are working on a series of studies supported by $1.2 million from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). The research will continue a long-time MCEER focus on the seismic resilience of electric power substation equipment. The projects are led by Andrei Reinhorn, in collaboration with Andre Filiatrault and Michael Constantinou. They also include a project advisory committee comprising industry participants that will provide continuing guidance to the research program.
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