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Tri-Center Student Field Mission

Field mission participants and their hosts pose for a picture during their visit to the Vesuvius Observatory at Naples.

In October 2003, 13 Ph.D. level students from the three earthquake centers and advisors Andrea Dargush from MCEER, longtime NCEER/MCEER researcher Professor T.T. Soong of the University at Buffalo, and Professor Phillip L. Gould of the MAE Center visited various locations throughout Italy on the 2003 Tri-Center Student Field Mission. Held October 12-18 and organized by MCEER, the purpose of the trip was to learn more about international centers of excellence in earthquake studies; study emerging areas of research and application; view areas impacted by recent earthquakes; discern useful lessons learned in recovery and rebuilding; experience the international culture of earthquake research; foster cooperation between the three Earthquake Engineering Research centers and encourage networking among the students.

Students visited the village of San Giuliano di Puglia, which suffered severe damage from the 2002 Molise earthquake.

During the group’s stay in Italy, they visited several universities and laboratories and were hosted by Dr. Georges Magonette at the European Joint Research Council (Ispra); Professor Fabiano Casciati of the University of Pavia; University of Rome (La Sapienza); and Professor Vincenzo Gattulli and his colleagues at the University of L’Aquila. Under the guidance of Dr. Alberto Dusi, members of the group were allowed special access to the town of San Giuliano di Puglia in the Molise region, an area heavily impacted by the earthquake of October 31, 2002. Wrapping up the tour in Naples, the group was given a special private tour of the volcanic observatory on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, currently under close monitoring because of its imminent eruptive status.

Students will prepare papers focusing on different aspects of earthquake engineering, and post-event design and recovery. Follow-up seminars and a photo-journal of the trip are also planned. The photographic record is separated into five sections which correspond to the principle engineering stops of the field mission. Each section contains a brief description of what the group did at the location and then a series of photographs documenting the group’s activities there. Many photos will also be available for download at http://mceer.buffalo.edu/SLC for a limited time and more detailed reports will be made available in the future.

Applicants are now being sought for the 2004 Field Mission, scheduled for July 16-24, 2004. This year’s event is being planned by PEER and will take place in Japan. For more information, contact Andrea Dargush at dargush@buffalo.edu.