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MCEER SLC Members Participate in 2005 EERI Annual Meeting

MCEER SLC members Michael Pollino (L) and Michael Astrella (C), University at Buffalo, and Marlon Hill (R), Florida A&M University, presented posters at EERI’s Annual Meeting.

The 2005 EERI Annual Meeting was held in Ixtapa, Mexico on February 2-6, 2005.  The theme was “20 Years After Mexico City.”

Three MCEER SLC representatives attended the meeting.  They were Michael Astrella and Michael Pollino (SLC Chair) of the University at Buffalo, and Marlon Hill (SLC Vice-Chair) of Florida A&M University.

Informal meetings between MCEER, MAE and PEER SLC members were held during the conference to discuss collaborative activities between the three centers.  The other representatives were Nick Burdette and Ryan Hopeman from MAE, and Ana Lang from PEER. The primary activity discussed was the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition.  MCEER held their competition at UB the previous weekend (see page 6) and sent its first place team to the Tri-Center competition, held April 30, 2005 at the University of California, Berkeley and hosted by PEER.  Other topics included the 2005 Tri-Center Field Mission and future meetings via video conferencing.

A student poster session was held on February 4th.  Each of the MCEER students presented a poster on their research.  Michael Astrella’s poster was titled “The Performance-Based Design Paradigm,” Michael Pollino’s was titled “Seismic Retrofit of Bridge Steel Truss Piers Using a Controlled Rocking Approach,” and Marlon Hill’s was titled “Determination of Natural Frequencies and Mode Shapes of Multi-Degree of Freedom Structures.” Michael Pollino also presented a poster on the University at Buffalo’s EERI Student Chapter.

A banquet on Friday night featured Mexican Folkloric Dancers and a reception on Saturday night included Mariachi music.

–Submitted by Michael Pollino, University at Buffalo