Engineering the future: how seismic risk models can build more resilient societies

Helen Crowley is Secretary General of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that drives a global collaborative effort to develop open data, tools and software for state-of-the-art seismic hazard and risk assessment. She has an MEng in Civil Engineering, and both an MSc and PhD in Earthquake Engineering, and over 20 years of experience in seismic risk and earthquake loss modelling. She is the author/co-author of almost 200 publications, peer reviewer for over 20 international scientific journals and Editor of Earthquake Spectra. Her awards include the 2009 European Geosciences Union Plinius Medal, the EERI’s 2012 Shah Family Innovation Prize and the 2024 SSA/EERI Joyner Memorial Lecture. 

Reinforced concrete walls: How well do we consider their behavior in analysis and design?

Kutay Orakçal is a professor of Structural Engineering at Boğaziçi University. He graduated from Middle East Technical University and received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California Los Angeles. His research focuses on seismic behavior, computational modeling, laboratory/field testing, and design of reinforced concrete structures, with particularemphasis on structural walls. Dr. Orakçal is an editorial board member for the International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials and the Turkish Journal of Civil Engineering. He has served as a design consultant for numerous tall building construction projects. He also servesin national seismic code commitees.

Earthquake Loss Models for Turkish Insurance Portfolios

Sinan Akkar is currently the principal modeler of earthquake catastrophe at T Rupt Technology Inc., the research, development, and technology company of Turk Reasurans Inc. He served as a full-time professor at the Middle East Technical University and Boğaziçi University between 2003-2021. Sinan Akkar has performed several studies in ground-motion modeling, probabilistic earthquake hazard and risk analyses during his professional career. He served as the team member and technical integrator of ground-motion characterization of SSHAC Level 2 and 3 nuclear power plant seismic hazard projects in the US, Europe Türkiye, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prof. Akkar was also the principal investigator of National Seismic Hazard Map and Revision of the Earthquake Premiums for Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) and Insurance Association of Türkiye. He published more than two hundred technical papers in the international peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings at international and national levels. Sinan Akkar is the co-author of an international earthquake engineering book published by Springer. This book is recently translated into Chinese. He is a member of the board of directors in International Earthquake Engineering Association, Turkish Earthquake Foundation, and the editorial board member of Journal of Earthquake Engineering. 

Challenges for Strengthening Seismic Resilience in Large Urban Areas: The Case of Mexico City

Sergio M. Alcocer is a Professor in the Institute of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Professor in the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). He is member of the Advisory Committee on Structural Safety of the Mexico City Government. Alcocer is member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) technical committee 318 Structural Concrete Building Code, chairs the technical subcommittee 318H on earthquake-resistant structures, and chairs the ACI-ASCE 352 committee on Joints and Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures. Dr. Alcocer is Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. In 2023, Alcocer was awarded Mexico’s National Prize of Civil Engineering. He received his BSc in Civil Engineering with honors from UNAM, and a PhD in Structures from the University of Texas at Austin.

Title

Advancements in seismic risk assessment of existing structures: insights from analytical models and empirical earthquake data

Biography

Gerard J. O'Reilly (pronounced: ge-rard  o-rai-li) is an Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at IUSS Pavia, widely known as the ROSE School. He obtained a PhD in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from the same institution and has held visiting researcher positions at the University of California, Berkeley and the Kobori Research Complex in Tokyo, Japan.

His primary research interests are in risk assessment, management, and mitigation, particularly in the context of performance-based earthquake engineering. His work addresses economic losses, collapse prevention, post-earthquake functionality, and occupant safety. He uses advanced numerical simulation and empirical data to model structural fragility, vulnerability and risk, in order to identify effective retrofitting measures. 

He has been involved in several international projects and is currently the coordinator of the €11.6M EU-funded ERIES project.

He is the 2022 winner of the Shah Family Innovation Prize awarded by EERI, and is an Associate Editor at Earthquake Spectra since 2025.

Title

Should we design for sequential earthquakes?

Biography

Murat Altuğ Erberik obtained his undergraduate degree in 1993 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU). He then completed his master's degree in 1995 and his doctoral studies in 2001 in the structural engineering laboratory of the same department. Between 2002 and 2003, he conducted postdoctoral studies as a TÜBİTAK researcher at the Mid- America Earthquake Center head-quartered at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States. Since 2004, he has been working as an academic staff member in the Department of Civil Engineering at METU and is currently continuing his active research as a professor in the same department. Additionally, since 2021, he has been serving as the President of the Earthquake Engineering Association of Türkiye. He published many journal and conference papers, book chapters and supervised more than 30  M.S. and Ph.D. theses. He contributed to many national and intenational projects as a coordinator, researcher or advisor. His research topics include the linear and nonlinear dynamic analysis of structural systems; assessment and analysis of masonry and reinforced concrete structures under earthquake effects; earthquake damage and loss prediction studies; and energy-based structural design and evaluation.

Prof. Dr. Pelin Özener, 1999 yılında Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü’nde araştırma görevlisi olarak akademik hayatına başlamış, 2001 ve 2007 yıllarında Geoteknik deprem mühendisliği alanında yaptığı lisansüstü çalışmaları ile yüksek lisans ve doktora derecelerini almıştır. Pelin Özener, 2007 yılında Dr. Öğr. Üyesi, 2014 yılında ise doçent ünvanını almıştır. 2011 ve 2012 yıllarında doktora sonrası çalışmaları için University of Washington- İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü’nde “Sıvılaşmanın tetikleme zamanının belirlenmesi” üzerine araştırmalar yapmak üzere araştırmacı olarak bulunmuştur.

 Geoteknik deprem mühendisliği, sıvılaşma ve sıvılaşmaya karşı iyileştirme yöntemleri konularında yaptığı bilimsel yayınları ile akademik ve uygulama çalışmalarını yürüten Pelin Özener halen Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü’nde öğretim üyeliği görevini sürdürmektedir.