Purdue researcher featured in NSF webcast 'Learning from Haiti'
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue University geophysicist who has been studying the Haitian fault that led to the Jan. 12 earthquake there will be featured in a National Science Foundation webcast at 2 p.m. Tuesday (April 27).
Professor Eric Calais, who has studied the Haitian faults since 1989 and in 2008 warned of the risk for a major earthquake there, will share his experiences and recent observations during the webcast "Learning from Haiti."
Joining Calais on the panel are structural engineer Reginald DesRoches of the Georgia Institute of Technology and social scientist Liesel Ritchie of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. These researchers also were on site within days of the earthquake to gather critical data before it was lost to weather and recovery and reconstruction efforts.
NSF social scientist Dennis Wenger also will be on the panel to discuss how U.S. and global agencies use disaster research to save lives.
The webcast - at https://science360.gov/live - is open to the public. Questions for the panel should be e-mailed to webcast@nsf.gov.
Images and video from the researchers' work in Haiti are available at https://www.nsf.gov/haiti2010
Writer: Elizabeth Gardner, 765-494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu
Media contacts: Purdue News Service, 765-494-2096
Joshua Chamot, National Science Foundation, 703-292-7730, jchamot@nsf.gov
Related news releases: https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100115CalaisFreedHaiti.html
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100125CalaisHaiti.html
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/outreach/2010/100422CalaisScholarships.html
Note to Journalists A phone line will be open to reporters only, and journalists should contact Josh Chamot, jchamot@nsf.gov, for the call-in number and passcode