Earthquake and seismology experts available at Purdue

EXPERTS LIST

February 12, 2009

Earthquake and seismology experts available at Purdue

Atmospheric sciences, seismology, seismographs

Larry W. Braile, professor and head of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Braile oversees the seismograph and works with the seismology station at Purdue to record local and worldwide earthquakes. He has done extensive studies of the New Madrid fault, which runs through the Mississippi River Valley.

Personal Web page: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/

CONTACT: (765) 494-5979, braile@purdue.edu

Geophysics, earthquake processes, tectonic plate movements

Eric Calais, professor of geophysics. Calais uses global positioning systems to study earthquake processes, tectonic plate movements, continental deformation, and the stress and strain at plate boundaries. He has performed fieldwork in Indonesia, Central Asia, Siberia, Western Europe, Mediterranean, East Africa, Alaska and the Caribbean.

Personal Web page: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ecalais/

CONTACT: (765) 496-2915, ecalais@purdue.edu

Satellite remote sensing of atmosphere

Jennifer Haase, assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences. Haase is a seismologist and studies geophysics, earthquake seismology and satellite remote sensing of the atmosphere. She has worked on projects for the Indiana Department of Transportation and the U.S. Geological Survey on assessments of seismic hazards in Indiana, with a focus on the city of Evansville.

Personal Web page: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/%7Ejhaase/

CONTACT: (795) 494-8677, jhaase@purdue.edu

Structures tested in lab for earthquake design

Michael E. Kreger, professor of civil engineering and director of the Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research, Researchers in the lab test structures for earthquake design.

CONTACT: (765) 494-9340, kreger@purdue.edu

Seismic wave propagation, time series analysis and seismic imaging

Robert L. Nowack, professor of geophysics. Nowack studies seismology and earthquakes. His research also covers seismic wave propagation, time series analysis and seismic imaging. Nowack is an associate editor for several geophysical journals including the Journal of Geophysical Research and the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

Personal Web page: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nowack/

CONTACT: (765) 494-5978, nowack@purdue.edu

Method to strengthen flaws that make buildings dangerously vulnerable to earthquakes

Santiago Pujol, assistant professor of civil engineering. He has demonstrated the effectiveness of a simple, inexpensive method to strengthen buildings that have a flaw making them dangerously vulnerable to earthquakes. The flaw is widespread in China, Latin America, Turkey and other countries. The buildings have too many "partial-height" walls between structural columns and could be easily strengthened by replacing some windows with ordinary masonry bricks. The researchers built an entire three-story building inside Purdue's Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research.

CONTACT: (765) 496-8368, spujol@purdue.edu

Reinforced-concrete structures and seismic efforts

Julio A. Ramirez, professor of civil engineering. Ramirez, an expert on the design of reinforced-concrete structures and seismic effects, is leading research at the Bowen lab involving bridges and buildings.

CONTACT: (765) 494-2716, ramirez@purdue.edu

Seismic response of reinforced concrete structures

Mete A. Sozen, Kettelhut Distinguished Professor of Structural Engineering. He has been selected as one of the nation's 13 "top seismic engineers of the 20th century" by an independent panel commissioned by the Applied Technology Council, a nonprofit corporation based in Washington, D.C. Sozen is an expert in the seismic response of reinforced concrete structures. Combining mathematical modeling with laboratory experiments, he pioneered developments in various construction methods using concrete, all of which are widely used in engineering practice today.

CONTACT: (765) 494-2186, sozen@purdue.edu

Writers: Elizabeth Gardner, (765) 494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu

Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to journalists: Below is a list of experts at Purdue who can comment on earthquakes and seismology in the context of the recent magnitude 7 earthquake in Indonesia.

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