First Announcement and Call for Abstracts: ATC-29-2 Seminar on Seismic Design, Performance, and Retrofit of Nonstructural Components in Critical Facilities

NEWS RELEASE
May 9, 2003

For More Information, Contact:
Bernadette Mosby, 650/595-1542
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The Applied Technology Council (ATC) and Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) are pleased to announce the ATC-29-2 Seminar on Seismic Design, Performance, and Retrofit of Nonstructural Components in Critical Facilities, the third in a series of ATC/MCEER seminars on this subject first held in October 1990. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the purpose of the Seminar is to present current research, practice, and informed thinking pertinent to seismic design, performance, and retrofit of nonstructural components and distribution systems in buildings, with a special focus on critical facilities. The seminar components and systems include: supports and bracing for elevator systems, ceilings, partitions, cladding, glazing, contents, water piping systems, and mechanical and electrical equipment. Nonstructural components or systems in facilities with critical functions (e.g., computer centers, hospitals, manufacturing plants with especially hazardous materials, museums with fragile/valuable collection items) are of special interest.

The 2-day Seminar will be held October 23-24, 2003 in the Los Angeles, California area at a site to be announced later.

The Seminar program has been developed for design professionals, regulators, researchers, manufacturers and contractors, insurers, owners, and facility managers. Themes and topics to be addressed include:

Current practice and emerging code provisions and guidelines;
Observed seismic performance and databases;
Performance evaluation analysis and reliability and fragility estimation;
Shake table and seismic qualification testing;
New developments in performance based engineering;
Use of advanced technologies (isolation systems, damping systems, other);
Retrofit strategies; and
Multi-hazard mitigation issues, including the effects of blast.

The Seminar Steering Committee is seeking papers pertaining to the above themes and topics. Verbal presentations are planned but the Steering Committee is also considering the possibility of including poster papers. Persons wishing to present a paper at the Seminar are requested to submit an abstract of their paper to ATC on or before July 29, 2003. Abstracts should be one page, typewritten (single spaced) and not more than 250 words in length. Please indicate in the upper right corner of the abstract the format of presentation preferred (verbal or poster). Abstracts should be submitted to: ATC-29-2 Project, Applied Technology Council, 201 Redwood Shores Parkway, Suite 240, Redwood City, CA 94065;

Fax: 650/593-2320; E-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by August 10, 2003. Written versions of papers presented at the Seminar, not to exceed 14 pages in length, will be due September 26, 2003 in order to publish the Seminar Proceedings for the opening day of the Seminar.

An exhibition space is planned and exhibits are encouraged.

Welcome to the ATC Team!

Michael Valley

As a former Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates in Seattle, Mike Valley comes to ATC with more than 30 years of structural engineering experience in new design, evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, applied research, and codes and standards development. Mike’s design experience includes the landmark Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and his research and development experience includes the FEMA 356 Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings, FEMA P-2012 Assessing Seismic Performance of Buildings with Configuration Irregularities (ATC-123 Project), and NIST GCR 10-917-9 Applicability of Nonlinear Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Modeling for Design (ATC-76-6 Project).

Mike also has extensive experience as an ATC consultant serving as a reviewer, a technical contributor, and Project Director on multiple ATC projects. We look forward to how Mike’s unique experiences as a successful team member will contribute to ATC projects in the future.

Michael Mahoney

Retired from federal service as a Senior Geophysicist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mike Mahoney comes to ATC with more than 30 years of experience in hazard mitigation program management and policy development, post-disaster response and recovery, and problem-focused research and development in support of FEMA’s efforts under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). He has led FEMA’s earthquake-related work with the International Code Council and has been involved with the development of national model codes and standards since 1984.

In his career at FEMA, Mike has led the development of countless major FEMA publications, including: FEMA 350 Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings and its series of companion reports (ATC-41 Project series), FEMA P-58 Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings, Methodology and Implementation (ATC-58 Project series), FEMA P-695 Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors (ATC-63 Project), FEMA P-2018 Seismic Evaluation of Older Concrete Buildings for Collapse Potential (ATC-78 Project), and FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254 Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time (ATC-137 Project). With Mike’s extensive knowledge of federal government programs, and past collaboration with state and local agencies, hazard mitigation partners, and code development organizations, we look forward to how his unique experiences will help serve ATC’s client needs and objectives in the future.