Christopher Rojahn

Christopher RojahnChristopher Rojahn
Director Emeritus

Christopher Rojahn, a registered Civil Engineer in California, served as Executive Director of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) from 1981 to 2015 and is currently serving ATC as Director Emeritus.  During his 34-year tenure as Executive Director, Mr. Rojahn served as Principal Investigator/Project Manager/Senior Advisor on more than 100 major research and development projects involving earthquake and natural hazard mitigation issues, including development of: earthquake risk mitigation strategies for urban areas; earthquake damage and loss evaluation data and methodology; methods for the seismic vulnerability assessment of buildings, bridges and other lifeline structures; methods for rapid and detailed seismic capacity evaluation of buildings; guidelines for the seismic rehabilitation of buildings; and procedures for post-earthquake safety evaluation of buildings.  He has also led numerous workshops on various technical issues related to the seismic design and performance of buildings, bridges, and other structures.

Mr. Rojahn has testified before the U. S. Congress and has advised the White House Office of Science Technology Policy on issues relating to earthquake hazard mitigation.  He has also served in leadership capacities on a variety of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded programs, including the Board of Directors of NEES Inc., the organization that managed and operated the initial 5-year Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) program in Davis, California, and the Governance Board of NEEScomm at Purdue University, the organization that managed and operated the second 5-year period of operation of NEES. 

Prior to joining ATC, Mr. Rojahn served as a Research Civil Engineer for the Seismic Engineering Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  His work there focused primarily on the acquisition and analysis of earthquake strong-motion data from instrumented structures as well as the development of methods for instrumenting buildings and bridges.  While at the USGS he also participated in post-earthquake investigations in California, Hawaii, Argentina, Nicaragua, Romania, and the Soviet Union.

Mr. Rojahn is currently a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California.  He also currently serves on the Board of Trustees of GeoHazards International in Menlo Park, California, and on the Board of Advisors of the STRAAM Group in New York City.

HONORS

  • Alquist Medal, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute “Alfred E. Alquist Special Recognition Award”, March 2017.
  • Honorary Member of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, June 2009.
  • The Western States Seismic Policy Council Lifetime Achievement Award in Earthquake Risk Reduction, April 2006.
  • Recognized as Structural Engineer of the Year by the Journal on The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings, September 2005.
  • Honor Member, Chi Epsilon, Bucknell University, March 2004.
  • Award for Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction, presented by the Earthquake.
  • Engineering Research Institute, Northern California Chapter, April 2003.
  • William Penn Senior High School Hall of Fame (1997), along with Keys to the City of York, Pennsylvania.


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Ayse Hortacsu

 

Ayse Hortacsu
Director of Projects

Ayse joined ATC in 2008 and has managed over 30 ATC projects, first as Research Applications Manager, and most recently as Director of Projects. She has led ATC projects both in the U.S. and abroad on a variety of subjects including post-earthquake safety evaluations, seismic performance assessment of buildings, seismic retrofit of existing buildings, seismic performance of nonstructural components, vulnerability assessment and retrofit of wood-frame dwellings, and performance of tall buildings. She was named an EERI Housner Fellow in 2014 and is the Chair of the EERI Oral History committee. She has also served as a Director on the board of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) and the Northern California chapter of EERI. She is the founder of Women in Structural Engineering (WiSE), an online network connecting women in the profession by facilitating local events, and one of the founding members of the Structural Engineering Equity and Engagement (SE3) committee of SEAONC.

Prior to joining ATC in 2008, Ayse spent six years as a consulting engineer in private practice, performing risk and vulnerability analysis of varying sizes for both earthquake and manmade hazards. She also has extensive experience in the design and analysis for blast loads, having completed new design and retrofit projects for both military and private clients. Ayse is a licensed professional engineer in California.

 

 

        

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Justin Moresco

 

Justin Moresco
Director of Projects

Justin joined ATC in 2018 and is responsible for project management, oversight, and quality control during the development of ATC products and publications. Justin comes to ATC as an experienced project manager with expertise in structural engineering, seismic risk analysis, and natural hazards risk mitigation.  Previously, Justin was a product manager for a leading risk modeling firm where he focused on developing earthquake risk models for the Americas.  Justin has participated in post-event damage investigations following the 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand; 2014 South Napa, California; 2016 Muisne, Ecuador; and 2017 Puebla, Mexico earthquakes.

Justin has also worked as a professional journalist and editor, with a focus on urban development.  He has extensive international work experience, including in Europe, West Africa, the Caribbean, and South America.  He holds a B.S. in structural engineering from the University of California, San Diego, an M.Eng. in structural engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Postgraduate Diploma from the London School of Journalism.  Justin is a licensed professional engineer in California.

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Bernadette A. Hadnagy

Bernadette A. Hadnagy
Director of Operations

Bernadette has been with ATC since 1993. Since then her responsibilities have evolved into performing all financial management and accounting functions, updating the ATC website, registration, and online store, supervising report order processing and event registration activities, implementation and conduct of webinars, training coordination on client projects, and working directly with the staff, Board of Directors, clients, and Project participants.  She is responsible for scheduling and conduct of ATC trainings, seminars, workshops, and special events, and has extensive experience in managing ATC's organizational effectiveness and risk management.


        

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Ginevra Rojahn

 

 

Ginevra Rojahn
Assistant Project Manager

Ginevra joined ATC in 2021 as a recent graduate obtaining her Master's degree from University of California, Berkeley. Ginevra brings her experience to ATC by assisting staff to manage projects, edit technical publications, oversee report production, provide graphic design capabilities, improve ATC's online presence, and support the ATC Hazards by Location Website and API.


        

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