Western States Seismic Policy Council Honors Christopher Rojahn and Lloyd Cluff with 2006 WSSPC Lifetime Achievement Award in Earthquake Risk Reduction

NEWS RELEASE
April 19, 2006

For More Information, Contact:
Bernadette Hadnagy, 650/595-1542
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On April 19, 2006, at the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference Commemorating the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC) awarded Christopher Rojahn, Executive Director of the Applied Technology Council, and Lloyd S. Cluff of Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Francisco, California, the 2006 WSSPC Lifetime Achievement Award in Earthquake Risk Reduction.

WSSPC created the award to recognize outstanding leaders in earthquake risk reduction. Awardees will have demonstrated throughout his or her career an extraordinary commitment, level of service, and contribution to the application of earthquake risk reduction to public policy.

Under Christopher Rojahn''s leadership as Executive Director of the Applied Technology Council, ATC has expanded from an emerging organization in earthquake engineering to a major contributor to earthquake risk reduction. ATC projects undertaken and completed during Chris'' tenure have established the basis for earthquake engineering practice in the United States and have greatly influenced public policy in earthquake risk reduction.

Lloyd Cluff was recognized for his achievements during his 45-year career as a world-renowned expert in earthquake geology, well-published research scientist, public policy champion of earthquake safety, inspiring educator, sought-after consultant, president and board member of many professional organizations, and successful business leader. As a geologist in the private sector, Lloyd has used the lessons learned from his investigations of significant earthquakes to improve engineering design practices, seismic safety, and earthquake preparedness.

For more background on each of these awardees, please go to:

Christopher Rojan

Lloyd Cluff

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.