CAEES-ACGPS

Risk-informed, performance-based design of seismic isolation systems for nuclear energy facilities
2026-03-19 15:30 - 17:30 (America/Vancouver) | UBC Ceme, 1204 - 6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
This webinar is a hybrid presentation. Online attendees should pre-register to receive the Zoom Webinar Link. In-person attendees are welcome to attend at UBC CEME 1204 without registration.

Venue:
Online attendees: Zoom Webinar
In-person attendees: UBC CEME 1204 – 6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver BC. V6T 1Z4

Cost:
Online attendees: Free for members, $30 for guests and non-members
In-person attendees: Free

Speaker:
Andrew Whittaker, Ph.D., P.E., S.E.
SUNY Distinguished Professor, University at Buffalo

Abstract
Risk-informed pathways are being developed for the design and licensing of next generation nuclear facilities. This presentation will address one such pathway to implement seismic base isolation, which involves the development of a) isolation-system-specific seismic displacement demand curves from seismic hazard curves, and b) fragility functions for seismic isolation systems. Risk calculations result in a displacement, D50, that forms the basis for the prototype testing of isolators and dampers. Specific topics addressed in the presentation include the derivation of the displacement demand curves and isolation-system fragility functions, and calculations of risk.

Utilisation des nouvelles lignes directrices du CNRC pour l’évaluation et le renforcement sismiques
2026-03-05 06:00 - 2026-03-06 13:00 | Polytechnique Montréal, pavillons Lassonde, salle M-1010, campus de l’Université de Montréal
L’ACGPS-CAEES, en collaboration avec le Conseil national de recherches du Canada (CNRC), organise un atelier de formation en présentiel de deux jours à Montréal (QC).

Titre : Utilisation des nouvelles lignes directrices du CNRC pour l’évaluation et le renforcement sismiques
Quand : 5 et 6 mars 2026
Où : Polytechnique Montréal, pavillons Lassonde, salle M-1010, campus de l’Université de Montréal, 2700, chemin de la Tour

Cliquez sur ce LIEN pour plus de détails sur l’atelier.

Use of NRC’s Newly Released Seismic Evaluation and Upgrading Guidelines
2026-02-23 00:00 - 2026-02-24 23:59 | UBC Robson Square, Room C400, 800 Robson St., Vancouver, BC, V6Z2E7, Canada
Workshop Overview
Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters, capable of causing severe casualties and significant economic losses. For building owners, assessing and mitigating seismic risks in existing buildings poses both technical and economic challenges. In Canada, there has long been a need for nationwide technical guidelines for seismic evaluation and upgrading. The National Research Council Canada (NRC) first addressed this in the 1990s by publishing Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings and Guideline for Seismic Upgrading od Building Structures. However, these documents were never updated and have since become outdated.
Currently, the National Building Code of Canada (NBC) Commentary L recommends ASCE 41 Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings as a reference for seismic evaluation and upgrading. While comprehensive, ASCE 41 is based on American design and construction practices, and its direct applicability to Canada requires careful consideration.
Recognizing this gap, the Seismic Resilience Team at NRC’s Construction Research Centre has spent the past seven years developing updated, Canadian‑specific technical guidelines—the newly released Level 3 – Seismic Evaluation Guidelines (SEG) and Seismic Upgrading Guidelines (SUG) for existing buildings in Canada.
Designed to help professionals apply these new guidelines for effective implementation, and to improve safety and resilience of existing buildings, a series of webinars and training workshops are being delivered by the NRC in partnership with CAEES.
Building on the success of previous webinar series, this two‑day in-person training workshop offers 10 hours of advanced training sessions designed to deepen your understanding and practical skills:

Hands-on exercise applying the Tier 1 Quick Evaluation Procedure of the Level 3 – SEG to a hypothetical building located in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Overview of Tier 3 Non-linear Static Analysis Procedure (NSAP) in the Level 3 – SEG.
Step‑by‑step demonstration of Tier 3 NSAP for a simple three‑storey steel moment‑resisting frame.

Workshop Program

Day 1: Monday, February 23rd, 2026

8:30-9:00
Registration

9:00:10:15
Lecture 1
Overview of Level 3 – SEG
Reza Fathi-Fazl

10:15-10:45
Coffee Break

10:45-12:00
Lecture 2
Overview of SUG
Farrokh Fazileh

12:00-13:00
Lunch Break

13:00-14:00
Lecture 3
Application of Tier 1 Quick Evaluation Procedure
Zhen Cai

14:00-14:30
Coffee Break

14:30-15:30
Lecture 4
Application of Tier 2 Deficiency-Based Evaluation & Deficiency-Based Upgrading Procedures
Farrokh Fazileh

15:30-16:00
Q&A and Discussion
Reza Fathi-Fazl, Farrokh Fazileh and Zhen Cai

Day 2: Tuesday, February 24th, 2026

9:00-10:00
Lecture 5
Overview of Tier 3 Detailed Evaluation Procedure
Reza Fathi-Fazl

10:00-10:30
Coffee Break

10:30-12:00
Lecture 6
Application of Tier 3 Non-linear Static Analysis Procedure (NSAP)
Farrokh Fazileh

12:00-13:00
Lunch Break

13:00-15:00
Lecture 7
Hands-on Exercice on Tier 1 Quick Evaluation Procedure
Zhen Cai, Farrokh Fazileh and Reza Fathi-Fazl

15:00-15:30
Coffee Break

15:30-16:00
Lecture 8
Discussion of Tier 1 Quick Evaluation Results
Zhen Cai, Farrokh Fazileh and Reza Fathi-Fazl

Presenter’s Biography

Reza Fathi-Fazl, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Senior Research Officer
NRC
(Gholam-Reza.Fathi-Fazl@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)

Dr. Reza Fathi-Fazl, P.Eng. is a Senior Research Officer and the Director of R&D for the Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (SRIC) unit at the National Research Council Canada (NRC). He leads national initiatives in seismic resilience, infrastructure rehabilitation, and low-carbon concrete construction, collaborating with government, industry, and academia across Canada and abroad. As a key contributor to NRC’s Seismic Resilience Team, he led the development of Seismic Screening, Evaluation, and Upgrading Guidelines adopted by PSPC and GAC. With over 50 publications and extensive applied research on major Canadian heritage and institutional retrofit projects—including Parliament Hill and the West Memorial Building—he bridges research and practice. Dr. Fathi-Fazl also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, teaching and supervising graduate research in earthquake engineering and resilient infrastructure.

Farrokh Fazileh, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Senior Research Officer
NRC
(Farrokh.Fazileh@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Dr. Farrokh Fazileh, P.Eng. is a Senior Research Officer at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and adjunct professor at University of Ottawa and Carleton University. With over 20 years of experience in structural and earthquake engineering, his work focuses on developing performance-based design guidelines and improving building resilience to earthquakes. He has served as research advisor for seismic design provisions of the National Building Code 2025 and 2030, and has developed and implemented innovative seismic retrofit products and technologies in several existing and heritage building rehabilitation projects.

Zhen Cai, Ph.D.
Associate Research Officer
NRC
(Zhen.Cai@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Dr. Zhen Cai is an Associate Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) with over a decade of expertise in earthquake engineering. For the past eight years, he has worked closely with colleagues to develop a series of technical guidelines for the seismic assessment and upgrading of existing buildings. His recent research focuses on performance-based assessment and retrofit, aimed at improving the resilience of buildings against climate change and earthquakes. Dr. Cai also serves as a non-voting member on the Task Group for Extreme Winds under the National Model Codes Committee on Climate Change Adaptation.

Registration & Sponsorship
Attendees should apply for the workshop at this LINK, then will receive a registration confirmation closer to the event date. The workshop is complimentary, thanks to the sponsorship of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). It is also supported by the Earthquake Engineering Research Facility (EERF) at UBC.

Click this LINK for the event flyer.

Application of NRC’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 Seismic Evaluation & Deficiency-Based Upgrading Procedures to an Existing Canadian Building
2026-01-21 12:00 - 14:30 | Zoom Webinar
Abstract
Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters, capable of causing severe casualties and significant economic losses. For building owners, assessing and mitigating seismic risks in existing buildings poses both technical and economic challenges. In Canada, there has long been a need for nationwide technical guidelines for seismic evaluation and upgrading. The National Research Council Canada (NRC) first addressed this in the 1990s by publishing Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings and Guideline for Seismic Upgrading od Building Structures. However, these documents were never updated and have since become outdated.
Currently, the National Building Code of Canada (NBC) Commentary L recommends ASCE 41 Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings as a reference for seismic evaluation and upgrading. While comprehensive, ASCE 41 is based on American design and construction practices, and its direct applicability to Canada requires careful consideration.
Recognizing this gap, the Seismic Resilience Team at NRC’s Construction Research Centre has spent the past seven years developing updated, Canadian‑specific technical guidelines—the newly released Level 3 – Seismic Evaluation Guidelines (SEG) and Seismic Upgrading Guidelines (SUG) for existing buildings in Canada.
Designed to help professionals apply these new guidelines for effective implementation, and to improve safety and resilience of existing buildings, a series of webinars and training workshops are being delivered by the NRC in partnership with CAEES.
Building on the preceding webinars that provided an overview of the Level 3 – SEG and SUG, this session demonstrates their practical application through a real‑world case study:

Tier 1 Quick Evaluation: Identify potential seismic deficiencies in the building.
Tier 2 Deficiency-Based Evaluation: Determine whether the identified potential deficiencies represent actual deficiencies.
Deficiency-Based Upgrading: Implement upgrading measures to address the confirmed seismic deficiencies identified in Tier 2.

Click this LINK for more details and to register.

Toward Resilience: Preparing for the Big One Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake
2025-12-11 08:30 - 17:00 | UBC Robson Square, Room C400, 800 Robson St., Vancouver, BC, V6Z2E7, Canada
The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute – BC Chapter (EERI-BC) is pleased to invite you to the 3rd Annual One-Day Symposium, taking place on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, BC.
Our inaugural symposium in 2023 and the second annual symposium in 2024 were great successes, well attended and well received. We are excited to announce our third symposium with an exciting program and hope you will join us.
This year’s symposium will focus on our theme: “Toward Resilience: Preparing for the Big One – Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake.” The event will bring together a diverse community of professionals, including structural and geotechnical engineers, geoscientists, planners, government representatives, and academic researchers. The program will feature keynote and invited lectures and an expert panel discussion.
As in previous years, attendance will be free for all accepted delegates to ensure the event remains accessible. We encourage broad participation from students, researchers, and practitioners across disciplines. Please note that advance registration and acceptance are required to attend the symposium.
This year, we are excited to feature keynote lectures by Dr. John Cassidy from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Prof. Perry Adebar from the University of British Columbia. Experts will present invited lectures on topics aligned with or complementary to our theme, and will participate in a panel discussion focused on earthquake resilience in BC’s infrastructure — covering buildings, bridges, dams, and tailings storage facilities.
Attendees will gain insights into BC’s resilience to a megathrust earthquake from a leading seismologist at NRCan, and learn about emerging challenges in seismic design of buildings from an academic expert. The symposium will also include presentations on BC Hydro’s dam safety projects and management systems by its Director of Dam Safety, BC’s post-disaster response plan from a BC Housing official, and earthquake early warning systems from NRCan’s seismologist. Additional talks will address the seismic resilience of BC’s bridges from consultants involved in code development, and the challenges of ensuring earthquake resilience in tailings storage facilities.

Event Flyer
Attendance will be free for all accepted delegates to ensure the event remains accessible, however, prior registration and formal acceptance by the Symposium Committee via email is required. Please register online by clicking on the Event Website URL below by November 14, 2025.

Overview of NRC’s Newly Released Seismic Upgrading Guidelines (SUG) for Existing Buildings in Canada
2025-12-03 12:00 - 14:30 | Zoom Webinar
Abstract
Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters, capable of causing severe casualties and significant economic losses. For building owners, assessing and mitigating seismic risks in existing buildings poses both technical and economic challenges. In Canada, there has long been a need for nationwide technical guidelines for seismic evaluation and upgrading. The National Research Council Canada (NRC) first addressed this in the 1990s by publishing Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings and Guideline for Seismic Upgrading of Building Structures. However, these documents were never updated and have since become outdated.

Currently, the National Building Code of Canada (NBC) Commentary L recommends ASCE 41 Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings as a reference for seismic evaluation and upgrading. While comprehensive, ASCE 41 is based on American design and construction practices, and its direct applicability to Canada requires careful consideration.

Recognizing this gap, the Seismic Resilience Team at NRC’s Construction Research Centre has spent the past seven years developing updated, Canadian‑specific technical guidelines—the newly released Level 3 – Seismic Evaluation Guidelines (SEG) and Seismic Upgrading Guidelines (SUG) for existing buildings in Canada.

Designed to help professionals apply these new guidelines for effective implementation, and to improve safety and resilience of existing buildings, a series of webinars and training workshops are being delivered by the NRC in partnership with CAEES.

While the SUG may be considered the Canadian counterpart to ASCE 41, there are several significant differences:

Linear analysis methods in the SUG are force-based and aligned with the NBC and CSA design standards.
A Canadian multi-modal pushover analysis method has been adopted for carrying out non-linear static analysis.
Modelling parameters and acceptance criteria for non-linear analysis of existing buildings have been adapted to the Canadian context.
Upgrading design details from existing standards and guidelines have been synthesized and adapted to suit Canadian construction practice.

Click this LINK for more details and to register.

2nd Annual VGS Legacy Lecture – A Foundational Force in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering: The Legacy of a True Pioneer
2025-11-26 17:30 - 20:00 | Executive Hotel, Lougheed Highway, 4201 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, BC, V5C 3Y6, Canada
The VGS’s annual legacy lecture series is designed to honor the legacy of local geotechnical leaders. This year, the VGS is pleased to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Liam Finn.
Dr. Liam Finn, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
W. D. Liam Finn is a world authority in geotechnical earthquake engineering. He graduated from the National University of Ireland in 1954 with a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering and earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1957 and 1960, respectively. In 1961, he joined the University of British Columbia, where he founded Canada’s first program in geotechnical earthquake engineering and later served as Head of Civil Engineering and Dean of Applied Science. From 1999 to 2005, he held the position of Anabuki Professor of Foundation Geodynamics at Kagawa University in Japan. In 1975, Finn pioneered the development of the Martin-Finn-Seed model describing pore pressure buildup in saturated soils under cyclic loading, forming the basis for the first-ever effective stress-based dynamic analysis of earth structures—a framework that remains a cornerstone in the field. With over 350 published papers, his work has earned numerous accolades, including the CGS’s most prestigious Legget Medal and the H. B. Seed Medal from ASCE. He is an honorary international member of the Japanese Geotechnical Society, the Chinese Society of Soil Dynamics, EERI, and IAEE, and also serves as an honorary professor at the Institute of Building Construction in Beijing. In addition, he is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and of the Engineering Institute of Canada. From 2000 to 2008, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. His leadership extended to chairing ISSMGE committee and contributing to the seismic design guidelines for port structures. For several decades, he participated in the committee responsible for seismic provisions in the NBCC and, from 2007 onward, served on the Technical Review Board for the Seismic Retrofit of BC Schools. Finn’s legacy blends visionary research, transformative contributions, global leadership, and a lifelong commitment to mentorship, advancing earthquake engineering and enhancing the seismic resilience of structures and communities.

Workshop Series on Seismic Geotechnical Engineering
2025-11-12 13:00 - 2025-12-10 15:00 | Virtual Workshop
Overview:
A series of five virtual workshops on Seismic Geotechnical Engineering with both state-of-the-art theories and practical applications

The Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division (SMFD) of the CGS is mandated to promote the practice and research in classic geotechnical engineering and to provide professional development opportunities to members and colleagues. The SMFD executive committee is pleased to announce a series of five virtual workshops on Seismic Geotechnical Engineering, featuring 10 distinguished speakers from leading universities and industry across Canada and the United States. The workshop will highlight both state-of-the-art theories and practical applications, drawing on lessons from past earthquake reconnaissance, advances in seismic hazard assessment and modelling, liquefaction evaluation, field measurement techniques, and numerical modelling approaches. A certificate of 10 PDH will be handed out upon request.
Objective: Disseminate state-of-the-art practices and theories in seismic geotechnical engineering assessment and design.
Who should attend: Young engineers, graduate and undergraduate students
One registration is necessary for accessing all five lecture series. If there are questions regarding the event and the registration, please contact Mehdi Hosseyni at mehdi_hosseyni@clifton.ca, Yolanda Alberto at yalberto@bgcengineering.ca, or Cheng Lin at chenglin918@uvic.ca

For more information about the workshops, speakers and registration, go to Workshop Series on Seismic Geotechnical Engineering Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite

Overview of NRC’s Newly Released Seismic Evaluation Guidelines (SEG) for Existing Buildings in Canada
2025-11-05 12:00 - 14:30 | Zoom Webinar
Abstract
Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters, capable of causing severe casualties and significant economic losses. For building owners, assessing and mitigating seismic risks in existing buildings poses both technical and economic challenges. In Canada, there has long been a need for nationwide technical guidelines for seismic evaluation and upgrading. The National Research Council Canada (NRC) first addressed this in the 1990s by publishing Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings and Guideline for Seismic Upgrading od Building Structures. However, these documents were never updated and have since become outdated.

Currently, the National Building Code of Canada (NBC) Commentary L recommends ASCE 41 Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings as a reference for seismic evaluation and upgrading. While comprehensive, ASCE 41 is based on American design and construction practices, and its direct applicability to Canada requires careful consideration.

Recognizing this gap, the Seismic Resilience Team at NRC’s Construction Research Centre has spent the past seven years developing updated, Canadian‑specific technical guidelines—the newly released Level 3 – Seismic Evaluation Guidelines (SEG) and Seismic Upgrading Guidelines (SUG) for existing buildings in Canada.

Designed to help professionals apply these new guidelines for effective implementation, and to improve safety and resilience of existing buildings, a series of webinars and training workshops are being delivered by the NRC in partnership with CAEES.

While the SEG may be considered the Canadian counterpart to ASCE 41, there are several significant differences:

Linear analysis methods in the SEG are force-based and aligned with the NBC and CSA design standards.
Limits and thresholds in Tier 1 Quick Evaluation Checklists of the SEG have been made consistent with the NBC and CSA design standards.
A Canadian multi-modal pushover analysis method has been adopted for carrying out non-linear static analysis.
Modelling parameters and acceptance criteria for non-linear analysis of existing buildings have been adapted to the Canadian context.

Presenters’ Biography

Reza Fathi-Fazl, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Senior Research Officer
NRC
(Gholam-Reza.Fathi-Fazl@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)

Dr. Reza Fathi-Fazl, P.Eng. is a Senior Research Officer and Director of R&D for the Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (SRIC) unit at the National Research Council Canada (NRC)’s Construction Research Centre. He leads national initiatives in seismic resilience, infrastructure rehabilitation and renewal, and low-carbon concrete construction, collaborating with government, industry, and academic partners across Canada and internationally.
As part of NRC’s Seismic Resilience Team, he spearheaded the development and adoption of NRC’s Seismic Screening, Evaluation, and Upgrading Guidelines, now used by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for assessing and retrofitting existing buildings. He has also advanced seismic performance-based design and evaluation of building structures through his research and involvement in Codes Canada’s R&D initiatives.
With more than 50 publications and technical reports, and extensive collaboration with consulting firms on seismic retrofits and rehabilitation of major Canadian heritage and institutional projects—including Parliament Hill and the West Memorial Building—Dr. Fathi-Fazl bridges research and practice. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, where he lectures and supervises graduate students in earthquake engineering and resilient infrastructure.

Farrokh Fazileh, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Senior Research Officer
NRC
(Farrokh.Fazileh@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Dr. Farrokh Fazileh, P.Eng. is a Senior Research Officer at National Research Council Canada (NRC) and adjunct professor at University of Ottawa and Carleton University. With over 20 years of experience in structural and earthquake engineering, his work focuses on developing performance-based design guidelines and improving building resilience to earthquakes. He has served as research advisor for seismic design provisions of the National Building Code 2025 and 2030, and has developed and implemented innovative seismic retrofit products and technologies in several existing and heritage building rehabilitation projects.

Zhen Cai, Ph.D.
Associate Research Officer
NRC
(Zhen.Cai@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Dr. Zhen Cai is an Associate Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) with over a decade of expertise in earthquake engineering. For the past eight years, he has worked closely with colleagues to develop a series of technical guidelines for the seismic assessment and upgrading of existing buildings. His recent research focuses on performance-based design and assessment, aimed at improving the resilience of buildings against climate change and earthquakes. Dr. Cai also serves as a non-voting participant on the Task Group for Extreme Winds under the National Model Codes Committee on Climate Change Adaptation.

Environmental Seismology: Earth’s Surface and Subsurface Hazards, Dynamics and Resources
2025-10-14 00:00 - 2025-10-18 23:59 | Denver, CO
Researchers are turning increasingly to multidisciplinary studies to better understand a variety of planetary processes, with seismology at the forefront of providing new tools and vital insights in this endeavor.
This 2025 topical meeting from SSA invites studies of seismic and acoustical phenomena, as well as presentation of data processing and analysis methods, relative to glacier and groundwater dynamics, fluvial processes, cyclones, landsliding, erosion, ocean acoustics and more. Researchers outside of seismology are also encouraged to submit their contributions.

John Hart Dam Seismic Upgrade: A Robust Seepage Barrier for Cascadia Megathrust Resilience
2025-10-08 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom Webinar
Abstract
The John Hart Dam, constructed in the late 1940s on Vancouver Island, required upgrades to address seismic vulnerabilities and ensure resilience against a potential magnitude M9 mega earthquake originating from the nearby Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Middle Earthfill Dam (MED), one of three earthfill structures at the site, was determined to be at risk of flow slide failure or significant displacements due to liquefiable and strain-softening foundation soils. Many conventional ground improvement techniques were unsuitable due to environmental sensitivities, constructability challenges, and dam safety concerns, especially given the need to avoid reservoir drawdown and cofferdam installation. To overcome these limitations, a range of solutions—from straightforward to moderately complex—were implemented to rehabilitate the various structures. These included an upstream buttress berm with dredging and replacement under full reservoir conditions, unloading by excavation, and a downstream toe berm reinforced with steel pinning piles. A key element was the construction of a new Plastic Concrete Cutoff Wall (PCCW) to replace the vulnerable slurry trench cutoff wall, providing a robust and seismically resilient seepage barrier. The PCCW was embedded into bedrock or silt and constructed with a suitable mix to ensure durability and reliability. The presentation will outline the overall upgrade strategy and focus on the PCCW’s design and construction, highlighting key challenges and performance verification. The seismic upgrade of the dam is ongoing, with the PCCW completed in early 2024. (https://majorprojects.ca)
Presenter

Thava Thavaraj, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Senior Geotechnical Engineer/Principal
Klohn Crippen Berger
tthavaraj@klohn.com
CAEES-ACGPS Secretary

SCEC (Statewide California Earthquake Center) Annual Meeting
2025-09-07 00:00 - 2025-09-10 23:59 | Berkeley, CA
The Statewide California Earthquake Center (SCEC) is a collaborative research and education hub that brings together experts across geoscience and related fields to advance our understanding of earthquake processes and apply that knowledge to reduce their impacts on society in California and beyond.
Each year, the SCEC Annual Meeting convenes a global community involved in earthquake-related research, education, and outreach. The meeting showcases SCEC-funded research and projects, fostering collaboration among scientists, stakeholders, and sponsors. Early career scientists and students comprise over 40% of attendees. Featured speakers are researchers from both within and outside SCEC whose work challenges and inspires future SCEC directions.
The SCEC Annual Meeting will be held in Palm Springs from September 7-10, 2025. The program features plenary sessions with invited talks, moderated discussions, focusing on key science questions about the San Andreas Fault System to advance earthquake science and hazard analysis for earthquake preparedness and societal resilience. The community is invited to showcase their work through poster presentations at the annual meeting. Together we will review progress from the annual SCEC Collaboration Plan and shape future priorities for the Center.

Geospatial Technology: Saving the World's Past, Present, and Future from Natural Hazards
2025-06-17 17:30 - 19:30 | UBC Robson Square, Room C400, 800 Robson St., Vancouver, BC, V6Z2E7, Canada
EERI-BC is pleased to announce that Michael Olsen (M.EERI 2004) is the recipient of the 2024 EERI Distinguished Lecture Award in recognition of his pioneering work applying geomatics to identify spatial geologic seismic hazards as well as risks to distributed systems.
The task of maintaining resilient infrastructure against the onslaught of natural hazards often feels elusive and unattainable. Recent advances in technology offer promising solutions and opportunities towards this goal; however, the effective adoption and utilization of those technologies operates at a much slower pace given the societal realities of budget limitations, workforce shortages, polarization of priorities, disillusionment from past failures, and resistance to change. In day to day operations, efforts by engineers, planners, and decision makers often are stymied due to a lack of accessible, trustworthy, and current information related to infrastructure conditions. These problems are exacerbated in emergency situations where infrastructure systems and people are pushed to extreme limits.

Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Short Course
2025-06-16 08:30 - 2025-06-18 16:30 | Zoom Webinar
The course provides participants with a basic knowledge and understanding of the fundamental concepts in geotechnical earthquake engineering, including the key issues related to dynamic soil properties, local site effects and seismic site response analysis, soil liquefaction during earthquakes and the related assessments, seismic slope stability, basics of seismic soil-structure interaction, and seismic design of retaining structures.
The background information needed to understand the fundamentals and relevant concepts will be introduced. Supplementary resources, including reports and papers, will also be provided in various parts of the course. Relevant practical exercises will be given at the end of selected modules. Consequently, the course is relevant to all geotechnical, structural, geological, and mining engineers and consultants interested in geotechnical earthquake engineering.

2025 CAEES-ACGPS AGM
2025-06-04 10:00 - 12:00 | Zoom Webinar
Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Canadian Association of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology / L’Association Canadienne du Génie Parasismique et de la Sismologie for 2025.

2025 Board of Directors Elections
2025-05-19 00:00 - 2025-06-02 23:59 | BC
Voting period for the 2025 Board of Directors of Canadian Association of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology / L’Association Canadienne du Génie Parasismique et de la Sismologie.
Click HERE for the list of candidates, their bios, voting instructions and to cast your ballot.

Post-Earthquake Investigations: Coordination, Collaboration, and Participation in NEHRP Activations
2025-05-14 12:00 | Zoom Webinar
Last year, the U.S. Geological Survey published USGS Circular 1542, an updated Plan to Coordinate Post-Earthquake Investigations Supported by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The Plan describes the activation and coordination of multi-disciplinary post-earthquake investigations by NEHRP Agencies and identifies opportunities for collaboration with other entities and individuals following impactful domestic and international earthquakes. These coordinated investigations, focused on collaborative data gathering and leveraging new technologies, can capture critical information needed to understand the causes and impacts of events and lead to lessons that can substantially improve the nation’s resilience to future earthquakes.
NEHRP is the federal government’s coordinated nationwide program to reduce risks to life and property from earthquakes. USGS Circular 1542 presents a plan for coordination of post-earthquake investigations among the four NEHRP Agencies (FEMA, NIST, NSF and USGS) and with other entities, including: other federal agencies; state, regional, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies; domestic non-governmental organizations; academic institutions and affiliated organizations; private companies; and foreign and international agencies and organizations.
This webinar will present an overview of USGS Circular 1542, share examples of how the plan has been used in recent earthquakes, and discuss how other agencies and entities can collaborate and participate in NEHRP post-earthquake investigations. The webinar will also review the current landscape for Technical Clearinghouses, including recent examples operated by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). Applied Technology Council (ATC) managed the development of USGS Circular 1542 under contract with the U.S. Geological Survey.

SEABC Annual Dinner and Pinnacle Lecture 2025
2025-05-07 17:00 | Sutton Place Hotel, 845 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
The President and Board of Directors of the Structural Engineers Association of British Columbia invite members and guests to the 2025 Annual Dinner and Pinnacle Lecture.
Our keynote speaker is Ian Firth. His talk is entitled “The long and the short of it – designing bridges for tomorrow’s world“.
Talk Description:
We live in a rapidly changing world, and some of what might once have been acceptable and even celebrated is now frowned upon. In particular, the climate and biodiversity emergency has thrown up issues that previously were either unknown or just ignored.
Ian Firth has over 40 years’ experience in bridge design and engineering for some of the world’s longest and shortest spans. He will discuss how some of these might have changed if they were built today, and review examples of what might be the way forward in meeting the future challenges for tomorrow’s engineers. In his words: “I see bridges as much more than just a means to cross an obstacle. They are in many ways the purest form of architecture and deserve the best of our creative skills. Structural engineering is about making our buildings, bridges and structures safe, durable and sustainable, but we must also make them beautiful when, like bridges, they will be seen and enjoyed by so many for so long.”

Seismological Society of America 2025 Annual Meeting
2025-04-14 00:00 - 2025-04-18 23:59 | Baltimore, MD
Monday offers workshops, the opening keynote, field seminars and a reception. The technical sessions, networking events, special interest group meetings and more are scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday. Some field seminars take place Friday, 18 April.

The Evolution of Performance-based Seismic Design of Bridges in Canada
2025-04-09 12:00 - 14:00 | Zoom Webinar
Abstract
The seismic design of bridges in British Columbia has followed international evolving practices since the early 1980’s. Circa 1990, the Province of BC embarked on a bridge retrofit program including the Vancouver region’s nine major river and harbour crossings. These projects drew on local engineering skills plus technical expertise from internationally recognized experts in structural and geotechnical engineering. The seismic design of new bridges in BC also evolved with the development of modern seismic design tools and methods, and from their application to these technically challenging retrofit projects. The 1990’s retrofit phase in BC targeted collapse-prevention upgrades to major bridges built in the 1950’s to 1970’s. This “Safety” retrofit was phase 1 of a planned two-phase retrofit program, with ‘functional’ seismic upgrades to follow. In recent years, the higher-level “functional” retrofit objective came back into focus. Engineers, planners and governments learned lessons from recent earthquakes and of the importance of designing for a rapid return to service for our transportation networks after large earthquakes. Hence the Ministry is currently reviewing the implications of functional-level upgrade needs, costs and benefits to inform the design and construction of additional retrofit works. During this time, performance-based seismic design philosophies (PBD) gained traction and increased in practice. BC embraced PBD on projects in the early 2000’s, and the Canadian bridge code formally adopted PBD in 2014, which has continued in the coming 2025 bridge code.
This presentation will describe the evolution of seismic bridge design and construction in BC and other regions of Canada. It will highlight challenges faced as well as some remaining challenges and opportunities provided through performance-based approaches and network-level considerations. It will show through case studies how functional retrofits can be achieved and how corridors can be assessed for importance in post-earthquake response.
It will also provide an overview of the evolution of PBD within our coming 2025 bridge code and will discuss issues and challenges in PBD in practice. It will discuss aspirations for improvements to PBD for structural and geotechnical design, including needs for refinements in seismic hazard information to better suit PBD of bridges and buildings for the next code cycle.

Presenter

Don Kennedy
Senior Bridge Engineer
Associated Engineering Ltd.
(kennedyd@ae.ca)
CAEES-ACGPS Vice-President

Don has 40 years of experience in the planning, design and construction of new bridges, bridge and structure rehabilitation and seismic retrofit, bridge evaluation, forensic investigations into bridge failures. His experience includes Canadian and international engineering experience in earthquake engineering. He has authored papers and presented seminars on seismic design and retrofit, codes and performance-based design and rehabilitation. During his career he has worked on the design or design reviews of most of the major bridge retrofit projects undertaken in BC since the early 1990’s. He led the retrofit design of the Oak Street, Knight Street and Mission Bridges, and provided technical guidance to the Cambie and Granville St Bridge retrofits, and to a recent seismic resilience assessment of the Highway 99 corridor between Vancouver and the USA border. These projects influenced seismic retrofit practice and policy in BC and Canada. Most recently he has worked with owners and engineers in Ontario and Quebec on seismic projects, standards and policy, in part arising from the recent increase in seismic hazard as part of the sixth generation ground motion modelling and hazard mapping in eastern Canada, and to assist owners in the application and management of performance-based seismic design for new bridges and seismic retrofit projects/
Don has contributed to the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) for seismic design since 2002 and is the current Chair of TSC 4 for the Seismic design of bridges. He is currently a Director and Vice-President of the Canadian Association of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. He contributed to the application of performance-based seismic design implemented into the CHBDC in 2014, 2019 and the coming CSA-S6:25 in summer 2025.
