During the academic school year, the Outreach Committee plans to host a one-day design competition to build a model seismic force resisting building system for senior high school students. This competition aims to provide high school students interested in sciences with the opportunity to learn about the behaviour of their small scaled building models when undergoing scaled earthquake accelerations on a table-top shake table. The design parameters vary from the tight budgeting imposed by a material supplier, to the use of various types of available materials, to the economic gains provided by increased floor area, and the gains provided by limiting floor accelerations during scaled seismic events. Each team is ranked along these parameters and the highest performing team across the country is identified as the winner. The simultaneous events are initially scheduled for the month of April, beginning in 2020.

The formation of a guest speaking network is another new CAEES initiative in its early stages and seeks to link professionals in the industry with opportunities to share their experiences, particularly at the various universities across Canada. This network aims to take advantage of opportune moments where people with relevant experience, either from the industry or academic earthquake engineering background, might be in a position to visit a nearby university, providing a continuous stream of fresh topics to expose the students to. The CAEES Outreach Committee is currently seeking professionals with experience who would be interested in providing small portions of their time as the headline for such speaking events.  The CAEES, in conjunction with the local institutions, is prepared to reimburse some travel expenses incurred while capitalizing on such opportunities.

Finally, the Outreach Committee has begun planning an annual seminar day for graduate students, and young researchers and professionals interested in the field of earthquake engineering. The goal is to meet once a year for networking and idea sharing. The first of such events occured during the CCEE conference, hosted in Quebec City last June.

The CAEE Outreach Committee currently has representatives from the following Canadian institutions: University of Toronto, McMaster University, Concordia University, École Polytechnique, University of Ottawa, and Université de Sherbrooke. We are seeking representation from other Canadian universities, particularly on the West Coast such as University of British Columbia or University of Victoria. Should you have any interest in participating in the CAEE Outreach Committee, please contact Rocio Segura by email at [email protected].