Earthquake engineering researchers gathered on the U of I campus August 13-14 for the 2009 workshop of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER), hosted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and the Mid-America Earthquake Center. The theme of the program was “Lessons Learned from Recent Earthquakes.”
Two keynote addresses were presented: “New Design Approaches to Improve Earthquake Resiliency and Sustainability” by Professor Stephen Mahin of The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley; and “Seismic Experiment and FE Analysis of Full-Scale Steel Concentrically Braced Frames” by Keh-Chyuan Tsai of the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering at National Taiwan University, Taipei, China. The workshop also featured the presentation of 63 research papers, with a special focus on contributions from young researchers.
Founded in 2001, ANCER is a global professional consortium that seeks to coordinate and optimize resources among its 13 participating centers to develop and implement innovative engineering methods and new technologies for design, construction, maintenance, management and renewal of the built environment for maximum seismic hazard reduction and minimum life-cycle cost.
CEE Professor and Head Amr Elnashai, shown at front left in the group photo, has served a two-year term as ANCER president since September 2007.