Governance Board
The NEES Governance Board works closely with the NEEScomm Management team to oversee the direction of NEEScomm and to promote the ideas and activities of NEEScomm in order to benefit the NEES community.
 |
William T. Holmes, Chair, Rutherford & Chekene, Chair,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bill has over 38 years of practical experience in all aspects of designing structures. Seismic design is his speciality and has been involved with research and development projects funded by FEMA, the Building Seismic Safety Council, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology. He also makes time for pro bono code development. His current involvements include development of performance-based seismic design, improvements of seismic protection of ceilings, partitions, and fire sprinkler systems, development of new design parameters for structural systems, and development of simplified seismic design provisions for zones of moderate seismicity. Bill is active in many professional organizations, including the EERI and the CUREE. He also serves on the board of directors of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering and his MS in Structural Engineering at Stanford University in 1962 and 1963 respectively. |
 |
Dr. Farzad Naeim, Ph.D., S.E., Esq., John Martin and Associates, Past Chair,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dr. Naeim is Vice President and General Counsel for John A. Martin & Associates, Inc. He is the Principal in charge of setting and implementing policies with respect to technical, analytical and legal issues involved in operation of this unique international firm. Dr. Naeim is recognized world-wide as an authority in evaluating design ground motion issues as they relate to the design of structural systems. He has served as technical director for analysis and design of numerous award-winning JAMA structures, including Excellence in Concrete – 2009 by the American Concrete Institute – Intermountain Chapter Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT, and Best of 2008 – Performing Arts Award of Merit McGraw-Hill Construction Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live!, Los Angeles, CA. The structural engineering community has honored Dr. Naeim's contributions to earthquake engineering with numerous awards, including the prestigious 2007 Fazlur Khan Medal Award for outstanding structural design in high-rise building construction. |
 |
Dr. Olga A. Cabello - IRIS,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Olga A. Cabello joined IRIS as Director of International Development Seismology in September 2009, bringing twenty years of experience as an academic scientist combined with extensive experience in science diplomacy and science policy. Prior to joining IRIS, Olga Cabello served as a AAAS Fellow in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. In this capacity, she focused on engaging the talent and intellectual power of the U.S. scientific academic community as a core resource in U.S. diplomacy and served as the principal liaison between the Office of the Science Adviser and the U.S. scientific academic community. Olga Cabello received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico, and a doctoral degree in Molecular Biophysics from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. |
 |
Mark Benthien - University of Southern California,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mark Benthien is Director for Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southern California Earthquake Center, headquartered at the University of Southern California. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysics from the University of California Los Angeles in 1995, and a Master of Public Policy degree from USC in 2003. Mr. Benthien communicates earthquake knowledge to end-users and the general public in order to increase earthquake awareness, reduce economic losses, and save lives. To do this he coordinates productive interactions among SCEC scientists and with partners in science, engineering, risk management, government, business, and education; manages activities that increase earthquake knowledge and science literacy at all educational levels; leads efforts to improve earthquake hazard and risk assessments; and promotes earthquake preparedness, mitigation, and planning for response and recovery. |
 |
Dr. John Cobb, Ph.D. - Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
John is a researcher at the OakRidge National Laboratory specializing in introducing high performance computing andcyberinfrastructure for different areas ofscience and engineering research, particularly experimental and observational data sciences and areasthat have not traditionally used thesetools to accelerate and increase the impact of their research. His professional preparation includes a doctorate is in theoretical physics specializing in large scale computational plasma physics modeling and simulationapplied to alternative fusion energyconcepts. He has worked in several science areas, all with the unifying theme of applying advanced computation to solve research problems. His previous positions include: scientific computer user advisory committee chair for ORNL, CIO, IT staff, and computer Security officer during the construction period forthe Spallation Neutron Source; ORNL TeraGrid resource provider principal investigator; and Co-investigator for the National Science Foundation's DataONE Datanet project. |
 |
Dr. Padma Raghavan, Ph.D. - The Pennsylvania State University,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Padma Raghavan conducts research in high performance computing and its applications for cyber-enabled discovery and design. Research by Raghavan's group at the Scalable Computing Lab (SCL) concerns sparsity as a unifying abstraction toward increasing computational performance by constant factors to orders of magnitude. Sparse representations of data arise from many different contexts: e.g., from largely local connections in a system represented as a sparse graph or network or from partial differential equations models where the number of nonzeroes in an associated matrix is bounded by a small constant times its dimension. Raghavan's work impacts cyber-enabled discovery and design "at scale" in various disciplines, for example, physics-based simulations in mechanics and materials by design, and more recently scalable systems for computational social science. |
 |
Dr. Nancy Healy, Ph.D. - National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, Georgia Tech,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Healy is the Education Coordinator for National Nanotechnology InfrastructureNetwork (NNIN), an NSF‐funded partnership of 14 universities. The NNIN Educationand Outreach Office is located at Georgia Institute of Technology. From this office,she coordinates the education efforts of the NNIN sites as well as outreach programsfocused on Georgia. Dr. Healy received her PhD in Geological Sciences from theUniversity of South Carolina. She conducted research and taught at the University ofSouth Carolina from 1978 through 1994. In 1994, she joined the staff of the S.C.Commission on Higher Education where her efforts were focused on math andscience education and teacher education issues and initiatives. She joined GeorgiaTech as a Senior Academic Professional in July 2004. |
 |
Dr. Anthony Fiorato, Ph.D. - Consultant Barrington, Illinois,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Fiorata provides consulting services on engineering properties and durability of concrete; on design, construction, performance characteristics, and rehabilitation of concrete structures; and on codes and standards for concrete. He is an active contributor to development of the American Concrete Institute building code, and ASTM International materials and testing standards. He has been active in research and consulting,and has authored over 60 publications on cement and concrete technology. He is a fellow and past president of the American Concrete Institute, and a fellow and past Chairman of the Board of ASTM International. Dr. Fiorato is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Fiorato holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Drexel University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering fromthe University of Illinois. He is a licensed structural engineer in Illinois and a professional engineer in Arizona,Michigan and Ohio. His technical activities interface engineering properties and durability of concrete withstructural design, construction and performance characteristics. |
 |
Prof. Kenneth Elwood, Ph.D. - University of British Columbia,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Elwood received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002, M.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995, and B.A.Sc. from the University of British Columbia in 1993. From 1995 to 1998, Dr. Elwood worked for Buckland and Taylor, Ltd. of North Vancouver. Dr. Elwood is actively involved in research related to the seismic response of existing structures. In 2006, he chaired a committee for the American Society for Civil Engineers to update the concrete provisions in the Seismic Rehabilitation Standard (ASCE 41). Dr. Elwood is Chair of the American Concrete Institute Committee on Seismic Repair and Rehabilitation (ACI 369). |
 |
Dr. Lelio Mejia, PE, GE - URS Corporation,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Lelio Mejia, is VP and Principal Engineer in the Oakland, California office of URS Corporation and is an Earthquake Engineering Practice Leader for URS. He is a registered civil and geotechnical engineer with over 25 years of professional experience. His main disciplines of practice are dam engineering, earthquake geotechnical engineering, and foundation engineering. Within URS, Dr. Mejia has progressively held positions as a Senior Project Engineer, Project Manager, Manager of URS’ Oakland 70-person Engineering Department, and URS’ Regional Earthquake Engineering Practice Leader. In his professional practice, Dr. Mejia has been involved with a broad range of engineering projects and has directed numerous dynamic response analyses and seismic stability evaluation and design studies of dams, levees, and other earth structures. He has conducted soil-structure interaction analyses of hydraulic structures, bridge foundations, power plant and harbor facilities, and buildings. |
 |
Christopher Rojahn, Applied Technology Council,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mr. Rojahn has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of earthquake engineering and structural engineering, including extensive research on the earthquake response of buildings, bridges, and other structures. During his tenure at ATC, he has served as PI on more than 50 major projects involving earthquake and natural hazard mitigation issues. Prior to joining ATC, Mr. Rojahn served as a Research Civil Engineer for the Seismic Engineering Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. 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 Geological Survey he also participated in post-earthquake investigations. 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 earned his BS in Cvil Engineering at Buchnell University and his Engineering and MS in Civil Engineering at Stanford Univesity in 1967 and 1968 respectively. |
