PURPOSE: The Ninth U.S. National and Tenth Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering to be held in Toronto, Canada, in 2010 will provide an opportunity for both researchers and practitioners to share the latest knowledge and techniques for understanding and mitigating the effects of earthquakes. This is the first time that a conference of this scale is being organized jointly by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering. The conference will provide a unique environment to facilitate synergy between U.S. and Canadian colleagues, as well as other participants from around the world. This conference will bring together professionals from a broad range of disciplines, including architecture, structural engineering, seismology, geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, business, public policy, social sciences, regional planning, emergency response planning, and regulation.

VENUE: Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, Canada (website)
This 38-story tower rises above scenic Lake Ontario, and is conveniently located in downtown Toronto in the vicinity of countless attractions such as the CN Tower, Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), museums, theatres, restaurants and shopping. Most locations in Toronto are easily accessible by the safe and reliable subway.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM TOPIC AREAS

• Seismology: source characterization, ground motion characteristics, site effects
• Geotechnical engineering: foundations, ground failure, slope stability, liquefaction and soil-structure interaction
• Seismic code issues: design criteria and methods
• Multi-hazard effects and considerations
• Structural engineering: materials, structural systems and elements, structural response, active and passive control, evaluation and retrofit of buildings, bridges, industrial and special structures
• Earthquake engineering practice: recent projects, design, and construction
• Earthquake response in urban and rural environments
• Lifeline/infrastructure systems including ports, levees, dams, transportation, and communication systems: risk assessment and mitigation design and analysis of systems and networks of systems
• Impact of earthquakes on businesses including insurance and financial services
• Social and economic issues: human behavior, preparedness, recovery, loss modeling, land use and urban planning, public policy, decision making, implementation, and risk analysis
• Issues in seismic awareness and education
• Earthquake engineering research: experimental and numerical simulation, hybrid test methods
• Recent advances from earthquake simulation facilities such as NEES, E-Defense, NCREE
• Information technologies; collaborative research tools, data archiving and curating of numerical and experimental simulation, tools for reconnaissance.
• Lessons from recent earthquakes
• Other issues: architectural, nonstructural components, building services and contents, tsunamis, and forensic engineering

A number of theme sessions are planned for the conference. Proposals for these sessions will be considered by the Technical Committee.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Conference Co-Chairs:
Andre Filiatrault, SUNY Buffalo, and Ahmed Ghobarah, McMaster University

Subcommittee Co-Chairs:
Technical Program
Shamim Sheikh, University of Toronto and Catherine French, University of Minnesota

Proceedings
Ellen M. Rathje, University of Texas, Austin, and Gail M. Atkinson, University of Western Ontario

Publicity
Svetlana Brzev, British Columbia Institute of Technology and Mary Goodson, CH2M HILL

Logistics
Susan K. Tubbesing, EERI, and Constantin Christopoulos, University of Toronto

Technical Tours
Reza Kianoush, Ryerson University and Gilberto Mosqueda, SUNY Buffalo

Events
John C. Wilson, McMaster University and Lucy A. Arendt, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Exhibits
Donald J. Goralski, MCEER, SUNY Buffalo, and Mike Gilmor, Canadian Institute for Steel Construction

Fundraising
Glenn Bell, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc., and Tibor Kokai, Halcrow Yolles

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
499 14th Street, Suite 320
Oakland, CA 94612

Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering
c/o Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Ottawa
161 Louis Pasteur St.
Ottawa, ON., K1N 6N5 Canada