UB engineer joins committee to enhance resiliency throughout New York State

By Peter Murphy

Published September 16, 2020

An assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering will collaborate with a committee dedicated to making New York state infrastructure more resilient.

Helping communities recover

Print

The Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) aims to advance the art of structural engineering in New York. Part of the organization’s overall goal, according to assistant professor Negar Elhami-Khorasani, will contribute to systematic design and retrofit strategies of buildings in the region for natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, windstorms and fire.

“Quick recovery of the buildings for continued operation of the community, in coordination with functionality of the other lifeline infrastructure such as transportation, water, power and gas, is needed to minimize disruption after an event,” Elhami-Khorasani says.

Elhami-Khorasani has studied resilience of regions to fire following earthquake, a cascading hazard scenario, with a specific focus to guide resource allocation and mitigation plans for fire departments. According to SEAoNY’s website, the association’s purpose “is to advance the art of structural engineering in New York by improving the flow of ideas and building the community of colleagues.”

Elhami-Khorasani will collaborate with other members of the committee, including members of industry to exchange ideas and advance impactful research to be implemented in practice.