Graeme Beattie (President)
Principal Engineer, BRANZ, Porirua City
Elected to the Management Committee in 2003
Graeme is principal structural engineer in the Fire and Structural Engineering Services group at BRANZ. He has worked as research engineer in the earthquake engineering field for 22 years, having had 6 previous years experience in the structural design offices of the NZ Ministry of Works. The early part of his research experience was as head of the Structures section at Works Central Laboratories where he was involved with a wide variety of research and testing of reinforced concrete structures. His recent and current research projects have been on the seismic response of brick veneer houses and developing solutions for wall/floor joints in multistory timber framed buildings for best structural, fire and acoustic performance. He is the leader of the NZSEE research initiative on the racking systems.
Graeme was a member of the NZSEE reconnaissance team to Seattle following the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. He is also a member of the Structural Engineering Society (Sesoc) Management Committee and chairman of the Wellington Structural Group.Luke Allen
Stephenson and Turner Architects, Wellington
Luke received a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, and currently works in the architectural department of multi-disciplinary consulting firm Stephenson&Turner, a position he has held for 5 years.
His areas of interest and study include post-disaster reconstruction and the implications of earthquakes on urban design. A key area of concern involves the social and psychological aspects of the architecture of post-earthquake reconstruction. This examines the impact of seismic events on communities and seeks to create proposals for architecture, domestic and public, that can address the complex social and psychological conditions created in these situations; and how the reconstruction can assist in minimising the long-term impact of earthquakes on the fabric of affected communities.
Contact: Stephenson & Turner NZ Ltd
PO Box 10145
Level 1, Radio New Zealand House
155 The Terrace
Wellington 6011
Phone: +64 4 472 7899
luke.allen.email@gmail.com Jitendra Bothara
Senior Seismic Engineer, Beca, Wellington.
Elected to Management Committee 2009
Jitendra specialises in seismic risk mitigation. He has a BE from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and a Masters from the University of Canterbury. For 17 years Jitendra has worked on the development of appropriate technology, capacity building, policy and social intervention for achieving earthquake-resilient construction in developing countries.
Jitendra was a member of the reconnaissance team to the Chamoli earthquake (1999) in India, and worked in Iran and Pakistan after the 2003 (Bam) and 2005 (Kashmir) earthquakes. He is in his second term as an editor of the EERI’s World Housing Encyclopedia (WHE), and chairs their international committee developing a tutorial for Stone Masonry Construction.
Jitendra is one of New Zealand’s most experienced users of the NZSEE’s Initial Evaluation Procedures to identify earthquake-prone buildings.
Contact: Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner Ltd
77 Thorndon Quay, PO Box 3942
Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 4715500 ext 4739
Fax: +64 4 496 2536
Jitendra.Bothara@beca.com P Brabhaharan
Principal, Geotechnical Engineering & Risk, Partner
Opus International Consultants, Wellington
Elected to Management Committee in 2007
Brabhaharan is a Principal with Opus International Consultants in Wellington and a partner in the company. He leads a team of geotechnical engineers engineering geologists risk specialists. Brabha is involved in geotechnical engineering for a variety of engineering projects throughout New Zealand and hazard assessment and risk management for a variety of organisations. He also leads research into earthquake engineering and risk management issues.
Brabhaharan's recent interests include earthquake performance reviews and retrofit for infrastructure, geotechnical design for major infrastructure projects, regional natural and technological hazard studies and lifeline risk management. He has recently developed approaches for the risk management of lifeline networks. Research interests include earthquake performance of retaining walls and integrated risk management.`He is also a past member of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society management committee.
Contact: Opus International Consultants
Majestic Centre, 100 Willis St
P O Box 12-003, Wellington
Telephone +64-4-471 7842
Email p.brabhaharan@opus.co.nz Bruce Deam
Leicester Steven EQC Earthquake Engineering Lecturer
Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury
Elected to Management Committee 2001-6 and 2008
Bruce is the Leicester Steven EQC Earthquake Engineering Lecturer at the University of Canterbury, teaching earthquake engineering to both graduates and undergraduates. He is a specialist in the seismic response of timber-framed buildings, an area he studied at Canterbury and developed further at BRANZ during the 1990's. He has considerable experience with both static and dynamic testing of structural components and is currently working on building instrumentation for the EQC/GNS GeoNet project. A member of the management committee since March 2001, he has convened the organising committee for the 2003 Pacific Conference, co-ordinated the printing of the Society's Bulletin, and contributed to the development and maintenance of the Society's web site.
Contact: University of Canterbury
Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, NZ
Phone: +64 3 364 2601
E-mail: bruce.deam@canterbury.ac.nzJason Ingham
Associate Professor of Structural Engineering and Deputy Head (Research)
Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland
Elected to Management Committee 2009
Jason obtained his BE and ME from the University of Auckland, and then undertook his PhD at the University of California at San Diego, investigating repair and retrofit techniques for elevated concrete freeway bridge joints that had been damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. In 1995 Jason joined the staff at the University of Auckland, and is now Deputy Head of Department (Research). Jason's primary research interest are associated with seismic assessment and retrofit of concrete and masonry structures.
Contact: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019,
Auckland Mail Centre
Auckland, 1142
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 88766
Fax: +64 9 373 7462
j.ingham@auckland.ac.nz Quincy Ma
Lecturer
Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland
Elected to Management Committee 2008
Quincy is a lecturer at the University of Auckland where he has lectured structural dynamics and structural analysis since 2006. He has experience in computer simulations of seismic loads on structures as well as static and dynamic experimentations. Quincy currently leads a project developing online hybrid testing capability in Auckland. Quincy completed his BE Hons (Civil) at the University of Auckland in 2002. He is completing his PhD also at Auckland investigating the mechanics of rocking structures subjected to ground motion.
Contact: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019,
Auckland Mail Centre
Auckland, 1142
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 88766
Fax: +64 9 373 7462
q.ma@auckland.ac.nz Les Megget
Part time Lecturer, University of Auckland
Bulletin Editor since 1997
Life Member
Les has been Editor of the Society's quarterly Bulletin since 1997, after two earlier periods as Editor. He was convenor of all publications for the 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering held in Auckland in 2000.
Les has recently retired as senior lecturer in structural design at Auckland University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His specialisations are the seismic design of buildings in reinforced concrete and structural steel and seismic isolation of structures.
Contact: 231 Opaheke Road, RD4 Papakura 2584, New Zealand.
Phone: +64 9 299-6668
editor@nzsee.org.nz Stefano Pampanin
Associate Professor in Structural Engineering
University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Elected to Management Committee 2005
Stefano received a Laurea (magna cum laude) in Civil Engineering at the University of Pavia in 1997, a Masters in Structural Engineering at University of California at San Diego and a Ph.D. in Earthquake Engineering at the Technical University of Milan in 2000.
His main research interests, as part of several national and international joined programs at UoPavia, UC San Diego and UoCanterbury, include performance-based seismic design of reinforced and prestressed/precast concrete structures, assessment and retrofit of existing buildings as well as high-performance materials for earthquake-resistance and development of multi-storey prestressed timber buildings.
During the revision phase of the Concrete Standard NZS3101:2006, Stefano was main author of the Appendix B, “Special provision for the seismic design of jointed ductile connections” (PRESSS-Technology, based on post-tensioning techniques)
In the past ten years, he is has been an active member of several fib committees on Seismic Design (i.e. WG 7.3&7.4, 7.6) and co-chairman of the WG 7.5 “Seismic Design of Buildings Incorporating High Performance Materials”. In 2003 he was awarded the fib Diploma for Younger Engineers (under 40-years old) in the Category Research.
A member of the NZCS Council since 2003 and of the NZSEE Management Committee since 2005, in the 2006 he was the inaugural recipient of the EQC/NZSEE Ivan Skinner Award “for the advancement of Earthquake Engineering in NZ”.
Stefano is a registered chartered engineer in Italy since 1997 and enjoys occasional involvement as external consultant or peer reviewer in the field of structural/earthquake design and retrofit. Michael Pender
NZSEE President 2006-7
Elected to Management Committee 2005 John Townend
EQC Fellow in Seismic Studies
Victoria University of Wellington
Elected to Management Committee 2007
John Townend grew up in Rotorua and completed undergraduate study at the University of Otago (in Geology) and Massey University (in Japanese). He then worked at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (now GNS Science) and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center, before completing a PhD in geophysics at Stanford University. John was appointed EQC Fellow in Seismic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in 2003. His current research addresses fault mechanics, geothermal seismicity, ambient noise imaging, and slow earthquakes and related phenomena. He is involved in several Marsden- and FRST-funded projects and is one of the coordinators of the "Deep Fault Drilling Project, Alpine Fault, New Zealand". John is also President of the New Zealand Geophysical Society.
Contact: Victoria University of Wellington
P.O. Box 600
Wellington 6015, New Zealand
john.townend@vuw.ac.nz
Phone: +64 (4) 463 5411 Peter Wood
Emergency Management Advisor
Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management, Wellington
Elected to Management Committee 2007
Peter is an Emergency Management Advisor with the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management, having worked previously with GNS Science and its DSIR predecessors. Peter has 35 years experience in research, consulting, and policy development on natural hazard mitigation and emergency management. He has contributed to crustal deformation research in New Zealand, California, and Iceland. In New Zealand he has been involved in developing systematic mapping of active faulting, seismic hazard assessments for hydroelectric dams, digital data management, emergency management, and the development of national emergency plans. Peter is an advocate for hazard risk mitigation having had direct experience of or of the response to hazard events that include: Inangahua earthquake NZ 1968; Imperial Valley earthquake California 1979; Edgecumbe earthquake NZ 1987; Spitak earthquake Armenia 1988; Loma Prieta earthquake California 1989. He was co-coordinator for NZ Geological Survey DSIR of the investigation and reporting on the effects of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake and compiled the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering Reconnaissance Team Report on the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, from first hand experience. He has previously served on the NZSEE Management Committee (1989 – 90).
Contact: Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management
Graeme Beattie (President)
Luke Allen
Jitendra Bothara
P Brabhaharan
Bruce Deam
Jason Ingham
Quincy Ma
Les Megget
Stefano Pampanin
Michael Pender
John Townend
Peter Wood