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 News Media Tip - April 19, 2001


                          ***SPECIAL EDITION***

      ***EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH REVEALS NEW INFORMATION***

 For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information
 officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Cheryl Dybas

 This is the second in a series on National Science Foundation earthquake-related research. NSF
 supports research through: multi agency cooperation under the National Earthquake Hazards
 Reduction Program; NSF Science and Technology Centers; Earthquake Engineering Research Centers;
 and other interdisciplinary research and educational activities.



 Contents of this Tipsheet:

      SIMMILLENNIUM PROJECT YIELDS BETTER QUAKE-MODELING SOFTWARE
      EARTHQUAKE STUDY FOCUSES ON HOSPITALS' IMPORTANCE IN CRISIS
      MY LEGOS HOLD UP BETTER THAN YOURS



 Simmillennium Project Yields Better Quake-Modeling Software

 Computer scientists at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) are using the latest in high-speed
 networking to develop new computational tools for modeling earthquakes and other phenomena.

 The NSF-funded project, called SimMillennium, is directed by professors David Culler and James
 Demmel. They are designing a networked "testbed" in which scientists like UCB�s Gregory Fenves,
 assistant director of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center (PEER), can have
 instantaneous access to shared data at gigabit speeds-one billion bits per second-for creating
 earthquake simulations. Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Sun and Nortel Networks have made significant
 corporate donations to the project.

 The testbed's pool of inter-connected resources is a "managed as computational economy" that adapts
 automatically to changing user demand, system configuration and component failures. SimMillennium
 is leading to improved algorithms and programming environments not only for seismic modeling, but
 also for simulations in such fields as astrophysics, economics and civil engineering. [Tom Garritano]

 For more information on SimMillenium, see: http://millennium.berkeley.edu/
 For more information on PEER, see: http://peer.berkeley.edu





 Earthquake Study Focuses on Hospitals' Importance in Crisis

 Hospitals are among the most crucial operations after an earthquake. But existing hospitals could
 require extensive retrofits of their buildings, foundations and contents--and even the soil underneath--to
 ensure they will remain standing and able to meet emergency needs. Hospitals pose unique challenges
 because they house sophisticated diagnostic and treatment systems.

 At the NSF-supported Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, based at the
 University at Buffalo, N.Y., a team of engineers and social scientists is taking on the challenge. They
 are identifying hospitals' vulnerabilities to seismic events, using data from the 1994 Northridge, Calif.,
 earthquake and the results from experimental and analytical research. Then, they will evaluate advanced
 retrofit technologies and new structural designs and determine their relative costs.

 The researchers are focusing first on two regions: California, where a new law requires hospitals to
 meet certain performance standards following earthquakes, and the eastern United States, where
 hospital administrators are evaluating whether seismic retrofits should be a budget priority. California
 and New York state health officials are participating in the studies.

 Lessons learned in the hospital study can be used to improve the performance of less complicated
 critical facilities as well. [Amber Jones]





 My Legos Hold Up Better Than Yours

 In California, children playing with LEGOs could be preparing for a future in earthquake engineering.

 Seismic simulation is normally a topic for advanced graduate students and full-fledged researchers, but
 a project at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center at the University of California at
 Berkeley has brought younger students into the fold. A competition last year pitted local elementary,
 middle and high schools against one another to design LEGO structures that could withstand seismic
 forces.

 After receiving some basic training in the fundamentals of construction, more than 800 students in
 grades 3-12 competed in teams to form LEGOs into secure miniature buildings. The structures were
 tested on an earthquake-simulating shake table at the University of California at Irvine, then headed for
 a wider competition on simulators at other institutions.

 "When the shake table gets going, the students get terribly excited," said UC Irvine engineering
 professor Gerry Pardoen. "We plan to repeat the program this year. If we can inspire even one student,
 it will be a success."

 The program, a joint effort of the Pacific center, the University of California at Irvine and the
 Structural Engineers Association of California, is trying to excite younger students about careers in
 earthquake engineering. [Amber Jones]