Proposal Title: Planning Meeting for NEES/E-DEFENSE Collaboration in Earthquake Engineering Institution: NEES Consortium, Inc. Abstract Date: 08/10/2004 Project Summary The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) initiated by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in late 1999 is intended to transform the nation.s ability to carry out earthquake engineering research. With over $80 million in new cutting-edge tools for experimentation, networking, data curation and communication, the best minds in earthquake engineering will be able to challenge and solve the most difficult impediments to reducing the nation's vulnerability to earthquakes. To accelerate attainment of NEES's goals, and avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, US investigators need to collaborate and have access to data and facilities internationally. A major long-term, research initiative has begun in Japan known as .E-Defense.. This initiative is managed by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) on behalf of the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MExT). A key component of this initiative is a new, large (20 by 15 m) shaking table capable of subjecting full-scale, five-story tall, specimens to three-dimensional seismic excitations larger than those experienced in the devastating 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake. In addition, a long-term research program using this shaking table and other major facilities for experimentation and computer-based simulation is planned. This program calls for a strong, but as yet undefined, component of international collaboration. As such, a Planning Meeting is being convened in Shin-Kobe, Japan, near the E-Defense shaking table facility, during April 6-8, 2004 to discuss opportunities for collaboration between the NEES and E-Defense. A small, but diverse group of representative researchers from the US and Japan are meeting, along with representatives from NIED, MExT, NSF, the NEES Consortium, Inc. (NCI), to identify research topics of mutual interest that fully take advantage of the unique capabilities of the E-Defense facilities, mechanisms for developing NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Proposal Abstract Proposal:0431490 PI Name:Buckle, Ian Printed from eJacket: 08/10/04 Page 1 of 2 research plans and projects, and steps needed to implement NEESgrid and related services within E-Defense so that the full potential of collaboration between those involved in the NEES Collaboratory and E-Defense can be realized. The findings of the meeting are being distributed widely to potential sponsors and researchers in Japan and in the US. Intellectual Merit: The E-Defense program in Japan provides truly phenomenal opportunities for discovery and innovation not possible within the current NEES portfolio. By leveraging US and Japanese resources through focused collaborative effort, it is possible to accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation needed to mitigate catastrophic losses due to large earthquakes. NEES/E-Defense is expected to provide the overall US earthquake engineering community access to rich sets of data. Broader impacts resulting from proposed activity: Explicit NEES/E-Defense collaboration will provide heightened opportunities for international cooperation. These include conduct of collaborative research projects, sharing of unique research resources, development of international standards and capabilities for documenting, archiving and sharing information, and exchange of personnel. Participants in NEES/E-Defense projects are expected to include junior researchers, women and members of underrepresented groups, as well as senior members, of the earthquake engineering and IT research communities NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Proposal Abstract Proposal:0431490 PI Name:Buckle, Ian
