Weidlinger Principal Chairs EMI 2013 Conference Session

New York, NY, August 21, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Dr. Mohammed Ettouney, a principal of Weidlinger Associates, Inc., organized and served as moderator for a technical session of the 2013 Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2013), “Mechanics for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructures.” The conference took place August 4-7, 2013, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago).

Ettouney, a member of the EMI Scientific Committee and an authority on structural resilience and multihazard engineering, chaired the August 7 afternoon panel discussion, which explored the relationship between infrastructure resilience (the capacity to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover from a disruptive event) and engineering mechanics.

“The growing threat of natural and manmade disasters, epitomized by Superstorm Sandy, has underscored the importance of understanding the resilience of civil infrastructure,” said Ettouney. “This session was an opportunity to discuss how greater attention to resilience can work together with the analysis and predictive capability of engineering mechanics to make infrastructure safer and more durable, not only in the face of disasters, but also against other hazards that might degrade performance, such as corrosion or everyday wear and tear.”

The session, “Civil Infrastructure Resilience in Engineering Mechanics,” consisted of brief presentations by a panel of engineering professionals who are experts in the field of civil infrastructure resilience. Speakers addressed a variety of topics, including Resilience of Buildings, the U.S. DHS Program of Infrastructure Resilience, Knowledge Gaps, and Resilience Monitoring. Presentations were followed by a facilitated discussion focusing on the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, gaps in knowledge, research needs, stakeholders, and potential funding sources. A list of resolutions and concerns generated during the presentation and discussion will be developed into a white paper for dissemination to the EMI community.

The Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference is a forum to exchange ideas, assess the state of the art, and offer an outlook on how engineering mechanics can contribute to the development of more resilient and more sustainable infrastructures. The technical sessions and mini-symposia also point out the need for cross-disciplinary research and education and highlight the role of engineering mechanics as a powerful link across disciplines.

Dr. Mohammed Ettouney was recently designated a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and is a fellow of its Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI). He is currently a member or chair of several committees of AEI, the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), and the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), also sponsored by ASCE. Ettouney is a licensed professional engineer and has been with Weidlinger Associates since 1984. He is the coauthor, with Dr. Sreenivas Alampalli of the New York State Department of Transportation, of Infrastructure Health in Civil Engineering, a two-volume technical treatise that defines the agenda for a holistic approach to infrastructure design, inspection, maintenance, repair, and decision making.