New UCLA Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate student Victor Contreras will be participating in a major (global) project in engineering seismology known as NGA-Subduction being coordinated by the PEER center and numerous partnering institutions. This project will define a new state of the art in earthquake ground motion prediction for subduction zone earthquakes. Data from Victor’s home country of Chile will be utilized in this project, including data from the 2010 M8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake. Victor’s thesis advisor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA will be Professor Jonathan P Stewart. Other UCLA participants in NGA-Subduction include Adjunct Professor Robert E Kayen and continuing Ph.D. student Grace Parker.

The Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Comisión Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, or CONICYT), awarded Victor a scholarship to complete a graduate degree at UCLA, starting Fall 2015. CONICYT is a funding agency of the Chilean government tasked with strengthening the country’s scientific and technological base and developing human capital in those fields.