Photo courtesy of Y. Bozorgnia

Yousef Bozorgnia, professor and director of the multidisciplinary and multi-institutional Natural Hazards Risk and Resiliency Research Center (NHR3), received the V. M. Watanabe Excellence in Research Award from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Bozorgnia is the first civil engineer to be honored with the award.

Bozorgnia received the award because, “[his] research impact is broad and extensive. Many people around the world are safer during earthquakes thanks to his ground motion modeling work that has improved seismic design and made infrastructure more resilient.”

As director of NHR3, Bozorgnia oversees multiple high-profile research projects that examine the effect of earthquakes and other natural hazards to major infrastructure — bridges, tunnels, rail lines, natural gas facilities, water transmission systems. The research projects also investigate how to make the infrastructure more resilient during and after such destructive events. 

Bozorgnia’s extensive experience and contribution to the field have garnered numerous national and international honors as they translate scientific knowledge into best practices and policy that improve seismic safety.

Link to the UCLA Samueli news article: https://samueli.ucla.edu/ucla-engineering-2021-service-and-research-excellence-awards-recipients/