May 5, 2003

Dear CAEE/ACGS Member:

The election process for the new Executive of CAEE/ACGS has recently been completed, and the new Executive has assumed its responsibilities as of April 2003. As the incoming President of the Association, I would like to express our appreciations, both personally and on behalf of the members of the Association, to Don Anderson and the members of the previous Executive for their leadership, hard work and dedication in serving the Canadian Earthquake Engineering and Seismology community. Don Anderson will continue as the ex-officio member of the Board, along with John Adams and John Sherstobitoff as returning Directors. The newly elected Directors include Martin Lawrence, Vincent Latendresse, Ahmed Ghobarah, Jag Humar, Carlos Ventura, and Don Kennedy. During the past term, under the leadership of Don Anderson, we had a very successful 8^th Canadian Conference of Earthquake Engineering in Vancouver. The CAEE was selected to host the 13^th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (13WCEE) to be held in Vancouver in 2004. In addition, earthquake reconnaissance trips were organized to visit the Kocaeli Earthquake in Turkey and Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan. The Association Newsletter continued to provide communication between the CAEE/ACGS and its members. I am pleased to report that, due to the successful financial management of the previous administration, the finances of the Association are in very good shape. Once again, many thanks to Don Anderson, Bob Sexsmith who assumed multiple responsibilities as the Secretary and Treasurer over many years, and the outgoing Executive.

Challenges continue to be met in the years to come, as we continue fostering Earthquake Engineering in Canada. As we start our term in office, I am happy to note that the preparations for the 13^th WCEE have been well underway, thanks to the diligent work of local organizers Carlos Ventura, Don Anderson and others, as well as the Technical Programme Committee under the leadership of Art Heidebrecht. We are confident that the World Conference will be another successful event that will maintain the prominent role that the Canadian Earthquake Engineering and Geophysics community enjoy in the World. I would encourage you to participate in this event. Undoubtedly, its success will be our collective success!

As we pursue many functions of the Association, we wish to enhance our communication with our members. Regular publication of the Association Newsletter has become difficult over the years. We hope to make immediate progress in this area by exploiting the advantages of electronic media. We hope to revitalize the CAEE/ACGS web site and publish issues of interest to our members on the web immediately and on an ongoing basis. I can see us maintaining an active web based communication media, serving the interests of all sectors in the Association membership, including the structural and geotechnical design engineering community, earth sciences and seismology community, and researchers in respective fields. We do intend to facilitate web based forums for the exchange of technical information while also providing services to our members in terms of making various technical data, software, and other technical tools available. This challenge can only be met with the cooperation of the entire community, and I am confident that this will materialize once the initial effort is made and the members start enjoying the benefits of their collective effort.

The Association had many successful initiatives in the past. One of these was the launching of Standing Committees on Design and Research. It is unfortunate that the initial momentum created by the formation of these committees could not be maintained. Often efforts of this kind need tangible benefits to maintain interest. Currently, a number of groups in the country offer short courses and seminars on seismic design of structures. The community will be better served if these efforts are coordinated. I believe CAEE/ACGS can play a role, through its “Standing Committee on Design” to coordinate these efforts while also helping various groups in disseminating good seismic design practice. An active web site is vital for these functions to succeed, which would allow immediate access to our members. On the research side, we have many challenges as well. It is essential to establish links with our major funding agency, NSERC, to underline the importance of Earthquake Engineering research. I do intend to establish a formal working relationship with NSERC to protect the interests of the Canadian Earthquake Engineering and Seismology research groups. It is my hope to establish funding sources for earthquake reconnaissance visits, as well as research efforts.

Canadian Earthquake Engineering activities are an integral part of similar efforts across the World. It is important to strengthen international links with our sister institutions. Recently we were approached by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) from the U.S. to start more formal collaborations. I can see us linking with similar institutions across the World, especially with Japan and New Zealand, where significant seismic research is being conducted. This should be a mission for us to foster mutually beneficial international collaborations.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Executive to continue with the excellent initiatives that have been started during the first decade of the Association. I am certain that the challenges that are ahead of us can only be met with the involvement of our members. Only then, we can fulfill our mission. I welcome your comments and suggestions. I may be contacted at murat@uottawa.ca, or by phone, at (613)562-5800 Ext. 6129.

Sincerely,

Murat Saatcioglu