William B. Joyner Memorial Lectures

The William B. Joyner Memorial Lectures were established by the Seismological Society of America (SSA) in cooperation with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) to honor Bill Joyner’s distinguished career at the U.S. Geological Survey and his abiding commitment to the exchange of information at the interface of earthquake science and earthquake engineering, so as to keep society safer from earthquakes.

Intent of the Joyner Lecturer Award

Joyner Lecturers are chosen on the basis of their work at this interface, whether it involves contributions from earthquake science to earthquake engineering, or from earthquake engineering to earthquake science.

Joyner Lectures are normally presented at the Annual Meetings of the SSA and EERI.

Nomination Procedure

Nominations can be made by any current member of EERI or SSA. The sponsor of the nominee, with the help from others, must clearly document the accomplishments of the nominee that foster and enhance communication at the earthquake-science/earthquake-engineering interface and why that person’s work makes a difference.

The sponsor must prepare a written proposal providing a brief summary of the candidate’s professional history. It may include honors, awards, professional affiliations, lectures and publications, and professional service and experience that address the intent of the Joyner Award.

The Joyner Lecturer will be selected by the Joyner Committee by 1 October each year. Each Joyner Lecturer will provide a written version of the lecture suitable for publication in Earthquake Spectra and Seismological Research Letters. EERI and SSA will waive meeting registration fees for the Joyner Lecturer and provide travel funds to attend the annual meeting of each organization.

The deadline for nominations is 31 July.  Please submit nominations by emailing awards@seismosoc.org.

 

Past Joyner Lecture Recipients

2023 Recipient

Jack Baker

Jack Baker’s research is at the forefront of the interface between earthquake seismology and earthquake engineering, focusing on the use of probabilistic and statistical tools for modeling of extreme loads on structures. At Stanford, he has worked on projects involving risk to spatially distributed systems, earthquake ground motion characterization, and … Continue Reading »

2022 Recipient

David J. Wald

David J. Wald is involved in research, development, and operations of real-time information systems at the NEIC. He is responsible for developing and managing ShakeMap, which provides near-real-time maps of ground motion and shaking intensity following significant earthquakes; the citizen-science earthquake reporting system Did You Feel it?; and leads development … Continue Reading »

2020 Recipient

Julian J. Bommer

Julian J. Bommer has worked for more than 30 years at the interface between seismology and earthquake engineering as both a researcher and practitioner. A Fellow of the UK Institution of Civil Engineering, he obtained a Ph.D. in Engineering Seismology under the supervision of Professor Nick Ambraseys, who encouraged him … Continue Reading »

2019 Recipient

Robert W. Graves

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and the Seismological Society of America (SSA) are pleased to announce that U.S. Geological Survey research geophysicist Robert W. Graves has been named the 2019 William B. Joyner Lecturer. Graves will deliver the Joyner Lecture at the EERI 2019 Annual Meeting to be held … Continue Reading »

2018 Recipient

Ellen M. Rathje

University of Texas at Austin Professor Ellen M. Rathje has been selected as the 2018 William B. Joyner Lecturer. Rathje is the Warren S. Bellows Centennial Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering and also a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University … Continue Reading »

2017 Recipient

William R. Lettis

William R. Lettis has been selected as the William B. Joyner Memorial Lecturer for 2017. Lettis founded William Lettis & Associates, Inc. in 1990 and Lettis Consultants International, Inc. in 2011 to provide consultancy at the interface of earthquake science and earthquake engineering. He will deliver his lecture in April … Continue Reading »

2016 Recipient

Jonathan P. Stewart

Jonathan P. Stewart is professor and chair of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at UCLA. He was selected as the 2016 Joyner Lecturer in recognition of his work on the characterization of earthquake ground motions for engineering applications, with special emphasis on site response effects. He will deliver his … Continue Reading »

2015 Recipient

Paul Somerville

Paul Somerville is an engineering seismologist at AECOM (formerly at its predecessor organizations, URS and Woodward-Clyde) in Los Angeles. He is also Chief Geoscientist at Risk Frontiers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He has applied physics-based modeling methods to understand the influence of earthquake source and seismic wave propagation … Continue Reading »

2014 Recipient

David Boore

David Boore is a Geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Boore has published over 260 papers, most dealing with various aspects of the problem of estimating the ground shaking from large earthquakes. The topics covered in these publications range from the seismic source to site … Continue Reading »

2013 Recipient

Kelvin Berryman

Kelvin manages the newly-formed research platform that integrates all of New Zealand’s government-funded research in natural hazards. The portfolio ranges from geological and weather-related hazards integrated natural hazard risk, resilient engineering and infrastructure research, and societal and land-use planning aspects of natural hazard mitigation. Kelvin is a Principal Scientist at … Continue Reading »

2012 Recipient

Jonathan Bray

Jonathan D. Bray, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at UC Berkeley was selected as the 2012 Joyner Lecturer. He delivered his lecture at the SSA Annual Meeting in April 2012 in San Diego, CA. Dr. Bray was chosen because of his scientific and engineering research and exchange of information regarding liquefaction … Continue Reading »

2011 Recipient

Tom Hanks

Thomas C. Hanks, Research Geophysicist at the Menlo Park, CA office of the U.S. Geological Survey, was selected as the 2011 Joyner Lecturer. He delivered his lecture at the SSA April 2011 Annual Meeting in Memphis, TN. Hanks? research has ranged widely across the causes and effects of earthquakes, including … Continue Reading »

2010 Recipient

Arthur Frankel

Arthur D. Frankel, Research Geophysicist in the Seattle office of the U.S. Geological Survey, was selected as the 2010 Joyner Lecturer. He delivered his lecture at the SSA April 2010 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Frankel’s work provides the crucial bridge at the interface of earthquake science and engineering … Continue Reading »

2009 Recipient

Robin McGuire

Robin K. McGuire, Ph.D., Founder and President of Risk Engineering Inc., was the 2009 Joyner Lecturer. He delivered his lecture at the SSA 2009 Annual Meeting in Monterey, California. McGuire holds degrees in structural engineering from MIT and Univ. of California, Berkeley. For 30 years he has been consulting in … Continue Reading »

2008 Recipient

Chris Poland

Chris Poland was the Joyner Lecturer for 2008. He is Chairman and CEO of Degenkolb Engineers, one of the nation’s leading structural engineering firms. His research has contributed to the development of federal standards for seismic evaluations and mitigation for all federal buildings and numerous guidelines related to earthquake hazard … Continue Reading »

2007 Recipient

Gail Atkinson

Gail Atkinson was the Joyner Lecturer for 2007. She is Professor of Geophysics at University of Western Ontario and has spent much of her career working at the engineering-seismology interface. She has authored more than 100 research articles on the subjects of earthquake ground motions and seismic hazards; among these … Continue Reading »

2006 Recipient

Norm Abrahamson

Norm Abrahamson was the Joyner Lecturer for 2006, the Centennial Year of the San Francisco earthquake and the founding of the SSA. Norm brings a very pragmatic approach to ground-motion estimation, with a keen sense of what the engineering community needs to know and a remarkable ability, through his rapport … Continue Reading »

2005 Recipient

Allin Cornell

The 2005 Joyner Lecturer was C. Allin Cornell. Allin is best known for original and continuing work on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), now recognized for its great power in synthesizing earth-sciences data, models, and uncertainties in probabilistic portrayals. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He … Continue Reading »

2004 Recipient

Lloyd Cluff

Joyner Lecturers are chosen on the basis of their work at the interface of earthquake science and earthquake engineering, whether they be contributions from earthquake science to earthquake engineering or from earthquake engineering to earthquake science. In the case of Lloyd Cluff, the first Joyner Lecturer, it is hard to … Continue Reading »