Joe Mugford and Cathy Huang represented GMS at the 16^th US-Japan-New Zealand Workshop on the Improvement of Structural Engineering and Resiliency, which took place in Nara, Japan on June 27-29 2016. At the conference, GMS presented findings from the post-disaster reconnaissance of the recent Kaohsiung/Meinong earthquake in Taiwan.

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 a massive magnitude-7.8 earthquake rocked Muisne, Ecuador, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). GMS’s Ramon Gilsanz and Virginia Diaz traveled to Ecuador to help in relief efforts, assist other rescuers and collect data on the performance of structures during the event. The reconnaissance trip was coordinated by Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association (GEER), sponsored by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the Applied Technology Council (ATC).

Last month a team including Gilsanz Murray Steficek (GMS) engineers Ramon Gilsanz, Cathy Huang, Jessica Mandrick and Joe Mugford, Cerea Steficek from the Earth Sciences department at Northeastern University and Mehmet Celebi from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) accompanied by Sheng-Jhih Jhuang from the National Center of Research for Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan (NCREE) visited the earthquake stricken city of Tainan and vicinity to survey, study and document damage and site-related observations from the recent 6.4 Meinong Earthquake. GMS coordinated this effort with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), and the Applied Technology Council (ATC).

At the annual Organizational Board meeting on January 29, 2016, the Applied Technology Council (ATC) Board of Directors elected officers for the Year 2016. Ms. Victoria Arbitrio of Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP, New York City, New York, was elected President. During her five years on the Board, Vicki has served as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, and on numerous ATC Board Committees.

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) was created by practicing professionals with the intent of serving the evolving needs of engineering practice.