Naeim Wins Housner Medal

Earthquake engineering expert Farzad Naeim was awarded the 2021 George Housner Medal by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

Jan. 22, 2021 - The Earthquake Engineering Research institute (EERI) has awarded its 2021 George Housner Medal to Farzad Naeim, UC Irvine adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering. Naeim, who is also president of Irvine civil engineering firm Farzad Naeim, Inc. and CEO of Mehrain Naeim International, won the organization’s most prestigious award for extraordinary and lasting contributions to public earthquake safety through the development and application of earthquake hazard-reduction practices and policies. The award honors late earthquake engineering pioneer Housner, a National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering member who was on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology for more than 35 years.

Naeim, a registered California civil and structural engineer, a patent attorney and a member of the California Bar, is an honorary member and past president of EERI. He also is the recipient of the 2007 Fazlur Khan Medal for lifetime achievements in seismic design of tall buildings from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and the 2017 Bruce Bolt Medal, jointly awarded by the Consortium of Strong Motion Observation Systems, The Seismological Society of America and EERI for worldwide contributions to seismic safety.

He served two terms as the president of the Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council, and currently chairs California’s Strong Motion Instrumentation Advisory Committee and the Board of Expert Consultants of the L.A. Department of Water and Power. Naeim served as editor in chief of Earthquake Spectra, inaugural chair of the Governance Board of the U.S. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation and the chair of the 10th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering. The author of five textbooks and more than 160 peer-reviewed papers, Naeim has developed 45 different software systems for earthquake engineering design and education.

“I was unbelievably delighted and shocked when I heard the news of the award,” Naeim said. “Just being mentioned in the same list with the previous recipients of this medal was a huge honor for me, let alone the medal itself, which is the highest honor Earthquake Engineering Research Institute can bestow on someone.”

– Anna Lynn Spitzer

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