Events

Risk and Reliability Symposium in Honor of Prof. Armen Der Kiureghian

I Hotel and Conference Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

October 4-5, 2015



Communities face a number of risks from natural hazards, such as earthquakes. Managing such risks requires communities to make comparative judgments about the relative gravity of diverse risks. Such judgments are reflected in the priorities that communities set in terms of the risks that they will address through mitigation policy, and so the kinds of risks to which limited resources will be devoted.


Risk analysis is an important tool for informed decision making. In this context, risk is typically defined in terms of the probability of occurrence and the associated consequences of a set of hazardous scenarios. Reliability analysis can be used to quantify the safety of civil engineering assets and estimate the probabilities related to structural performance that are needed in risk analysis.


Modern reliability analysis dates back to the beginning of the 20th Century, with significant contributions made in the second half of that century. Over the past few decades, reliability analysis went from a specialty topic to a mainstream subject in civil engineering currently being used in the development of design codes and the assessment of a number of assets ranging from bridges to buildings, and from nuclear power plants to off shore structures.


  • This Reliability and Risk Analysis Symposium brings together some of the most prominent scholars in this field to honor Prof. Armen Der Kiureghian. Prof. Der Kiureghian is one of the fathers of modern risk and reliability analysis. During his career, he has made fundamental and revolutionary research contributions to the areas of structural reliability, risk analysis, random vibrations and earthquake engineering. He has pioneered methods for safety and reliability assessment of complex structures and for stochastic seismic analysis of buildings, bridges and critical equipment. During his career through his advising he also created a legacy of scholars that will be future leaders in this field.

Prof. Der Kiureghian is the former Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and current President of the American University of Armenia.


Prof. Der Kiureghian received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran and his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975. He joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley after three years at the University of Southern California.


In recognition of his achievements, he is a member of a number of societies and associations and is the recipient of several awards, including:

  • Elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering
  • Elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Armenia
  • Elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
  • Alfred M. Freudenthal Medal from the Engineering Mechanics Division of ASCE
  • George Winter Medal from the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE
  • Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


For additional information in relation to this symposium, please contact Prof. Paolo Gardoni (gardoni@illinois.edu)


Symposium Program



Accommodations

A block of rooms has been reserved at the I Hotel at a special group rate.

There are two easy ways to make a reservation:

  • Online: www.stayatthei.com (attendee code: SYMPOS15)
  • By Phone: 217-819-5000 (event name: Risk and Reliability Symposium)

The drop date is September 4, 2015 (no guarantee of availability or rate after this date).



Travel Information

Air

The University of Illinois'Willard Airport (CMI) is served by American Airlines. The next closest airport is Central Illinois Regional Airport (BMI), located in Bloomington, Illinois and served by Delta, AirTran, and American Airlines.


Other larger major airports are:


Regular shuttle service between the University of Illinois and Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports is available (see below).



Train / Bus / Shuttle Service

Amtrak is the passenger train service available to Champaign-Urbana. There is limited service between Chicago and Champaign.


Shuttle services between Chicago Airports and Champaign-Urbana are:



Driving Directions

From Bloomington-Normal Regional Airport (BMI)
50 miles/80 kilometers
Google Maps Directions

From Chicago's O'Hare Airport (ORD)
150 miles/240 kilometers
Google Maps Directions

From Chicago Midway Airport (MDW)
136 miles/218 kilometers
Google Maps Directions

From Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana (IND)
120 miles/190 kilometers
Google Maps Directions

From Lambert-St Louis International Airport (STL)
185 miles/298 kilometers
Google Maps Directions



Helpful Links



Edited Volume


In honor of Prof. Der Kiureghian there will also be an edited volume collecting scholarly contributions from a number of national and international leaders in the field of risk and reliability analysis covering both new methodologies and timely engineering applications.


For additional information in relation to this edited volume, please contact Prof. Paolo Gardoni (gardoni@illinois.edu)