Engineer receives $24,000 NSF grant for Nepal earthquake research

BUFFALO, N.Y. – After a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal in late April, Andreas Stavridis, PhD, University at Buffalo assistant professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, decided to travel to Nepal with a team of researchers to examine why certain structures held up and others did not.

For that work, Congressman Brian Higgins announced on Thursday that Stavridis received a $24,040 National Science Foundation award.

“Natural disasters are inescapable and exact unthinkable consequences,” Higgins said. “This award puts researchers right here, at the University at Buffalo, at the forefront of efforts to learn from destruction and provide insight into best preparedness practices moving forward.”

Earlier this month, Stavridis and the team of researchers and graduate students traveled to Nepal for data collection and investigation of architectural and structural response to seismic activity. The data collected will be used to evaluate current U.S. guidelines for assessment of existing structures and inform Nepal rebuilding and recovery efforts.

The grant is provided through the NSF’s Rapid Response Research program which supports proposals requiring urgent access to data, specifically research associated with disasters.