Green selected as Erskine Fellow by University of Canterbury

Associate Professor Russell A. Green was named a 2012 Visiting Erskine Fellow by the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. As an Erskine Fellow, Dr. Green will spend two months (June – August 2012) at the Department of Civil and Natural Resource Engineering, University of Canterbury, giving a series of lectures. As opposed to previous years where Erskine Fellowships were awarded to academics from a range of disciplines, the 2012 Fellowships were designated for professors whose research focuses on various aspects of earthquake engineering, with the goal of fostering increased collaborations between the Fellows and the faculty at the University of Canterbury. The Erskine Programme is endowed by the 1960 bequest of John Angus Erskine, a former graduate of the University of Canterbury, and enables “distinguished, international academics who are already advanced in learning to visit the University each year for durations of, normally, one to three months.” Dr. Green recently led two National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored teams that performed post-earthquake investigations: the magnitude 7.1 event in September 2010 in Darfield and the magnitude 6.2 event in February 2011 which devastated the city of Christchurch and its environs.

Along with Professors Jonathan Bray, UC Berkeley, and Thomas O’Rourke, Cornell University, Dr. Green is the recipient of NSF RAPID grant to perform additional post-earthquake field studies in Christchurch. During his last trip to New Zealand, Dr. Green testified in front of the Canterbury Royal Earthquake Commission about the findings from the post-earthquake investigations and the rebuilding of Christchurch.