Reno Reporter

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor David McCallen has been appointed the new chairman of the advisory board for the National Science Foundation's SimCenter, which creates cutting-edge software for the community of researchers studying natural disasters. 

"We can better anticipate the effects of natural disasters thanks to this research, which will also help policymakers and business executives decide on appropriate mitigation measures," McCallen said.

His appointment was announced in a recent news release from the University of Nevada at Reno and the Civil Engineering Computational Modeling and Simulation Institution (SimCenter). 

“The function of the advisory board is to provide the SimCenter leadership with independent input and perspectives on SimCenter developments and activities,” McCallen said. “Moreover, researchers studying natural hazards can access cutting-edge computational modeling and simulation software through the SimCenter, which is a component of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) and has joint center leadership from UC Berkeley and Stanford.”

 McCallen, who serves as director of the university's Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research, stands out for his research in seismic simulation.

“Professor McCallen is a renowned leader in seismic simulation research,” Krishna Pagilla, chair of the College of Engineering Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, said. “His role as chair of the SimCenter advisory board and as principal investigator of the DOE EarthQuake SIMulation (EQSIM) software application development project will assist the advancement of exascale computing for earthquake simulations and promote ensuring the integrity of structures during large earthquakes.”

The new position, which he started in October, has McCallen at the helm of SimCenter’s nine-member board featuring experts in natural hazards, such as  earthquakes, wind and floods.