Eguchi Named 2008 EERI Distinguished Lecturer

Ronald T. Eguchi, president and CEO of ImageCat, Inc., headquartered in Long Beach, California, is EERI’s 2008 Distinguished Lecturer. During EERI’s 60th Annual Meeting in February 2008 in New Orleans, he will present his lecture, entitled “Earthquakes, Hurricanes and other Disasters: A View from Space,” for the first time.

An EERI member since 1976, Eguchi has over 30 years of experience in risk analysis and risk management studies. In 2000, with Charles K. Huyck, he formed ImageCat, Inc., a risk management company specializing in the development and use of advanced technologies for risk assessment and reduction and which has contributed substantially to research on and implementation of remote sensing technologies for earthquakes and other natural hazards, lifeline earthquake engineering, and earthquake risk assessment. He has authored over 200 publications, many of them dealing with applications of advanced technologies to remote sensing and the seismic risk of utility lifeline systems. Eguchi has directed major research and application studies in these areas for government agencies and private industry. Over the last decade, Eguchi has focused on remote sensing for reconnaissance after earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters and human threats. This work has revolutionized the way that reconnaissance for extreme events is performed. Ron’s work is recognized worldwide for its innovative and exceptionally useful application of advanced technology for infrastructure inventory, damage assessment, emergency response, and disaster recovery. He is a past member of the Scientific Earthquake Studies Advisory Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey and Editorial Boards of Earthquake Spectra and Natural Hazards Review, and is currently a member of the National Academies Disaster Roundtable.

In 1997, Eguchi was awarded the ASCE C. Martin Duke Award for his contributions to the area of lifeline earthquake engineering. He still remains active in the ASCE Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering, serving on several committees and having chaired the Council’s Executive Committee in 1991. In 1992, Mr. Eguchi chaired a panel, established jointly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to develop a plan for assembling and adopting seismic design standards for public and private lifelines in the U.S. This effort led to the formation of the American Lifelines Alliance, currently managed by the National Institute of Building Sciences. In 2006, he accepted an ATC Award of Excellence on behalf of the ATC-61 project team for work on An Independent Study to Assess Future Savings from Mitigation Activities that showed that a dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves the nation about $4 in future benefits.