ASCE has honored Ellen Rathje, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, with the 2022 Ralph B. Peck Award for advancements to seismic site response analysis through case histories, development of case histories to inform regional seismic assessments, and leadership promoting the electronic publishing of case history data.
Rathje has made outstanding contributions to the geotechnical engineering profession through extensive analyses of seismic site response case histories, the use of case histories to inform regional seismic assessments, and leadership in promoting learning from earthquakes via the electronic publishing and archiving of case history data. Her contributions include several papers describing detailed dynamic analyses of hundreds of ground motion recordings at more than 30 downhole array sites in various earthquakes, along with guidance for performing and interpreting site responses analyses in practice.
The paper by Zalachoris and Rathje in the Journal of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering in 2015 is an excellent example of this line of contributions. A related set of contributions regarding regional assessments of ground failure during earthquakes are described in her papers that use earthquake case history databases, remote sensing data, landslide inventories, and site-specific field data. Rathje has been a leader in promoting learning from earthquake cases histories as co-chair of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association (GEER) and director of the NSF-funded NHERI DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure with its Data Depot and Reconnaissance Portals.
The Ralph B. Peck Award is presented for outstanding contributions to the geotechnical engineering profession through the publication of a thoughtful, carefully researched case history or histories, or the publication of recommended practices or design methodologies based on the evaluation of case histories.
