2013 PEER Summer Internship Program Details

*UPDATE: Applicant Notifications will be sent out by April 5*

Recent earthquakes in the US and around the world have repeatedly shown that earthquake resilience is essential to building and sustaining urban communities. Earthquake resilience will play an increasingly important role in the professions associated with earthquake hazard mitigation. To educate the next-generation of these professionals, the PEER Summer Internship program will be focused on the theme of Engineering Earthquake Resilient Communities.

With funding from NSF, PEER is inviting undergraduate students from universities and four-year colleges to apply to participate in the ten week summer program for 2013. The selected interns will conduct individual research projects that contribute to the internship theme.

What you will gain as an undergraduate PEER summer intern:

  • - Hands-on research experience
  • - Participation in a challenging but supportive interdisciplinary research team environment
  • - Exposure to the latest methodologies in earthquake research
  • - Occasion to work with established researchers
  • - Improved observation and communication skills
  • - Awareness of the diversity of earthquake research
  • - Interaction with graduate students who will serve as mentors
  • - Opportunity to judge whether a career in research is right for you
Watch a video on YouTube of the 2011 interns describing their experience and why all undergrads should apply

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Interns will be placed at the three partnering universities: University of California Berkeley, University of California Davis, and University of Washington. The students will be placed in pairs with a faculty and graduate student mentor to complete projects related to the seismic resiliency of infrastructure, ports, levees, and urban buildings. The proposed mentors have expertise in a variety of disciplines including structural and geotechnical engineering, urban planning, public policy and economics. This multi-disciplinary integration is an important aspect of this REU site because multi-disciplinary cooperation and collaboration is needed to achieve the broad goal of earthquake resilient communities.

During their summer research experience, interns are required to work 40 hours per week for 10 weeks from June 17, 2013 – August 23, 2013. Interns will regularly interface with others interns who are studying alternate disciplines and weekly engage with the full intern cohort.

ELIGIBILITY

The PEER Summer Internship Program is targeted to upper-division undergraduate students who have completed junior-level courses in engineering or a related field, however, PEER will also consider applicants from other grade levels. The program is intended to provide research opportunities for undergraduates who have shown an interest in earthquake engineering, demonstrated a high level of academic performance (generally GPA = 3.0 or above), and whose presence would enhance the diversity of PEER. Although PEER seeks racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, California law prohibits preferential treatment of individuals or groups on the basis of race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin. Consequently, selection of award recipients is not based on these criteria.

Funding for this year's internship program comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF requires that all participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at a university or college in the United States or its possessions.

STIPENDS

Interns will receive a $7,000 stipend (intended to cover summer housing and travel expenses to the summer project location). PEER will provide additional compensation for travel to conferences and meetings during the summer program. See the activities section below for more information on these events.

ABOUT PEER

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) is a multi-institutional research and education center with headquarters at the University of California, Berkeley. Investigators from over 20 universities, several consulting companies, plus researchers at various State and Federal government agencies contribute to research programs focused on performance-based earthquake engineering in disciplines including structural and geotechnical engineering, geology/seismology, lifelines, transportation, risk management, and public policy.

The PEER mission is to develop, validate, and disseminate performance-based seismic design technologies for buildings and infrastructure to meet the diverse economic and safety needs of owners and society. PEER's research defines appropriate performance targets, and develops engineering tools and criteria that can be used by practicing professionals to achieve those targets, such as safety, cost, and post-earthquake functionality.

ACTIVITIES

The 10-week summer program for the undergraduate interns will begin with an Orientation Program at the University of California Berkeley. This orientation program will include the following items:

  • - Earthquake Resiliency Workshop: The definition and concept of earthquake resiliency will be explored and discussed through activities and presentations by various mentors. The workshop will highlight the multi-disciplinary nature of the topic.
  • - Communication skills: This module provides the students with tips on how to communicate their research project and results coherently. It will include instruction on oral and poster presentations, and writing a technical paper.
  • - Library research tools: This will be a session in the National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering Library. The students will learn about how to complete a thorough literature review and how to effectively find documents necessary to write a research results paper.
  • - Graduate school: The graduate student advisors in Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley will provide tips on how to successfully apply to and pay for graduate school. A graduate student round table discussion will also be arranged so the students can ask questions of current graduate students.
  • - Research Ethics: Tools and case studies will be used to introduce and discuss ethical issues related to engineering practice and engineering research.

The interns at all 3 research sites will participate in web-based weekly meetings. During the first weekly meetings the students will each present an overview of their research project using PowerPoint so that the entire cohort learns about the various intern research projects being completed. At the following meetings the interns will be required to present updates on the status of their research project as well as discuss some research challenges. The final group meetings at the end of the summer will give the interns the opportunity to present a final, complete research presentation that includes their project overview, results, and how their project contributes to future community earthquake resiliency.

The final experience for the interns will be their participation in the PEER Annual Meeting, which is typically held in October. The students will participate by (1) attending the entire conference to learn more about the numerous multi-disciplinary PEER research projects and seeing how a professional conference works, (2) presenting their research via a poster session at the conference, and (3) having their research papers published into a PEER report that is available at the conference and on the PEER website.

Based on the student activities explained above, the students will be required to submit the following deliverables by the end of their research experience:

  1. Oral presentations as required for the weekly meetings (minimum of 3)
  2. Poster of their research project and results for presentation at the PEER Annual Meeting
  3. Research paper for inclusion into a PEER report that serves as a compendium of all the interns research papers

SELECTING A PROJECT

The available projects are described below:

  • Location: University of Washington
  • Topic: Testing and Analysis for Accelerated Bridge Construction
  • Emphasis: Structural Engineering
  • Professors: Professors Dawn Lehman and Charles Roeder, Dept. of Civil Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 2

This research project is funded by the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) with the goal of developing a method for accelerated bridge construction, which is achieved by using concrete filled steel tubes (CFST) for bridge piers. Prior work has developed design methods for the CFST member and connections of the CFST pier to the foundation, but this phase of work is focused on development of economical and practical pier caps and pier cap connections that employ precast pier cap construction. As a result, the students will be working with a wide range of structural behaviors including steel and composite structures, reinforced concrete, and prestressed concrete elements. A major focus of the work is on constructability and construction methods in addition to structural design and behavior. The research is experimental and analytical, and it is expected that both students would be involved with at least one major experiment during the period of the internship. The large-scale tests will be completed in a previously constructed test rig that allows cyclic lateral load combined with axial loads associated with gravity. Both students will aid in the design, construction, instrumentation and testing of one or more test specimens. However, the two students will have somewhat different focus on the academic and reporting aspects of their work.

Student 1 would perform an evaluation of the behavior of the one of the large-scale systems evaluated in the experimental research. That student would report on the design, construction and initial test results of one of the test specimens. He or she will describe the behavior of the structure and discuss the impact on the CALTRANS bridges with plots, photographs, and initial analysis of the test data. He or she will consider how system performance may be improved or modified by changes in the design and construction. Analysis will be required, but the analysis will primarily be analysis of test results and observed behavior and correlation of this results with expected system behavior.

Student 2 will also participate in the experimental work, but his/her focus will be on the evaluation, design and constructability of various connection options. Student 2 will evaluate alternate connection designs and construction methods, evaluate the construction sequence, and consider design strategies for these alternate connections. As a result, this student will propose alternate pier cap and connection methods, and will focus on the goals of achieving economical accelerated bridge construction. Structural performance will obviously be a goal of the work as it was for Student 1, but it will be secondary to achieving economical, rapid erection and construction. The analysis associated with this student with design analysis, prediction of system performance, evaluation of construction sequence and methods.

  • Location: University of Washington
  • Topic: Bridge Pier Performance Analysis and Testing
  • Emphasis: Structural Engineering
  • Professors: Professors Marc Eberhard and John Stanton, Dept. of Civil Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 2

Detailed Description Coming Soon.

  • Location: University of California, Davis
  • Topic: Bio-Cementation of Sands for Liquefaction Prevention
  • Emphasis: Geotechnical Engineering
  • Professors: Professor Jason DeJong, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 1

A novel process in which bacteria are used to transform loose liquefiable sand into sandstone is being developed. Critical to field implementation of this technology is upscaling this technology from the bench scale to the field scale. This research project will be centered around five large m-scale models treated over the course of the summer. The objective is to optimize the treatment scheme to maximize efficiency and minimize environmental byproducts. The project will include SEM microscopy, biological and chemical treatment analysis, non-destructive geophysical monitoring, and laboratory and insitu tests to assess magnitude and spatial distribution of geotechnical properties. The student will work closely with the faculty advisor and a team of graduate students.

  • Location: University of California, Davis
  • Topic: Interpretation of cone penetration test data in intermediate soils
  • Emphasis: Geotechnical Engineering
  • Professors: Professor Ross Boulanger, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 1

Intermediate soils, such as clayey and silty sands, exist in widespread deposits beneath many of California’s dams and levees. Characterizing the liquefaction potential and other engineering properties of these materials is difficult over intermediate ranges of fines contents and fines plasticity because most engineering procedures have been developed for clean sands or sedimentary clays. The ability to relate cone penetration test data to engineering properties requires quantifying how the fines fraction affects both the engineering property and the cone penetration process. This project includes laboratory testing of intermediate soils to assess how their behavior varies as a function of fines fraction and fines characteristics, and to provide data for calibration of constitutive models being used in analyses of the cone penetration process. Visits to field locations to assist with cone penetration testing may also be necessary. This project is self-standing in that it will focus on a subset of experiments within a larger testing program, but will also link with and leverage data and knowledge generated by other research activities in the group.

  • Location: University of California, Davis
  • Topic: Risk evaluation for levees
  • Emphasis: Risk Analysis
  • Professors: Professor Jay Lund, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 2

This work will involve various issues that relate to levee failure or for larger levee risk analysis modeling. Some familiarity or interest in probability and geotechnical engineering is desirable. More project details coming soon.

  • Location: University of California, Berkeley and The City of San Francisco
  • Topic: Private School Safety & Opportunities for Earthquake Hazard Mitigation from SF Transfer Tax
  • Emphasis: Public Policy and Seismic Mitigation Planning
  • Professors: Laurence Kornfield, City of San Francisco
  • Number of Internship projects: 2

Student 1 will support the work of San Francisco's Private Schools Working Group by researching building records and databases, perhaps some site visits, to complete a database of private schools, and then working with structural and policy advisors to identify the potential scope of concern. One additional private school project could be to identify best practices of existing schools regarding earthquake preparation and nonstructural hazard mitigation.

Student 2 will identify opportunities and impediments to the future implementation of San Francisco's "Transfer Tax" program, which allows a small percentage of transfer tax upon sale of buildings to be used for earthquake hazard mitigation. No implementation program of this law has yet begun for earthquake matters.

  • Location: University of California, Berkeley
  • Topic: Seismic Performance Assessment of Existing Tall Buildings
  • Emphasis: Structural Engineering
  • Mentors: Professor Stephen Mahin, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 1

In this project, the seismic performance of tall buildings constructed between the 1960’s and 1980’s is investigated. Seismic safety concerns exist because these buildings were generally designed for demands less than current design codes. However, a retrofit measure that addresses safety but neglects financial losses due to downtime for structural or nonstructural repairs does not fully mitigate the hazard faced by an owner. This investigation focuses on the economic advantage gained by retrofitting existing steel moment frame buildings in the 30 to 40 story range. Post-earthquake disruption and repairs may be preemptively reduced through structural upgrades to be analyzed by the REU intern. Evaluation of these upgrades will be conducted with state of the art analysis software to estimate structural and nonstructural damage and business interruption losses. These tools will develop programing and data processing skills through exposure to nonlinear dynamic time history analysis. The REU intern will participate in meetings with the project’s industry advisory panel, which includes prominent structural engineers from firms throughout California.

  • Location: University of California, Berkeley
  • Topic: Seismic Performance Assessment of Pre-1988 Steel Braced Frames
  • Emphasis: Structural Engineering
  • Mentors: Professor Stephen Mahin, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Number of Internship projects: 1

The seismic safety of existing buildings is typically less than structures designed according to modern design codes. As such, many owners are electing to retrofit or otherwise upgrade their structures to not only be safer but to suffer fewer future earthquake losses associated with repair of damage and disruption. In this study, a prototype concentrically braced steel frame building designed according to pre-1988 building codes will be analyzed to assess the extent of damage expected for various intensities of earthquake shaking (hazard levels), and retrofit strategies will be developed and evaluated. The REU intern will participate in the development of retrofit and upgrade strategies, and in carrying out assessments of ability of the upgrades to mitigate damage and disruption. State of the art tools for analysis and loss estimation, including structural and nonstructural damage, and business interruption losses, will be utilized. The REU program participant will also have the opportunity to participate in the preparation and testing at the NEES@Berkeley laboratory. Nearly full-scale specimens representing as-built and retrofit braced frames will be tested. The REU participant will learn laboratory research techniques such as specimen design, test preparation, experimental data collection and analysis, and image post-processing. The participant will also participate in regular videoconferences with researchers at the University of Washington, and at the National Taiwan University who are collaborating on the research.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The selection team will evaluate the applicants based on their interest in earthquake engineering, past educational performance, writing skills, and completion of necessary coursework relevant to specific summer research projects. The selection team will then assign the selected students to specific projects and research sites based on the student’s ability, interest, and site preferences. Applications by women and individuals who are from underrepresented groups are encouraged, although all qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

Students are required to be available for the entire 10 week session from June 17 – August 23, 2013. Start and end dates for the program are not negotiable.

BEFORE COMPLETING THE APPLICATION BELOW, please be sure to assemble all necessary information because you cannot save your application entries to finish at a later date and must complete the application form in one attempt. Download a blank copy of the application form to view the exact questions asked in the web-based application form.

Items necessary to submit your application:
  • - Contact Information (Name, Email, Phone Number, Current Address)
  • - Citizenship
  • - Current and Former University Information: name, location, start date, end date, major field of study, cumulative GPA, major GPA, expected graduation date, expected degree
  • - Unofficial Transcripts for your current university (Please use the following naming convention for your file: Lastname_Firstname_transcript.pdf ) Project Selection (ranking of top 3 projects)
  • - Short Essay #1: Describe your ranking selections above. Are there any educational or logistical reasons why you chose those projects? (max 200 words)
  • - Short Essay #2: Describe how your education and work experience to date have prepared you to complete research related to earthquake engineering and earthquake resilient communities. Also discuss the strengths that you will bring to your research project if selected. (max 300 words)
  • - Short Essay #3: Provide a statement of purpose that describes your academic and career goals. How would this internship research experience help you achieve these goals? (max 300 words)
  • - Resume (Please use the following naming convention for your file: Lastname_Firstname_resume.pdf )
  • - Contact information for two references: one faculty member or academic advisor, and one supervisor or someone for whom you have recently worked.
  • - Demographic information (optional)

Complete and Submit the 2013 PEER Summer Internship Application Form

Application review begins: Monday, February 25, 2013 at 12:00 pm (noon) Pacific Time.
UPDATE: Applicant Notifications will be sent out by April 5!

The application form will remain open until all positions are filled, however applicants are strongly encouraged to apply before the application review begins.

MORE QUESTIONS?

Visit the 2013 PEER Internship Program FAQ web page.
Visit the PEER Internship Program web page for more general information and links to other 2013 internship opportunities.

Funding for the 2013 PEER Internship Program is provided National Science Foundation under Grant No. EEC-1063138. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).