Newswise — University of Arkansas earthquake expert Brady Cox is available to answer questions about the effects of the powerful earthquake in Haiti, which has caused massive destruction, including the collapse of many government offices in the capital Port-au-Prince. (Haitian president René Préval told The Miami Herald that the Haitian Parliament and national tax office collapsed, in addition to schools and hospitals.)
Cox, an assistant professor of civil engineering, specializes in geotechnical engineering issues related to earthquake loading, soil dynamics and nondestructive material characterization using stress waves. As a member of Geo-Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), a national organization that partners with the National Science Foundation to conduct reconnaissance efforts of extreme events, Cox participated in deployments immediately following the 2008 earthquake in Iwate-Miyagi, Japan, and the 2007 earthquake in Pisco, Peru. At each site, he was part of a team that documented construction failures. Cox was also deployed to collect shear-wave velocity data at strong motion stations and soil liquefaction sites following the 2006 earthquake in Kiholo Bay, Hawaii, the 2001 earthquake in Nisqually (Seattle), and the 1999 earthquake in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Cox’s research has focused on the development of a new test method for directly measuring the dynamic-pressure response and behavior of liquefiable soil deposits. He currently operates a Vibroseis shaker truck as part of his earthquake and dynamic material characterization research. He is a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Arkansas Governor’s Earthquake Advisory Council.
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