In April 2012, a group of Civil Engineering Seniors from UTA participated in the national Annual Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) in Memphis, Tennessee. The primary objective of the Seismic Design Competition is to promote the study of earthquake engineering among undergraduate students and give them an opportunity to work on a hands-on project. The UTA students designed and constructed of a 5-ft scaled model of a 20 story building made of balsa wood, which was subjected to seismic loads induced by a shake table. The students were also required to analyze the structure, predict its performance under seismic loads, and give a presentation on their analysis, design, and construction of their building.

This was the first time that UTA participated in this competition held in conjunction with the EERI Annual meeting and the students found it to be a valuable learning experience. During the annual meeting they were able to interact with other students from around the world and learn about new innovations from experts in the field of Earthquake Engineering. The team was assisted by graduate advisors Mohammad Razavi and Ali Reza Sayah and their work was supervised by Dr. Andreas Stavridis, the faculty advisor of the EERI student chapter at UTA.

Students participating: Guillermo Palacios, Carlos Esparza, Sanjay Tamrakar, Anup Gajurel, Ruth Bribiesca, Giancarlo Grant, Scott O'Brien, and Brandy Martinez.