Howard University News November 7, 2014 Protecting Digital Data from Earthquakes is Professor’s Passion Damage from earthquakes pose a substantial risk to the world’s communication technology and the essential digital data of individuals everywhere. Finding ways to reduce the risk is the research aim of Claudia Marin-Artieda, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Howard University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. During the 2011 Virginia earthquake, Marin-Artieda recalled trying to reach with family members and friends and becoming concerned when she couldn’t get through. This sparked her research interests. She became focused on the problem of how to effectively protect communications systems during earthquakes. Main-Artieda quickly followed up with a research grant proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Later that year, she was awarded $400,000 to study the problem. Marin-Artieda recently completed her first phase of the research at the Structural Engineering Simulation Laboratory at the University at Buffalo, a campus of the State University of New York. The facility at the University at Buffalo is one of the few large-scale earthquake simulation testing facilities in the country. The professor’s goal is to create what she describes as “passive seismic protection” platforms that could be used for a wide-range of tech equipment to reduce earthquake damage to important communication systems when a seismic event hits. “Earthquakes impact communities everywhere,” she said. “Just because we don’t frequently have major earthquakes, it doesn’t mean they won’t happen. If we don’t prepare, how will we be able to recover data that is lost when an earthquake destroys a central communication system?” For more information, contact Sholnn Freeman, Office of University Communications, 202-238-2394, or sholnn.freeman@howard.edu<mailto:sholnn.freeman@howard.edu> SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.