The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Engineering Laboratory (EL) seeks a graduate student interested in earthquake engineering for a student appointment in support of its role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The student will conduct research supervised by a research structural engineer within the NEHRP group at NIST.
The research project deals with investigating current simplified code provisions in ASCE 7 for approximating the fundamental period of a building. The student must hold an undergraduate degree in Civil, Architectural or Structural Engineering, which included courses in steel and concrete design and must have completed a graduate course in structural dynamics. A student with an undergraduate degree from an ABET accredited program and a good understanding of US building codes is preferred. A parametric study, directed by the research structural engineer, will be carried out to investigate the efficacy of the current code provisions and to make recommendations for any needed improvements.
The student will work at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD for approximately 10‐12 weeks. Once the student returns to their university, the results will be distilled into a formal NIST technical report and disseminated to the public. The results can form the basis for the student’s graduate thesis.
Applications for this position should be submitted through one of the following NIST Student Employment Programs:
Interested students are encouraged to apply for the program that best fits their qualifications and situation. This is a paid position with competitive compensation based on the student’s qualifications.
Additional information about the NEHRP group at NIST and the research project the student will be working on can be can be found at:
- – NEHRP @ NIST ‐ http://www.nist.gov/el/nehrp
- – Lateral loads research project ‐ http://www.nist.gov/el/nehrp/lfdp.cfm
Contact Dr. Matthew Speicher (speicher@nist.gov) if you have questions about the project that is the subject of the student appointment. Please refer to the STEP or SCEP links above for questions about the application process and NIST employment.