Speakers
Ayse Hortacsu
Ayse Hortacsu is Director of Projects at the Applied Technology Council (ATC), a structural engineering non-profit corporation headquartered in California. Over her 18 years at ATC, she has managed over 50 projects on various technical issues that result in high impact publications that summarize findings from analytical focused studies, propose changes to building codes, prioritize research and practice needs for improving community resilience, and present complex scientific concepts to lay audiences.
Her work at ATC also includes developing technical guidance to aid policy decisions by local and national governments, such as the preparation of the Tall Buildings Safety Strategy and supporting the Concrete Buildings Safety Program for the City and County of San Francisco. Her work on post-disaster safety evaluations include a report to the 115th United States Congress on post-disaster building safety evaluation guidance (FEMA P-2055), and the preparation of the updated ATC-20-4, Procedures for Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings. Her projects have earned several Excellence in Structural Engineering awards from the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) and Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC). She is currently serving as a co-Chair of the Learning from Earthquakes (LFE) program of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and has conducted post-earthquake field reconnaissance after Turkey-Syria (2023), Nepal (2015), Napa California (2014), Haiti (2010), and Izmit, Turkey (1999) earthquakes. She has served as a Director for EERI and SEAONC. Ayse is also the founder of Women in Structural Engineering and a founding member of the Structural Engineering Equity and Engagement (SE3) Committee of SEAONC.