Prof. Haresh Shah (Emeritus), Stanford University in California, has been a pioneer in the field of risk analysis, earthquake engineering, and probabilistic methods for over 35 years. He has served Stanford University in many capacities, including Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering and Founding Director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center. He received his B.E. degree from Poona University in 1959 and M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1960 and 1963.
Prof. Shah has received many awards, including the John S. Bickley Gold Medal for Excellence Award from the International Insurance Society for his sustained and outstanding contributions to the insurance industry. Shah was given a unique award as the ‘Top Seismic Engineer of the 20th Century’ by the Applied Technology Council/Engineering News Record in 2006. He was also awarded the Alfred Alquist Medal from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute of America for his contribution towards earthquake safety for the global community. Most recently, Prof. Shah was awarded the EERI award, the 2013 Housner Medal for his lasting contributions to earthquake safety through the development and application of earthquake hazard reduction practices and policies.
He is the author of one book and has contributed chapters to many books and has been an author or co-author of more than 350 technical papers and reports. He has been the keynote speaker at many national and international conferences as well as in corporations. He is a member of several editorial boards of professional journals and societies.
Recently, Prof. Haresh Shah has been involved in many activities. He has been founder and senior advisor of Risk Management Solutions, Inc., founding director and chairman of World Seismic Safety Initiative, member of the board of trustees of the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, elected as honorary member of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute of USA, etc. He has also been elected as the honorary member of International Association of Earthquake Engineering.
