Keynote Speakers
JoAnn Browning
The University of Texas at San Antonio
JoAnn Browning is the Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair and Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Previously she served as Interim Vice President for Research (2023-2025) and Dean of UTSA’s Margie & Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (2014-2023) at UTSA and spent 16 years on the faculty at the University of Kansas (1998-2014).
Dr. Browning has helped lead the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Network Coordination Office since 2015. Dr. Browning is a Professional Engineer in Kansas and Texas and currently chairs American Concrete Institute 318 Building Code Committee. She also Chairs the U.S. National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS) Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC).
Purdue University named Dr. Browning a Distinguished Woman Scholar (2015) and bestowed a Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award (2024). In 2018 she received the San Antonio Business Journal Women’s Leadership Award, in 2024 she was elected to the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2024 was named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Misko Cubrinovski
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Misko Cubrinovski is Professor of Geotechnical and Earthquake Engineering at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. He holds a BSc degree in Civil Engineering, MSc degree in Earthquake Engineering, and a PhD degree in Geotechnical Engineering (University of Tokyo, 1993). His career involves over 40 years of work in the academia and the profession in Macedonia (1983-1990), Japan (1990-2005), and New Zealand (since 2005).
His research interests and expertise are in geotechnical earthquake engineering, focusing particularly on soil liquefaction, seismic response of earth structures and soil-structure interaction. Cubrinovski has over 400 publications and has worked as a geotechnical specialist and advisor on over 50 significant engineering projects. His honours include the Ishihara Lecture Award from ISSMGE, Ralph B. Peck Award and Norman Medal from ASCE, Director’s Award from Taisei Corporation and University of Canterbury Research Medal.
Cubrinovski is one of the principal authors of the NZ Guidelines for Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Practice and is member of the Seismic Risk Working Group updating the Earthquake Loading Standard of NZ. He is the immediate past chair of the International Committee on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).
Masayoshi Nakashima
Kyoto University, Japan
Masayoshi Nakashima is a Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University and earned a Ph.D. from Lehigh University, USA (1981). He worked for Kyoto University since 1992. During his tenure, he also served as Director of E-Defense, a research institution that houses one of the world’s largest shaking tables. He retired from Kyoto University in 2017. Since then, he has worked as President of Kobori Research Complex (KRC) Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Tokyo.
His primary research areas are: (1) the analysis and design of steel building structures, and (2) the development of experimental techniques to simulate the earthquake response of structures. He, together with his students, has published over 200 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals. In recognition of these accomplishments, he has received multiple awards and honors from academic and professional organizations worldwide.
He served as Director of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University, President of the Architectural Institute of Japan, President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering, and Chief Editor of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.
Reid Zimmerman
KPFF Consulting Engineers, USA
Reid Zimmerman is a Technical Director and licensed Structural Engineer with KPFF Consulting Engineers, a structural and civil engineering firm in the United States. Reid has focused his career on evolving solutions to structural engineering practice including seismic isolation, energy dissipation, rocking/re-centering systems, performance-based design, and functional recovery, particularly for mission-critical structures.
He enjoys discussing performance objectives with owners and realizing innovative structures which meet their intended purpose. Reid regularly collaborates with universities and other organizations to bring emerging research into practice and to solve unique, project-specific challenges. He is a member of many U.S. code committees including for ASCE 7, ASCE 41 and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Provisions, having chaired or currently chairing subcommittees on seismic isolation and energy dissipation, post-tensioned timber rocking walls, and functional recovery. Reid is looking forward to returning to New Zealand and attending his second NZSEE conference.
Plenary Speakers
Brendon Bradley
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Brendon is a Professor of Earthquake Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His areas of interest include engineering seismology, strong ground motion prediction, seismic response analysis of structural and geotechnical systems, and seismic performance and loss estimation methods. He obtained his Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in 2007 and PhD in 2009.
Prior to joining the University of Canterbury in 2010, Brendon worked at GNS Science in Wellington, New Zealand, and as a post-doctoral fellow at Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan. Brendon was a co-developer of QuakeCoRE: The NZ Centre for Earthquake Resilience, serving as its Deputy Director (2016-2028), and subsequently as Director (2019-2024). Brendon is editor for EERI’s Earthquake Spectra and an editorial board member for the Bulletin of the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering. Brendon has also acted as director of Bradley Seismic Limited since 2010, providing consulting services in several areas of earthquake engineering nationally and internationally. He is an author of the influential book “Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis” published by Cambridge University Press (2021). Brendon has received several notable awards or acknowledgements for work with collaborators, including, the 2012 Ivan Skinner EQC award for the advancement of earthquake engineering in NZ; 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship; 2014 Shamsher Prakash Foundation Research Award; 2014 NZ Engineering Excellence Awards Young Engineer of the Year; 2015 University of Canterbury Teaching Award; 2015 TC203 Young Researcher Award; 2015 EERI Shah Innovation Prize; 2016 ASCE Norman Medal; 2016 NZ Prime Minister’s Emerging Scientist Prize, 2019 NZ Geotechnical Society Geomechanics Award; 2021 ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture Award, 2023 University of Canterbury Research Medal, and 2025 Royal Society of NZ RJ Scott Medal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Engineering New Zealand, and the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering.
Conference Manager :
Beatrice Giorgi
+64 4 384 1511
nzsee2026@confer.co.nz
www.confer.co.nz
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