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Andrew J Makdisi, PhD, PE

Andrew is a Research Civil Engineer at the Geologic Hazards Science Center in Golden, Colorado, specializing in hazard and risk characterization as it relates to earthquake-induced soil liquefaction and ground failure. 

Andrew joined the USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center in 2021; his work at the survey focuses on primarily on probabilistic modeling of liquefaction-related hazards, the use of non-traditional ground motion intensity measures in seismic hazard and risk analyses, and the incorporation of liquefaction-related risk into building codes and design standards.

Andrew received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2012, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 2016 and 2021, respectively. During his Masters studies, he spent nine months in 2015 as a Valle scholarship recipient and visiting researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, and was an EERI/FEMA NEHRP Graduate Fellow in Earthquake Hazards Reduction during the 2019-2020 academic year.

His professional experience includes two years as a senior staff geotechnical engineer in Seattle, Washington, and one year as a staff engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He served as co-president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) student chapter at UW, and sits on the EERI Board of Directors for the Washington professional chapter. He participated in the EERI Learning From Earthquakes Travel Study Program in New Zealand in 2019. 

Education

2021 Ph.D., University of Washington, Civil & Environmental Engineering

2016 M.S., University of Washington, Civil & Environmental Engineering

2012 B.S., University of California at Davis, Civil & Environmental Engineering