Faculty Profiles

Professor Hutchinson is an earthquake engineering theoretician and experimentalist who has published significant papers in leading structural, civil, and earthquake engineering journals. In addition, she has creatively applied information technology to the evaluation of earthquake damage to structures, and her findings have been reported in publications that focus on computing, computer applications, instrumentation and measurement. Results from her soil-foundation structural analysis and seismic performance of non-structural building components have also helped in the design of these critical components.

Capsule Bio:

Tara Hutchinson received a Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from UC Davis in 2001 and was immediately named assistant professor at UC Irvine. Her research has focused on performance evaluation of structural and foundation components and systems. She also applies information technology to evaluate structural damage to civil infrastructure by earthquakes and other extreme environmental loads. An energetic educator, she received a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research, a Faribors Maseeh Teaching Award, and an Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award at UC Irvine. She was also a recipient of the National Science Foundation Career award in 2004. She serves on the board of directors of the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering, and is an editorial board member of Earthquake Spectra, a professional journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Civil (Structural & Geotechnical) Engineering, UC Davis (2001)
• M.S. in Civil (Structural) Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1995)
• B.S. in Civil Engineering, San Jose State University (1994)

Awards:

• Shamsher Prakash International Research Award (2009)
• Faribors Maseeh Teaching Award (UC Irvine: Spring 2006)
• Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award (UC Irvine: Spring 2006)
• NSF Career Award (Spring 2004)
• Chancellors Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research (UC Irvine: Spring 2004)
• NSF Japan Society for the Promotion of Science - Short-Term Fellowship Recipient (Summer 2003)
• ASCE Exceed (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Fellowships (Summer 2002 and 2003)
• EERI/FEMA Fellowship Recipient (2000-2001)
• GAANN Fellowship (UC Davis: 1998-1999)
• Wylie Fellowship (University of Michigan: 1994-1995)

Selected Publications:

• Raychowdhury, P. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2011). Performance of seismically loaded shearwalls on nonlinear shallow foundations. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics. (In Press).
• Chen, Z.-Q. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2011). Image-based Urban Structural Damage Detection. Journal of Remote Sensing. (In Press).
• Raychowdhury, P. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2010). Sensitivity of shallow foundation response to model input parameters. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE. 136(3): 538-541.
• Hutchinson, T.C. and Wang, T. (2010). Gas flow rate through damaged low aspect ratio shearwalls. Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). 26(3): 675-708.
• Hutchinson, T.C., Nastase, D., Kuester, F., and Doerr, K. (2010). Vibration Studies of Nonstructural Components and Systems within a Full-Scale Building. Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). 26(2): 327-347.
• Gajan, S., Raychowdhury, P., Hutchinson, T.C., Kutter, B.L., Stewart, J.P. (2010). Application and Validation of Practical Tools for Nonlinear Soil-Foundation Interaction Analysis. Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). 26(1): 111-129
• Chen, Z.-Q. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2010). Probabilistic Urban Structural Damage Classification Using Bitemporal Satellite Images. Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). 26(1): 87-109.
• Olsen, M.J., Kuester, F., Chang, B.J., and Hutchinson, T.C. (2010). Terrestrial Laser Scanning-based Structural Damage Assessment. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE. 24(3):264-272.
• Raychowdhury, P. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2009). Performance evaluation of a nonlinear Winkler-based shallow foundation model using centrifuge test results. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics. 38: 679-698.
• Hutchinson, T.C. and Wang, T. (2009). Evaluation of crack spacing in reinforced concrete shear walls. Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE. 135(5): 499-508.
• Harden, C.W. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2009). Beam-on-Nonlinear-Winkler-Foundation Modeling of Shallow, Rocking-dominated footings. Earthquake Spectra, Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). 25(2): 277-300.