About StEER
VISION
StEER builds societal resilience by generating new knowledge on the performance of the built environment through impactful post-disaster reconnaissance disseminated to affected communities.
MISSION
CAPACITY
promoting community-driven standards, best practices, and training for field reconnaissance
COORDINATION
coordinating early, efficient and impactful event responses
COLLABORATION
broadly engaging communities of research, practice and policy to accelerate learning from disasters
StEER deepens the structural natural hazards engineering (NHE) community’s capacity for reliable post-event reconnaissance through:
OUR
COMMUNITY
StEER broadly serves any and all stakeholders invested in or affected by the performance of buildings and other infrastructure, including academia, public and private sectors, government, non-profit, and public-at-large. While StEER directly funds only US academic researchers on our Field Assessment Structural Teams (FASTs), we engage the broader community through our Virtual Assessment Structural Teams (VASTs), unfunded collaborations and dissemination of data and findings to a wide range of individuals and organizations responding to and affected by disasters.
Under the banner of NHERI's CONVERGE node, StEER works closely with the wider Extreme Events Reconnaissance consortium including the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association and the networks for Nearshore Extreme Events Reconnaissance (NEER), Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Extreme Events Research (ISEEER) and Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER), as well as the NHERI RAPID equipment facility and NHERI DesignSafe CI, long-term home to all StEER data and reports.
Note that StEER does not conduct hypothesis-driven research or support the research agenda of any specific researcher. StEER’s mandate is to collect perishable data swiftly and systematically in order to inform the community's continued study of a disaster through subsequent in-depth data collection that addresses specific research questions (see FAQs for details).
HAZARDS
StEER focuses on natural hazards causing structural damage to the built environment, including:
HURRICANES
TORNADOES
EARTHQUAKES
TSUNAMIS
OUR
LEADERSHIP
Collectively, StEER's leadership brings experience in responding to a wide range of disasters both domestically and internationally. Associate Directors respectively liaise with the earthquake, wind and coastal hazard communities, as well as advancing the cross-cutting theme of data standards to deliver support for the diverse needs of the structural engineering reconnaissance community.
DIRECTORS & RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
ADVISORY BODIES
Coastal Advisory Body
HERMANN Fritz
DENIS Istrati
JAMES Kaihatu
ANDREW Kennedy
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TORI Tomiczek
Earthquake Advisory Body
CARLOS A. Arteta
ERICA Fischer
SELIM Gunay
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JANISE Rodgers
HALIL Sezen
Working Group:
Automate
Wind Advisory Body
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LEIGHTON Cochran
KURT Gurley
FRANK Lombardo
STEPHANIE Pilkington
SAMANTHA Krautwurst
Working Group:
Damage Quantification
STEERING COMMITTEE
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REGIONAL NODES
NE
SE
GL
SC
NC
SW
NW
Carib.
Pac-I
AK
MEMBERS
DIRECTORS & RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
ADVISORY BOARDS
Working Group:
Damage Quantification
ERICA Fischer
JANISE Rodgers
HALIL Sezen
SELIM Gunay
CARLOS A. Arteta
DENIS Istrati
ANDREW Kennedy
TORI Tomiczek
JAMES Kaihatu
HERMANN Fritz
Working Group:
Automate
Coastal Advisory Body
Earthquake Advisory Body
Wind Advisory Body
LEIGHTON Cochran
FRANK Lombardo
SAMANTHA Krautwurst
STEPHANIE Pilkington
KURT Gurley
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
STEERING COMMITTEE
REGIONAL NODES
SW
NW
Carib.
GL
SC
NC
Pac-I
AK
NE
SE
MEMBERS
TIMELINE
LEVEL 1
1.1 Network Activation: Triggered by the StEER leadership team (currently composed of its Director and four Associate Directors) in consultation with relevant Hazard Advisory Boards, generally within 24-48 hours of the event. Decision is based upon the event satisfying the majority of the Level 1 Activation Criteria.
1.2 Team Formation: Call for participation is released to members by email and Slack. Those registering on the Google Form are included on the Virtual Assessment Structural Team (VAST) and invited to a private slack channel for the response. A VAST Lead is appointed along with a dedicated editor for each major section of the Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR).
1.3 Virtual Assessment: VAST members compile imagery from the event in the Media Repository with detailed descriptions and commentary. Section editors review the repository and bring the most notable commentary and visuals into the PVRR. These efforts typically span a week.
1.4 Product Release: Level 1 closes with the publication of the Media Repository and PVRR on DesignSafe, each with their own DOI. Individuals contributing to the Media Repository will be included as authors on its DOI; All individuals whose media repository contributions are used in the PVRR also receive authorship on the PVRR’s DOI. The availability of these products are announced to members by email and Slack.
LEVEL 2
2.1 Network Escalation: Decision is informed by the information in the PVRR, based upon the event satisfying the majority of the Level 2 Activation Criteria. The decision is announced at the time of the Level 1 product release.
2.2 Imagery Collection: A small scout team is formed from members expressing interest with the primary responsibility of scouting affected areas and capturing street-level panoramic imagery. These Field Assessment Structural Teams (FAST) complete Daily Summaries on their impressions and level of access. Data collection typically includes within a week.
2.3 Product Development: The collected imagery is hosted on a web viewer for ease of access and prepared for long-term curation on DesignSafe. Impressions from Daily Summaries are compiled into an Early Access Reconnaissance Report (EARR).
2.4 Product Release: Level 2 closes with the publication of the EARR on DesignSafe, with its own DOI. All FAST members receive authorship on the EARR’s DOI. The availability of this product is announced to members by email and Slack.
LEVEL 3
3.1 Network Escalation: Decision is informed by the information in the EARR, based upon the event satisfying the majority of the Level 3 Activation Criteria. The decision is announced at the time of the Level 2 product release.
3.2 Mission Design: StEER Leadership and the relevant advisory board will design the objectives, sampling strategy, and geographies for the mission. One or more Field Assessment Structural Teams (FAST) will be formed from interested Grade 3 or 4 members based on expertise and availability, adding at least one Grade 2 trainee. The number of participants and even phases of the data collection will vary, based on the objectives. Mission design will also consider relevant assessment technologies, including use of RAPID EF hardware.
3.3 Data Collection: Mission strategy is executed by FAST in possibly multiple phases, possibly spanning weeks.
3.4 Data Enrichment & Quality Control: Data is enriched and quality controlled by StEER Data Librarians in preparation for long-term curation on DesignSafe, under a unique DOI that includes all FAST members involved in data collection. The dataset is accompanied by a Data Report to aid in the re-use of data by others.
3.5 Product Development: In parallel, FAST members participate in the authorship of a Data Paper to be published in an archival version to overview the mission and introduce the dataset and key learnings.
3.6 Product Release: The availability of these products are announced to members by email and Slack.
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What type of events does StEER respond to?StEER’s mandate is to investigate structural performance under natural hazards that emphasizes those causing structural damage to the built environment, generally due to dynamic load effects. This would include hurricanes (wind, wave and storm surge), tornadoes and other wind events, earthquakes, and tsunamis. While wind-driven rain is considered as part of the cascading hazards encountered in wind events like hurricanes, other forms of water damage due to inland flooding are generally not targeted by StEER. Similarly while cascading hazards such as fire after earthquakes could be investigated as part of an earthquake response, StEER would not respond to a wildfire event in and of itself. As StEER operates under the NHERI Converge, its primary focus is natural hazards. With that being said, manmade hazards, including blasts, are under the purview of “extreme events” and could be very important for understanding structural performance and effectiveness of mitigation strategies. Thus StEER remains open to exploring the precedent for response to a blast or other man-made hazard and would make this decision in consultation with its NSF Program Director.
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How does StEER choose what events to respond to?StEER uses it Activation and Escalation criteria to determine the appropriate response level for a given event, in consultation with the relevant Hazard Advisory Board(s). See Escalation Criteria
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When is StEER going to deploy after a significant hazard event?As StEER aspires to generate early and impactful knowledge from disasters, its prompt mobilization is essential. Within 24 to 48 hours of a significant hazard event, StEER will initiate its Level 1 response. Level 2 responses will deploy a FAST as soon as possible, but with care not to disrupt rescue and recovery functions. With full respect for curfews and access restrictions, StEER may field Level 2 FASTs as early as 2-3 days after the event when it is able to leverage members in close proximity to the affected area, but more typically within 5 days in situations when FAST must travel greater distances or when access has been significantly impeded.
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What is StEER’s funding source?Currently StEER is funded by a 3-year NSF Grant from NSF (CMMI 2103550) which supports StEER’s basic operations with funding for member deployments, as well as research and development funds for new capabilities.
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How does StEER relate to the traditional NSF RAPID program?StEER event response is independent of the NSF RAPID program, in that the decision to respond to a given event, the budget to be allocated, and the members to be involved are all determined by StEER (though StEER maintains close communications with NSF program directors throughout this process). As StEER is interested in swift event response and dissemination of preliminary findings with a very targeted strategy for sampling damage in the affected area, it does not have the mandate or capacity for comprehensive response to a major disaster or to undertake hypothesis-driven research. The StEER Early Access Reconnaissance Report (EARR) released shortly after its first Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST-1) concludes, identifies recommended areas for future study. These are topics StEER believes warrant further investigation, possibly through a RAPID grant. NSF works closely with StEER to avoid duplication of effort and expects to see hypothesis-driven research, ideally informed by these recommendations from StEER (with direct citation to the EARR). StEER does not directly influence the awarding of NSF RAPID grants, other than making our recommendations known to program directors and informing them of who is participating on our FASTs. Also, there is precedent for individuals participating on a StEER FAST successfully leveraging that experience (and the research questions it revealed) to secure additional NSF RAPID funds for a more intensive, hypothesis-driven investigation in the affected area.
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Will StEER fund my research group to collect perishable data?StEER does not conduct hypothesis-driven research or support the research agenda of any specific researcher. StEER’s mandate is to collect perishable data swiftly and systematically in order to inform the continued study of a disaster through subsequent in-depth data collection that addresses specific research questions. While involvement in StEER or the examination of StEER data and reports undoubtedly helps to illuminate new research questions, these questions should be addressed through a researcher’s own follow-on proposal to NSF (through mechanisms such as the RAPID grants) or other agencies. (See FAQ question above). However, StEER does encourage outreach to its leadership to raise awareness about an event worthy of response and a member's willingness to lead a virtual or field assessment structural team in that response, particularly if that member is in close proximity to the impacted area. In such instances, please post a message to the StEER slack channel or send an email directly to StEER at admin@steer.network.
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How do I join StEER?To review minimum eligibility requirements and complete the membership form, please visit https://www.steer.network/membership. While StEER engages broadly, its core membership is those with formal training/experience as structural engineers or an allied field of natural hazard engineering that can support structural engineering assessments of damage. StEER members are assigned a membership tier (Tier 1-4) based on their affiliation and prior experience. Membership tiers are re-assigned annually as members acquire greater experience and training in post-disaster reconnaissance.
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Must all StEER members have a DesignSafe account, and if so, how do I create that account?StEER uses DesignSafe’s Slack channel to coordinate its Field Assessment Structural Teams (FASTs) and Virtual Assessment Structural Teams (VASTs), which must move swiftly in the hours following a major event. To avoid delays that could impact the response, StEER requests that those interested in membership first create an account on DesignSafe (https://www.designsafe-ci.org/account/register/) and ensure their Slack account is activated. Please note that Slack activation is not automatic. It is a separate process that is initiated by email when you create a DesignSafe account (learn more at https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/slack-online-collaboration/). If you already have a DesignSafe account but never used Slack (or possibly never activated your Slack account), please contact DesignSafe support team to verify that your Slack account is active.
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What are the expectations of a Virtual Assessment Structural Team (VAST) member?Virtual Assessment Structural Teams (VASTs) serve a number of vital roles for StEER. While StEER members of all Tiers participate on VASTs, VASTs serve as an important venue for Tier 1 members to build up their experience to eventually move into Field Assessment Structural Teams (FASTs) as trainees. As VAST participation is more flexible and voluntary, the VAST is generally larger than the actual number of members contributing to each of the following VAST activities: VASTs lead the Level 1 responses, assembling information on the hazard characteristics and preliminary estimates of impacts to affected communities to author the Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR). This report is curated on DesignSafe, with a DOI will all contributing VAST members as authors, and is circulated widely through the StEER membership and NHERI/wider hazards community. VASTs may continue to support Level 2 and 3 responses by remotely reviewing performance assessments and other data collected by the FAST to support the authorship of the Early Access Reconnaissance Report (EARR), which is similarly curated on DesignSafe, with a DOI will all contributing VAST and FAST members as authors, and is circulated widely through the StEER membership and NHERI/wider hazards community. After all FAST data collection has concluded, VAST members may assist with the review and analysis of the collected data to generate conference or journal publications.
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May Virtual Assessment Structural Team (VAST) members also serve in the Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) for the same event?Participation in the VAST for an event in no way precludes participation in the subsequent FAST and may even prepare the StEER member better for field data collection in a given event. However, since a membership Tier of 2 or higher is required for FAST participation, not all VAST members would meet the eligibility requirements for the FAST.
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How many participants constitute the average Virtual Assessment Structural Team (VAST)?There is no limit on the number of participants on a VAST; in fact, the efforts are greatly expedited as more members participate. Size of VASTs depends on the interest and magnitude of the event, with recent events ranging from a half dozen to two dozen VAST members.
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What are the expectations of a Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) member?Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) members are responsible for collecting valuable perishable data as part of StEER event responses. FAST members are generally assigned particular roles based on experience, expertise and capacity, including FAST Lead, as well as members designated to conduct particularly assessments with specialized equipment, e.g., UAV operator. FASTs are expected to actively participate in the pre-deployment planning, reviewing the StEER handbook and working with their FAST colleagues and StEER leadership to plan the mission, secure flights, ground transport and lodging, and prepare provisions, supplies and equipment needed for the assessment. FAST members interface closely with key stakeholders and the affected public in their response, so StEER expects FAST members to comply with stated policies and represent StEER and NSF well in these interactions, particularly with individual building owners. Given that StEER needs to broadly sample performance and work in coordination with others responding to the event, it will set specific objectives for the mission, with targeted geographies. FAST members are expected to collect data and coordinate their investigations on the ground to support these objectives, prioritizing these over their own research questions, though research interests between FAST members and StEER generally closely align. Given the speed with which StEER hopes to share its findings, FAST members must use StEER’s data collection platforms and standards, agree to participate in the preparation of Daily Summaries, and participate (to the extent feasible) in the authorship/review of the Early Access Reconnaissance Report (EARR) upon review (for which they receive full authorship with DOI). It is further expected FAST members will assist with data curation tasks following their mission, as requested, such as ensuring data is transferred to DesignSafe and supplying relevant metadata or information needed for the Data Report to ensure the data can be re-used by the community. FAST members are also invited to jointly author conference papers and journal articles on their mission and any data collection or analysis they choose to continue following the event.
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What funding is provided for Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) members?For FAST support, the level of budget allocated will be commensurate with projected costs of travel to the field site. Due to the shortage of accommodations and transport near impacted areas, this allocation presumes sharing of rooms (respecting gender distribution of the team) and vehicles. In both cases, StEER members will be reimbursed for actual travel expenses according to policies of the Lead Institution (University of Notre Dame) and capped at this budget allocation for that event. Costs in excess of the budget allocation are the responsibility of the individual traveler. Eligible travel expenses include personal vehicle mileage, vehicle rental (including gas and fees), coach/economy airfare or other forms of ground transport, lodging and per diem. Per Diem allowance is based on the GSA (domestic) or Department of State (international) rate for the destination. No receipts are required to claim per diem, which is assumed to offset the cost of food, telecommunications (data plan on personal phone running relevant mobile applications), and other incidentals associated with travel to the workshop/meeting or conduct of field work. Note that when meals are provided by StEER during the workshop/meeting, then per diem amounts will be reduced accordingly. Receipts are required for all travel expenses, except for per diem, and must show evidence of the amount paid (normally through a zero balance or amount charged to a credit card) and not just the invoiced amount. In addition to individual travel allocations, FASTs may make use of NHERI RAPID EF equipment, in which case equipment rental, shipping from the RAPID EF and indirect costs will be paid directly by StEER. A FAST member will normally need to ship the equipment back to the RAPID EF and StEER will directly reimburse these shipping costs to that individual. As reimbursements will be made directly to each StEER member (not their university) following the event, members should use personal credit card/funds for all bookings. Following the event response or workshop/meeting, StEER will circulate a Google Form to all participants collecting required information and receipts for typical expense classes. Reimbursements will require a mailing address along with citizenship status. Non-US citizens will need to provide a copy of their passport and other visa/entry documents. This information will be maintained in a secure file and deleted once the reimbursement has been issued. Reimbursements will be processed by the Lead Institution (University of Notre Dame) within 30 days of the event or workshop/meeting.
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Can I join a Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) if I am self-funded?While Field Assessment Structural Teams (FASTs) have had unfunded/self-funded collaborators in the field, this is generally determined on a case by case basis. Because logistics can be very difficult to arrange after major disasters, FAST size is often constrained by the available number of seats in rental cars and number of beds/couches in hotels/rental homes, rather than budget. In cases where there is availability, StEER has included 1-2 self-funded personnel. These individuals are then embedded within the StEER FAST and indistinguishable from other team members (stay in the same accommodations, etc.), except for the funding issue. In other instances, StEER has shared its plan for fieldwork with other interested self-funded groups, who will possibly coordinate in the field with StEER to jointly collect data, but handle their own logistics. Working together, these teams may still adopt StEER’s data collection platforms and standards and share the workload collaboratively to support StEER mission objectives. This is a more feasible prospect for StEER, as it reduces the stresses of securing accommodation and transport for a large team. Finally, anyone can adopt StEER’s data collection platforms and collect data in compliance with the StEER standards, so even if self-funded, StEER hopes this platform can minimally help self-funded researchers collect consistent, high-quality data. Visit fulcrumapp.com to access the App used currently for performance assessments.
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Is preference given to Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) applicants who can contribute to their own funding?While StEER’s primary objective is to field a team with the optimal blend of experience, expertise and capacity to collect the data anticipated in a given event, StEER has limited resources and can grow participation across the community at a faster rate when cost-sharing is available. In past StEER missions, Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST) members have been funded by a range of StEER, other NSF or other agency funds, as well as defraying costs through the use of university vehicles, etc.The ability to financially contribute to the mission objectives will be given due consideration in building out teams, though would not be expected as a prerequisite for participation.
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Who can participate on a StEER Field Assessment Structural Team (FAST)?StEER members at Tiers 3 and 4 are generally invited to participate in Field Assessment Structural Teams (FASTs). See https://www.steer.network/membership for additional details. FAST members are selected by the StEER Leadership team based upon availability, expertise, capabilities and proximity to the event site. However, in order to grow participation among early career researchers, StEER will reserve one trainee slot on each FAST for a Tier 2 StEER member. StEER members at Tier 4 are generally appointed as FAST Leads.
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How many participants constitute the average Field Assessment Team Structural (FAST)?At Level 2, FASTs are small, generally 1-2 persons in a vehicle imaging data; multiple vehicles in such configurations may be employed for some events. At Level 3, the scale of the event response as well as the availability of accommodations and transport in the affected region will dictate team size. A response may leverage multiple teams of 2-4 persons working in parallel or series. It is not uncommon for a large event to have a dozen FAST members.
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Will StEER fund my research team to collect perishable data?StEER does not conduct hypothesis-driven research or support the research agenda of any specific researcher. StEER’s mandate is to collect perishable data swiftly and systematically in order to inform the continued study of a disaster through subsequent in-depth data collection that addresses specific research questions. While involvement in StEER or the examination of StEER data and reports undoubtedly helps to illuminate new research questions, these questions should be addressed through a researcher’s own follow-on proposal to NSF (through mechanisms such as the RAPID grants) or other agencies. However, StEER does encourage outreach to its leadership to raise awareness about an event worthy of response and a member's willingness to lead a virtual or field assessment structural team in that response, particularly if that member is in close proximity to the impacted area. In such instances, please post a message to the StEER slack channel or send an email directly to StEER at admin@steer.network.
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How does StEER relate to other parts of NHERI and other “EERs”?With the arrival of NHERI CONVERGE, the first-ever Extreme Events Research Leadership Corps has been formed, which is dedicated to advancing the science and conduct of reconnaissance research. StEER is one member of this Leadership Corps, along with several NHERI sites and the other Extreme Events Reconnaissance Associations/Networks listed at https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/. These groups work together to exchange information and best practices, as well to jointly respond to events when appropriate. In this regard, StEER can be viewed as a part of the Converge node within NHERI. The Leadership Corps includes DesignSafe-CI, the RAPID EF, and the Network Coordination Office, which StEER works closely with in its operations. The RAPID EF and DesignSafe-CI are crucial partners in the StEER’s data collection, processing and curation workflows. StEER also partners with the NHERI SimCenter to support inventory generation and regional simulation objectives using StEER data for machine learning and validation tasks. StEER is also a partner with the new NICHE facility, currently in the design phase, providing field observations that can be used to recreate realistic storm scenarios in that future facility. Finally, StEER is promoting an observation-driven Science Plan that will further identify research questions illuminated by StEER event responses that can leverage one or more NHERI sites to conduct additional research and development necessary to advance mitigation technologies, revisions of codes and standards, and other tools to support risk assessment and mitigation. This includes the circulation of Research Opportunities identifying areas worthy of continued research and proposal development immediately after major events.
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How does StEER interface with the general public, legislators and municipal authorities?During its responses, StEER generally interfaces with the public (including affected homeowners) and authorities responsible for response and recovery actions to secure access, conduct assessments and collect eyewitness reports. StEER values these relationships and works to ensure its FAST members engage ethically and responsibly with these key stakeholders. More importantly, StEER aspires to translate the learnings from its missions broadly. StEER’s leadership has worked when possible to provide access to its data, briefings, expert opinions and reports to local, state, and federal officials. StEER also engages with local and national media outlets to share findings and promote more resilient construction practices. Finally, StEER’s new Reconnaissance engagement and communications hub (REACH) promotes direct outreach to affected communities and key stakeholders using tailored communications.