A special Summit Science Prize has been awarded to

Middle East Technical University
Bosphorus University
Istanbul Technical University

on the occasion of the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Istanbul, Turkey, on 28 and 29 June 2004.for their achievements in research on alleviating the consequences of earthquakes, and for their work in fostering cooperation between NATO and Partner countries.

At the Middle East Technical University, Professor Guney Özcebe, and his team at the Department of Civil Engineering in Ankara, have, with NATO support, successfully developed methodologies for vulnerability assessment of existing buildings, and for rehabilitation of buildings, sharing knowledge with institutions in Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. The results of the project provide data for engineers to decide if a building is potentially unsafe or vulnerable to earthquakes, to allow in-built structural seismic safeguards in advance of an earthquake. Extensive information is provided on new techniques and innovative materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers in strengthening building components in-situ. At the University’s Disaster Management Research Center, Professor Polat Gulkan and his team have also upgraded part of the national strong ground motion recording network, with NATO support, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Disaster Affairs and in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey and the University of Nevada, Reno, USA. This has resulted in twenty state-of-the-art earthquake recording stations which are now fully operational. Young geophysicists and engineers responsible for operating the stations have been trained in the United States and Turkey.

2004 NATO Summit Science Prize