General: Interdisciplinary research, synthesizing knowledge from Engineering, Earth Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Social Sciences, and aiming at solving advanced problems in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.

Areas: Earthquake Engineering, Engineering Seismology, Engineering Mechanics.

Topics: Structural health monitoring; Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis; Soil-structure interaction; Specification of earthquake resistant design criteria for structures; Rotational seismology; Wavelets; Strong ground motion; Full-scale testing of structures; Seismic monitoring arrays, instrumentation, data processing and databases; Near-source tsunami modelling; Wave propagation in structures, soils and sedimentary deposits; Assessment of damage and losses from earthquakes; Passive isolation of structures;

Awards and Honors

Named among Top 20 Authors Worldwide on the Special Topic – Earthquakes for the period 1993-2003 (one of only two earthquake engineers) by the Institute of Scientific Information (http://esi-topics.com/earthquakes/).

Named among Top 1% Authors Worldwide in Engineering for the period 1995-2011 by the Institute of Scientific Information

Named among “18 prominent women in civil engineering” selected worldwide as role models for aspiring female engineering students, in a paper by Yin Kiong Hoh published in the International Journal of Engineering Education, 2008).

Kapitza Gold Medal, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 2004.

Foreign Member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 2004.

Fall 1986 Best Teaching Assistant Award in the Dept. of Civil Engr., Univ. of Southern California.

Some More on Thompson ISI Rankings

USC ranked among Top 5 High-Impact U.S. Universities in Civil Engineering, 1998-2002, by Institute of Scientific Information (Thompson ISI) ( http://www.in-cites.com/research/2003/december_1_2003-1.html ).

Recent archived presentations

Todorovska MI. “Structural models for rational design, structural health monitoring and seismic risk and loss assessment”, Earthquake Hazards Seminar, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, 17 January, 2008. [ mms://video.wr.usgs.gov/ehz/2008/20080117.wmv ] http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/seminars/?year=2008.

Selected Research Projects, Results and Publications

Structural health monitoring

Earthquake damage detection in buildings and early warning based on wave travel times, NSF, PI: Todorovska, 08/01/08-07/31/10.

See also section on Structural Health Monitoring of the research group Selected Publication page.

Rotational seismology

Lee WHK, Celebi M, Todorovska MI, Diggles MF (Eds) (2007). Rotational Seismology and Engineering Applications: Online Proceedings for the First International Workshop, Menlo Park, California, U.S.A.—September 18 to 19, 2007, U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2007-1144. [http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1144]

Lee WHK, Celebi M, Todorovska MI, Igel H (Editors). Introduction to the Special Issue, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA), Special Issue on Rotational Seismology and Engineering Applications (May 2009).

International Working Group on Rotational Seismology: http://www.rotational-seismology.org/

Selection of comprehensive design criteria for highway bridges in the vicinity of and crossing active faults, (METRANS; 9/06-3/08)

Soil-structure interaction

Celebi M, Todorovska MI, Okawa I, Iiba M (Eds.) (2004). CD ROM Proc. Third UJNR Workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction, March 29-30, 2004, Menlo Park, California. [http://www.usc.edu/dept/civil_eng/Earthquake_eng/Proc/]

Okawa I, Iiba M, Celebi M, Todorovska MI, (Eds.) (2007). CD ROM Proc. Fourth UJNR Workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction, March 29-31, 2007, Tsukuba, Japan (in press).

See section on Full-scale testing and soil-structure interaction of the research group Selected Publication page.

Methodology for probabilistic assessment of permanent ground displacement across earthquake faults for the transportation system, (METRANS; 9/03-12/04)

Building periods for use in earthquake resistant design codes - earthquake response data compilation and analysis of time and amplitude variations (USGS; 12/04-12/05; 12/02-12/03)

Los Angeles Strong Motion Array (NSF; 5/03-5/05)

Third UJNR Workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction (NSF; 8/03-8/05)

Wavelets applications to seismic response studies (NSF).

Processing of 1999 Hector Mine earthquake records at USC strong motion stations (NSF).

Repeatability of site effects-1994 Northridge earthquake and its aftershocks (USGS)

Processing of 1994 Northridge earthquake records at USC strong motion stations (USGS/NSF)

Northridge Earthquake research

Simulation of Strong Earthquake Motion by Explosions
Experiments at the Lyaur Testing Site in Tajikistan: Video, Publication

Strong Motion Data Releases

USGS Building data of the Northridge earthquakes of January 17, 1994,and its aftershocks.

M_L=7.0 Hector Mine earthquake of October 16, 1999 recorded at stations of the Los Angeles Strong Motion Network
M_L=6.4 Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994, and five M>5 aftershocks.

Consulting Interests

Accelerogram data processing, Seismic hazard assessment, Site-specific design motions for earthquake resistant structures

Has served as a consultant to government agencies, oil industry, land developers, consulting firms, and law firms on strong ground motion, seismic hazard assessment, and strong motion data processing.

Last updated: 10/17/2013
Contact: mtodorov@usc.edu