Travel Support to Attend the 14th International Conference on Wind Engineering, Port Alegre, Brazil, June 21-26, 2015

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The 14th International Conference on Wind Engineering, which will be held June 21 through 26, 2015, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is an important international conference that will attract key scientists, engineers, meteorologists, architects, urban planners, and students around the world conducting research and working in the wind engineering field. This international conference is held every four years to share the latest developments in wind engineering research and practice and foster international collaboration for addressing the complex challenges of windstorm disaster resilience. The conference program will include invited lectures and technical sessions on topics ranging from characterization of windstorm hazards to understanding, modeling, and mitigating the impact of these hazards on structures such as buildings and bridges. Annually, various regions of the United States experience severe windstorms such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Severe windstorm occurrences, such as the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, the 2011 Joplin, Missouri, and 2013 Moore, Oklahoma, tornadoes, and the 2012 Superstorm Sandy, have caused loss of life, widespread damage, and significant economic losses. This conference is important to the United Sates as it will enable U.S. wind engineering researchers to meet with international colleagues, share their research findings, and discuss strategies for mitigating windstorm risks. This award will support travel and meeting expenses for up to twelve early career engineering faculty and graduate students from the United States conducting wind engineering research to attend this conference and present their research findings. A selection committee and process will be established to recruit and select the U.S. participants, with an emphasis on recruiting individuals from underrepresented groups in engineering. Support for students will increase student participation in the conference and in the wind engineering field. Students from many countries will attend the meeting, and the U.S. student participants will benefit from the international exchange, the opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art research and practice in wind engineering, and interactions with senior researchers in their area of expertise. Support, such as through this travel grant, to early career faculty and graduate students will help build the next generation of wind engineers in the United States.