In September 2009, KNUST and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) located at the State University of New York (Buffalo), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in Earthquake Engineering research. The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. K. K. Adarkwa and the Director of MCEER Prof. Andre Filiatrault, signed for their respective institutions.
The collaboration was initiated and coordinated by Dr. Joseph K. Quarshie, a California- based Professional Engineer trained in Canada and the United States. Also, Dr. Quarshie, is an alumnus of MCEER and a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute in the US. He is familiar with the stock of structures in Ghana and the neighboring West African states.
The MCEER is a national center of excellence established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the United State’s first National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research and has managed strategically-integrated research, education and outreach programs to improve earthquake resilience worldwide.
The MCEER has collaborative projects and programs with several countries around the world where earthquake resistant design of buildings and infrastructure systems is of concern. For example, MCEER collaborates with centers in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Mexico, and research units in other countries. Activities include workshops, joint research projects, scholarly exchanges, and center to center collaborations.
The MOU between KNUST and MCEER will allow for the establishment of collaboration, for initial exchange of ideas, sharing of materials and discussion towards the development of bi-national student/staff exchange visits to facilitate research and aid in the development of earthquake engineering discipline in Ghana.
Ghana will benefit from the vulnerability studies. Reciprocally, MCEER by assisting in development of such studies, will be enabled to broaden its knowledge base and contribute to the understanding of earthquake resilience issues around the world.
