Andrew Seifried and Gabriel Toro of LCI were awarded a USGS research grant to study the calculation of site effects of strong ground motion. Each year the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, which is a part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, awards research grants to universities, geological surveys, and private institutions aimed at evolving earthquake science and ultimately reducing earthquake losses. Dr. Seifried and Dr. Toro’s project, “Improved estimation of site response using random vibration theory”, will introduce and evaluate an alternative approach to random vibration theory (RVT)-based site response analysis. The goal of this work is to reduce the unnecessary conservatism introduced by some other approaches in common use, while maintaining the computational efficiency that makes RVT advantageous in a site-specific or regional probabilistic seismic hazard analysis framework. Stay tuned for presentation of this research as it progresses!