EERI and the SLC are deeply grateful to our 2025 SDC sponsors! Thank you to our SDC Anchor Sponsor, Computer & Structures, Inc. This event is made possible by the generous commitment of CSI, and the support of the other SDC sponsors: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Degenkolb, Kinemetrics, California Earthquake Authority, GeoVera, and the University of California at Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling.

Copyright © 2024 by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)

All rights reserved. No part of the Seismic Design Competition (SDC) rules, design guide, and other materials may be reproduced, quoted, or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the Executive Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Student Leadership Council (SLC). Use of SDC rules, design guide, and other materials must include appropriate attribution to EERI and the SLC. For questions relating to the use of SDC rules, design guide, and other materials, please contact eeri@eeri.org.

EERI and the SLC are deeply grateful to our 2025 SDC sponsors! Thank you to our SDC Anchor Sponsor, Computer & Structures, Inc. This event is made possible by the generous commitment of CSI, and the support of the other SDC sponsors: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Degenkolb, Kinemetrics, California Earthquake Authority, GeoVera, and the University of California at Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling.

Please click the button below for the most up-to-date information on starting an SDC team or EERI chapter!

This year, we are looking into providing full registration grants for new teams, which will provide free registration for up to 5 members per team! This offer would be worth up to $1,000! To qualify, teams must not have attended the competition in the last 3 years and must submit an application that would be open from mid-November to mid-December. 5-10 team registration grants may be available. We hope to confirm these details shortly and will release more information soon!

Need help planning the logistics of competing in SDC? Click the links below for some financial advice from previous competitors!

Finance Panel Slides: click here
AI Generated Notes of 11/7/2024 Finance Panel: click here

All 2025 SDC participants are asked to book housing accommodations that best suit their team’s needs. EERI will not be providing an event hotel room block to book with. All teams are responsible for finding and booking their own accommodations.

The SDC will be held at the ASUC Student Union: Martin Luther King Jr. Building on UC Berkeley’s campus. The address is 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720. Teams may need to transport their structures from their hotel to the MLK Jr. Building. Please consider this when booking your accommodations.

Below are a few nearby hotels at varying price points. Please note, that all estimated rates listed below are subject to change. Please view the hotel website for the most up-to-date pricing. Teams can also book through Airbnb or another vacation rental company.

Graduate by Hilton Berkeley
2600 Durant Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
5 minute walk to SDC venue (0.2 miles)

Estimated starting rate: $200 per night

Residence Inn Downtown
2121 Center St.
Berkeley, CA 94704
15 minute walk to SDC venue (0.6 miles)

Estimated starting rate: $300 per night (note, these rooms include a kitchen)

Hotel Shattuck Plaza
2086 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
15 minute walk to SDC venue (0.6 miles)

Estimated starting rate: $225 per night

Hi everyone!

A number of updates:

1. The list of accepted teams and Top 10 Proposals have been posted and can be seen in the Scores Tab. Congratulations to all the teams! Please note that the order of the Top 10 Proposals is in alphabetical order, not in order of scoring. Also, some teams have asterisks, meaning their acceptance is contingent upon the submission of the EERI student chapter application submission by January 31, 2025.
2. Mailer #1 was sent out today to team captains on January 13th. If your team captain has not received the email, please send us an email at slc@eeri.org with the subject line ‘Mailer 1 not received,’ and we will forward you the mailer.
   The 2025 Seismic Design Competition registration has a hard deadline of February 15th, 2025, and each team must register at least one member by this date to secure participation. Teams are limited to a maximum of 10 participants, including advisors and supporters, due to venue capacity constraints, which restrict the total number of attendees. If a team exceeds this limit, EERI will randomly cancel one of the team member’s registration to comply with these restrictions. EERI may allow the registration of additional members after the deadline if slots become available.
3. The T-shirt Competition Rules have been posted under Forms. Submissions are due Friday, February 7, and should be submitted through the Google Form in the PDF.
4. Just a reminder that the Damping Proposal deadline is January 31, 2025.
5. If there is a change in the team captain, please send us an email at slc@eeri.org with the subject line ‘University Name – Team Captain Change,’ including the new team captain’s name and email address. Please cc the previous team captain and your advisor in the email.

That’s all for now! Thank you to all the teams who sent in proposals and congratulations to all the accepted teams. We can’t wait to see you at the competition!

2025 Seismic Design Competition Hotel and Accommodation Information!

2025 SDC Hotel and Accommodation Information has been published in the Getting Started tab of this competition page. Please note that EERI will not be providing an event hotel room block to book with. All teams are responsible for finding and booking their own accommodations.

2025 Seismic Design Competition Registration Grants Application Released!

We are excited to announce this year, EERI will be awarding registration grants to teams to help with the cost of SDC 2025. Universities that have not competed in the last 3 years will be given preference; however, all teams are welcome to apply. Please see more information about the registration grants below.

The registration grants will be given based on recent SDC participation and the team’s likelihood of attending SDC 2025, which will be conveyed via a written plan and a single update leading up to the competition. All teams in need are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to teams that have not participated in the SDC in the last 3 years.

The SLC Executive Committee and EERI will evaluate the team’s written plan for making it to SDC 2025. This written plan will be completed as part of the application and must include details on how the team will:

1. Pay for other competition expenses (i.e. lodging, travel, tower shipment, materials, etc.).
2. Finish the competition deliverables (i.e. proposal, physical tower, presentation, architecture, etc.).

Teams will be chosen based on the quality of their submitted plan and their recent SDC participation.

If a team is selected to receive the registration grants, then the team will be required to provide a single update due March 1 with travel/lodging receipts to the SLC as proof of attendance to SDC 2025. At any point, if a team knows they will not make it to the competition, then they should let the SLC know immediately, so the registration grants can be given to another team. Failure to provide an update by March 1 will result in the registration grants going to another team.

Only 1 representative from each team should submit this application. If the SLC receives more than one application from the same University, the most recent submission will be the only one that will be reviewed.

The deadline to fill out this application is Sunday, December 15, 2024, at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. 

The link to the application can be found under the Forms tab as SDC 2025 Registration Grants Application.

EERI and the SLC are deeply grateful to our 2025 SDC sponsors! Thank you to our SDC Anchor Sponsor, Computer & Structures, Inc. This event is made possible by the generous commitment of CSI, and the support of the other SDC sponsors: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Degenkolb, Kinemetrics, California Earthquake Authority, and the University of California at Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling.

Hi everyone!

We made some clarifications and fixes to the competition documents. Please make sure you have the most current version of rules, and please check back periodically to ensure that your team has the most up-to-date documents!

Hi everyone! We would like all teams to be aware of a few points.

First, there is NOT a specific site in Kobe for this competition. It is specified this building will be along the waterfront, but to provide you with freedom in your architectural design and rendering, we kept it open-ended. Second, the information provided for ground motion selection and geotechnical information are acceptable and intended to help guide teams. Therefore, if you wish, feel free to provide additional information regarding site location, ground motion selection, and geotechnical data.

Proposals that use the information provided by the SLC will not be punished for doing so, but teams that provide proper documentation and reasoning that improve their selection or geotechnical sections will be rewarded.

2025 Seismic Design Competition Save the Date + Rules Released!

The 22nd annual EERI Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition rules have been released! Developed by the Student Leadership Council (SLC), this year’s rules feature an exciting competition scenario set in Kobe, Japan. The rules are available in the “Rules & Competition Documents” section on the SLC website: https://slc.eeri.org/2025-sdc/. 

Even though the competition scenario is set in Kobe, Japan, the competition will be held at the University of California, Berkeley from March 31, 2025, to April 3, 2025. EERI and the SLC are excited to partner with UC Berkeley to host this exciting event on campus.

If your student chapter is still interested in participating in the 2025 competition but has not completed the interest survey, please email the EERI SLC (slc@eeri.org) and complete this interest survey ASAP.

EERI and the SLC are deeply grateful to our 2025 SDC sponsors! Thank you to our SDC Anchor Sponsor, Computer & Structures, Inc. This event is made possible by the generous commitment of CSI, and the support of the other SDC sponsors: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Degenkolb, Kinemetrics, California Earthquake Authority, and the University of California at Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling.

Hello SDC teams! We are looking forward to the 2025 competition. We have a few reminders to share:

First: All teams need to have registered EERI student chapters to participate in the competition. Chapter applications need to be submitted by January 31st at the latest.

Second: For teams who would like to request CSI SAP2000 licenses please reach out to Syed@csiamerica.com and CC slc@eeri.org as soon as possible to ensure license access to all teams.

This year, we are looking into providing full registration grants for new teams, which will provide free registration for up to 5 members per team! This offer would be worth up to $1,000! To qualify, teams must not have attended the competition in the last 3 years and must submit an application that would be open from mid-November to mid-December. 5-10 team registration grants may be available. We hope to confirm these details shortly and will release more information soon!

The 2025 Seismic Design Competition (SDC) season is fast approaching! While the rules and regulations are still being finalized by the Student Leadership Council (SLC)’s SDC chairs, the SLC wants to know in advance how many undergraduate teams are interested in competing next year! Please fill out the interest form in the “Forms” tab above. The SLC has also created a Discord channel for student communication with the SLC! The invitation link for the discord channel can be found in the “Socials” tab.

The SLC has also created slides to help get teams started! These slides also include instructions on how to go about starting a team and a student EERI chapter if your school doesn’t have one yet. This information can be found in the new “Getting Started” tab above.

Please reach out to slc@eeri.org with any questions. We hope to see you all soon!!

Please click on the forms below to open them in a new tab!

Interest Form
SDC 2025 Registration Grants Application
SDC 2025 Proposal Submission
SDC 2025 Photo Release Form
SDC 2025 T-Shirt Design Competition Submission
(See [Rules and Documents > T-Shirt Competition] for EERI and Sponsor Logos)

Please note that all dates are subject to change! All cutoffs are at 11:59 pm PST.

Milestone	Date / Deadline
Interest Form*	Friday, October 18, 2024
Proposal Submission	Monday, December 23, 2024
Proposal Acceptance	Monday, January 13, 2025
Damping Proposal Submission	Friday, January 31, 2025
T-Shirt Design Submission	Friday, February 7, 2025
Damping Proposal Acceptance	Monday, February 10, 2025
Final Registration	Friday, February 15, 2025
Floor Area Calculations & Performance Predictions	TBD

*If a team has not submitted the interest survey but would like to participate in the competition, please contact sdc@eeri.org and slc@eeri.org.

T-Shirt Competition

Uploaded:
11/1/2024

Updates:
11/3/2024 – Ground Motion Guide footer dates corrected
11/11/2024 – Ground Motion Guide minor fixes
11/14/2024 – Design Guide dead load location fixes
12/26/2024 – Ground Motion #1 files uploaded

Follow us on social media to get all the latest news!!

Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Twitter
LinkedIn
Discord

• Ain Shams University
• ALTINBAS UNIVERSITY
• Brigham Young University
• Cal Poly Pomona
• Cal Seismic Design Team (University of California, Berkeley)
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
• California State University Northridge
• Cornell University
• Helwan University
• Higher Technological Institute, 10th of Ramadan City, EGYPT *
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay)
• Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo
• Iowa State University
• Istanbul Technical University Seismic Design Team
• Izmir Katip Celebi University
• Loyola Marymount University
• McGill University Seismic Design Team
• McMaster University
• New York University Tandon School of Engineering
• North Carolina State University
• ONDOKUZ MAYIS UNIVERSITY
• Oregon State University
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
• Portland State University
• Purdue University
• San Diego State University
• San Francisco State University
• Stanford University
• SUNY University At Buffalo
• Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
• Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
• The Ohio State University
• The University of British Columbia
• The University of Texas at Austin
• Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE
• Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE)
• Universidad Politecnica Salesiana – Ecuador
• Universitas Indonesia
• UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of California, San Diego
• University of Connecticut
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Memphis
• University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez Seismic Design Team
• University of Southern California
• University of Toronto
• University of Victoria
• University of Washington
• Utah State University
• UTE UNIVERSITY *
• Acceptance contingent upon EERI student chapter application submission before or on January 31, 2025

• Izmir Katip Celebi University
• McMaster University
• Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
• SUNY University at Buffalo
• Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
• Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
• The University of British Columbia
• Universitas Indonesia
• University of California, San Diego
• Utah State University