Virginia Tech Engineer Leading the Government’s Investigation of the East Coast Earthquake

When the federal government needed an expert to conduct an investigation on the impact of the August 23 earthquake with an epicenter near Mineral, Virginia, it called on James R. Martin III, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Martin was assigned the task of leading a team that would make field observations and survey damaged areas. His team acted quickly to document the damage and take samples before Hurricane Irene made landfall four days after the earthquake and dumped several inches of rain in the impacted area. Dr. Martin stated that it was “important to study how soil and geologic conditions may have influenced selective damage patterns in the epicentral region.”

Dr. Martin is a graduate of The Citadel in Charlestown, South Carolina. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Virginia Tech.

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