exemplary chapter, bringing seismic risk awareness to engineers and the public. She currently serves as a national director of EERI and a mentor to many student chapters globally. She is involved in the NYC Building Code, chairing its seismic subcommittee since 2011, and represents the Structural Engineers Association of NY as its appointed director to the Applied Technology Council (ATC). Front Line Nikolaou is characterized as a leader in geotechnical, resilience and earthquake engineering by UB Professor Andrew Whittaker, who first crossed paths with Nikolaou in late 2000, and says, “with civil engineering being a male-dominated industry, she has worked thoroughly, carefully and respectfully to broaden the talent pool. She is a fan of diversity and inclusion and promotes enhanced visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals in the civil engineering profession.” Whittaker tips his hat because she saw this need in the industry, and says, “she is someone who likes to lead from the front.” Internationally, she is renowned for her approach to geoseismic challenges of large, unique projects in earthquake-prone areas in Canada, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Germany, Middle East, Japan, New Zealand and her native Greece. This experience supports her contributions to the Geotechnical Ext reme Event Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, where she serves on its Advisory Panel. She has been called to the front lines of GEER missions when natural disasters strike, finding reconnaissance work to be rewarding from technical, humanitarian and impact aspects. When GEER reached out to University of Illinois Professor Youssef Hashash, the 2017-18 ASCE Geo-Inst i tute (GI) president, to build a team and lead the Hurricane Sandy Mission, he chose Nikolaou as his partner, recognizing her skills at bringing together engineers from firms and agencies. Hashash says Nikolaou is extremely active in advancing research for extreme events, a valuable addition to the ASCE-GI Board of Governors, and a role model for women in the industry. 70 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2018 Nikolaou on site Following Hurricane Sandy, her home country was hit in 2014 by two major earthquakes (M6.0 and M6.1). Professor Jonathan Bray from the University of California, Berkeley, and founding leader of GEER, believed Nikolaou was the only person who could face the challenge of local politics and unify the involved parties to complete the GEER reconnaissance report. She led and coordinated a team of 70 engineers and scientists from Greek universities and U.S. volunteers from GEER, EERI and ATC, living up to the challenge and producing a unified report. White House Experiences Nikolaou was invited to the White House by President Barack Obama to participate in the 2016 Earthquake Resilience Summit, where she interacted with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Department, the Director of Science and Technology and the senior members of the Resilience Policy at the National Security Council. Shortly afterward, an M7.8 earthquake struck off the West Coast of Ecuador. Nikolaou and her local counterpart, Dr. Xavier Vera, led the GEER team to Ecuador with geotechnical volunteers and structural participants from ATC. She worked with Lt. Col. Enrique Morales, professor and chair of Earth Sciences and Construction at the Armed Forces University, who charac- terizes her as an “honest, wonderful human being and a perfectionist who can apply advanced engineering to projects while making it understandable and non- intimidating to others.” Witnessing destruction caused by massive liquefaction and infrastructure failures and deaths caused by simple non- structural malfunctions inside hospitals, is one of the most devastating experiences of her career. In areas where embank- ments failed to support fishing farms — a major resource for the country's economy — Nikolaou recommended to government officials that local fishermen should be part of the rebuild, since they use their hands for their livelihood and can learn building techniques. Her vision connected people to technology that would provide income in the short term, while making communities more appreciative of engineering in the long term. Nikolaou was invited back to the White House to debrief the President's senior staff on this experience and share how she found the “missing link” between politics and technology. She, with members of her team, shared lessons from the 2016 earthquake that could be applied to national security strategies when res-ponding to extreme events and trying to “bounce forward” after them. Nikolaou learned that engineers are rarely consulted on disasters at such a high government level, and strongly believes that it is “our responsibility as geotechnical and civil engineers to elevate our profession where it belongs — a seat at the table where decisions are being made.” DFI Benefits Nikolaou joined DFI a few years ago, find- ing it a welcoming and upbeat organization that brings together designers and con- tractors of deep foundations on a produc- tive platform. She is a member and inaugural speaker of its Women in Deep Foundations Committee that embraces differences with a broad statue of diversity that goes beyond gender, where she appre- ciates gaining perspective from different minds and backgrounds and viewing engineering problems from fresh angles. “Don't be afraid — always reach out to others without hesitation. Progress is made by going against fear and insecurities,” Nikolaou says to young engineers. She lives by the quote of pioneer theater practitioner, Uta Hagen: “We must overcome the notion that we must be regular... it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary!”
