ROTARY RESEARCH FELLOW

Gargano, Italy. Ambass. Scholars, outbound GSE, inbound GSE from Brazil

Sponsor RC: Rotary Club Potenza, District 2120, Italy

Host RC: Rotary Club Torrey Pines (La Jolla), District 5340, USA
Study Institution: UCSD, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

RC Potenza, with home counsellor and the club presidents.

Rotary Club Potenza, meeting and speech.


ROTARY FOUNDATION REPORT - Ambassdorial Scholar

I am living in San Diego doing graduate research at UCSD as a visiting scholar from the University "G. D’Annunzio” of Chieti - Pescara, where I am enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the field of Seismic Engineering and Innovative Technologies for Seismic Protection of Structures. UCSD is one of the world’s most famous schools of structural engineering, and has state-of-the-art research facilities for seismic testing of constructions, and the only outdoor shake table in the world. I am working under the supervision of two faculty advisors. My focus is on the use of advanced computer methods to evaluate the seismic capacity of an existing building using data from experimental observations. According to my ”ambassadorial” role, I selected an Italian building damaged during an earthquake, and brought it to California, to study it with software and tools developed here, so that I could compare the approaches of the Italian and of the American school.

UCSD campus and library.

The Department gave me the privilege of opening the academic year "Distinguished Seminars Series" with my invited lecture "Study of Nonlinear Response of Base-Isolated Building through Large-Scale Free-Vibration Tests and Nonlinear Analyses",.

Click HERE to download the INVITE on the department’s website.

They department also published my ABSTRACT (download PDF) and bio and the entire PRESENTATION (download PDF). Click HERE to watch video

I had the honor of being scheduled in a series of distinguished lecturers among which worldwide famous Professors or industry leaders (UCSD Structural Engineering newslwtter, PDF). I gave my presentation to an audience of graduate students and faculty. Also some of the District Foundation Scholar Chairs and other Rotarians that I invited attended the seminar. Since when I applied for my scholarship I decided that bridging the research on seismic prevention and the Rotary service would be the objective of my ambassadorial year. And the seminar confirmed my idea! All the Rotarians were extremely interested in seeing how a base-isolated building can resist an earthquake without minimum damage and save human lives! Also the faculty members that attended the seminar expressed their congratulations for the presentation (seismic testing of a full-scale building in Italy), and I confess that I was extremely honored, since UCSD is a world research leader for full scale testing of structures. Also I think this agrees with the spirit of my ambassadorial role, since I am here to learn, but also to bring my knowledge and background and to bridge two cultures.

RI District 2120 conference, speech.

Before my departure my sponsor counsellor Gaetano Laguardia has been extremely helpful in preparing me for this experience. I attended several rotary meetings in my district, and I also attended the presentation of an Ambassadorial alumnus, who shared with me some of the aspects of his experience abroad. I gave speeches at club meetings and also during the District Conference. I shared the preparation for my Rotary Foundation program with two GSE teams, an Inbound from Brazil and an Outbound to Brazil. Gaetano was also the current district GSE chair and he really got me involved in the true Rotarian and ambassadorial spirit! My name and that of my assigned institution also figured on a newspaper article.

UNICO, Amici Bal, LIttle Italy mayor, host counsellor Matteo Risi.

Torrey Pines Rotary Club, District Governor Philippe Lamoise, counsellor Matteo Risi.

Since my arrival I have been deeply involved in the Rotary activities of my district. My host counsellor Matteo Risi (of Italian descent!) invited me to the weekly meetings and also to some of the Club dinners. He introduced me to all club members of the Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club, an exquisitely intellectual and international environment, with club members originally from different Countries of the world. I felt immediately at ease, talking to different Rotarians in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and also Italian! Both the club president and the District Governor, member of this club, are French. Matteo also got me involved in the activities of the San Diego Little Italy Community, as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.SalkInstitute, Foundation Seminar, speech.

My name and pictures already figure in a few newsletters and also in the local press. I was scheduled as a speaker at the Rotary Foundation Seminar at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, where I met the other Ambassadorial Scholars from Brazil, Japan, Korea, Tanzania, Germany. I also had the chance to meet the president elect of Rotary International Wilf Wilkinson.

Salk Institute , Foundation seminar, RI President elect Wilf Wilkinson.

I have been very active within my host club too, promoting and organizing a special program of the club and bringing the whole club out for a guided laboratory visit of the UCSD Seismic testing facilities. Prof. Restrepo and Prof. Conte showed to the Rotarians the seismic reaction wall that researchers use to test the seismic capacity of full scale building models, and also the outdoor shake table used to simulate an earthquake of destroying intensity. Researchers and Rotarians wore the hard hat and walked together through the hydraulic systems that activate the artificial ground.

UCSD Englekirk Center. Prof. Restrepo shows the shake table to Torrey Pines RC rotarians.

UCSD Englekirk Center. Prof. Restrepo shows Torrey Pines RC rotarians the hydraulic system that activate the shake table.

They had the opportunity to share their ideas and competences on seismic protection and also to discuss about the importance of preventing earthquake disasters by making safer structures. I have the feeling that there will be some Rotary-University partnership in future research or educational projects, and I will be proud of being the scholar who got the idea started. But that is exactly what being an “ambassador” means, right?!

Torrey Pines RC dinner, Ambassadorial Scholar sings "Malafemmena"!

Cliffs of La Jolla, from Torrey Pines

California is an amazing state and the environment I am living in, the community of La Jolla, where the University of California San Diego is located, is extremely active and diverse. I am amazed every day by seeing how well organized life is here, and how high-technology, business and international community, share this wonderful natural scenery. I have visited the world famous research centers of La Jolla, the UCSD, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Salk institute, and I am meeting every day international researchers that populate these centers spread over the cliffs overlooking the ocean. La Jollans and San Diegans are extremely helpful people, and as an international Italian scholar I always receive a warm welcome. I am impressed by how strong is the reciprocal cultural interest that Italy and California have. And this makes my ambassadorial role even more meaningful, since my activity field is related to something that Italy and California share not only in their culture, but also in the history, in the research and in the daily life: the interest for earthquakes.

Tijuana, Mexico-US International Border.

Tijuana, avenida de la Revoluccion.

Another significant cultural aspect of the San Diego region, is its proximity to the Mexican border. This makes this place particularly diverse, since here the latino and north-american culture merge together. This gives me the great opportunity of sharing my culture and interests with another part of the world, using my Spanish, in which I guess I am getting pretty fluent, since many of the Mexican people that I met here and also in Tijuana asked me if I was from Spain because of my accent! My English is improving too, and I have been practicing my Portuguese and my French too, expecially thanks to the very multinational atmosphere of the Torrey Pines Rotary Club that is hosting me, and to the diverse study environment of UCSD. Also the influence of the asian culture is very strong here in California, and particularly at UCSD. I met many scientists and students from China, Korea and Japan, and I also made a wonderful friendship with all the other Ambassadorial scholars, with whom I meet periodically during the Rotary events and not only. I had many opportunities to share my research and work interest for earthquakes with Ayako and Hirocky, two rotary scholars from Japan, and I told them that hopefully this same interest that brought me in the amazing California, will very soon take me to Japan!

Ambassadorial Scholar mixer at Don Yeckel's place. We love you Don!

Ambassadorial Scholars team at Salk Institute with coach Don Yeckel!

During one of my presentations to Rotary Clubs in La Jolla I talked about Earthquake engineering and seismic isolation and on how an earthquake can be an engine of growth for a local community. I brought the example of Potenza, my home town and city where I attended college. The 1980 Irpinia earthquake made thousands of deads, and produced tremendous consequences on the local economy and social tissue. Now, more than 20 years after the disaster, this small town in south Italy hosts some world famous applications of the modern seismic engineering and a state-of-the-art research facility. This successful model of recover should be really exported to the world's developing countries in earthquake prone regions.

La Jolla, speech at Rotary Club

La Jolla, speech at Rotary Club with some Rotarians.