Renmin Pretell
- Phone: (775) 682-5226
- Email: rpretell@unr.edu
- Building:
- Room: 224
- Website:
- Website:
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Dr. Renmin Pretell is an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the 推荐杏吧原创. Dr. Pretell holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. in civil engineering from the National University of Engineering (UNI), Peru. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Pretell worked as a consulting engineer for five years with Golder Associates (currently WSP) at the Lima and Denver offices, and as a postdoctoral scholar with the Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, before joining the University. Dr. Pretell’s research aims to advance the performance assessment of geotechnical systems and infrastructure by integrating data, numerical simulations and analytics. His research interests include seismic site response and ground motions, soil spatial variability and subsurface uncertainty, mine tailings and soil liquefaction effects.
- Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2022
- M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2019
- B.S., Civil Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), National University of Engineering (UNI), Peru, 2012
- EERI Young Members Committee (EERI YMC) , 2023 – 2025 Co-Chair
- United States Society on Dams & International Commission on Large Dams
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER)
- Site response
- Ground motions
- Subsurface spatial variability
- Mine tailings
- Soil liquefaction and cyclic softening
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed journal publications
Moss, R.E.S., Altunel, E., Bassal, P., Bray, J.B., Buckreis, T., Cetin, O.K., Clahan, K., Duman, E., Frost, D., Hashash, Y., Koehler, R.D., Kozaci, O., Lozano, J.M., Macedo, J., Moug, D., Nichols, E., Pehlivan, M., Pretell, R., Stewart, J.P., Ulmer, K., and Yildirim, C. (2024) “Geotechnical and geological reconnaissance observations of the February 6th 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes.” Earthquake Spectra..
Liou, I., Abrahamson, N.A., and Pretell, R. (2024) “Approaches to soil hazard in partially non-ergodic ground motion models.” Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America..
Buckreis, T.E., Pretell, R., Askan, A., Sandikkaya, M.A., Kale, O., Brandenberg, S.J., and Stewart J.P. (2024) “Engineering attributes of ground motions from February 2023 Türkiye Earthquake Event Sequence.” Earthquake Spectra, Special Issue: 2023 Kahramanmara艧, Turkey, Earthquake. .
Brandenberg, S.J., and Pretell, R. (2024) “Evaluating epistemic uncertainty from random variables at the terminal branches of a logic tree.” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering 10(3): 06024003. .
Pretell, R., Abrahamson, N.A., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2023). “A borehole array data-based approach for conducting 1D site response analyses II: Accounting for modeling errors.” Earthquake Spectra 39(3): 1502–1533. .
Pretell, R., Abrahamson, N.A., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2023). “A borehole array data-based approach for conducting 1D site response analyses I: Damping and VS randomization.” Earthquake Spectra 39(3): 1473–1501. .
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Abrahamson, N.A. (2022). “Conducting 1D site response analyses to capture 2D VS spatial variability effects.” Earthquake Spectra 38(3): 2235–2259. .
Basu, D., Pretell, R., Montgomery, J., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2022). “Investigation of key issues in simulating centrifuge model tests of a sheet-pile wall retaining a liquefiable soil deposit.” Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 156(2022): 107243..
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Davis, C.A. (2021). “Liquefaction and cyclic softening at Balboa Blvd. during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 147(2): 05020014. .
Selected peer-reviewed conference proceedings:
Katuwal, S., and Pretell, R. (2025) “Numerical assessment of Vs profile gradient as a site response predictor.” Geotechnical Frontiers 2025. Accepted.
Numanoglu, O., Pretell, R., Akkaya, S., and Taukoor, V. (2025) “Seismic settlement evaluation of the Nihal Atakas Mosque after the 2023 Kahramanmaras Turkiye Earthquakes.” Geotechnical Frontiers 2025. Accepted.
Numanoglu, O., Pretell, R., Acar, M., Erinmez, S., and Baser, T. (2024) “Comparison of measured and estimated seismic settlements of three buildings and their surroundings at the coastal areas of Iskenderun in 2023, Kahramanmaras earthquakes.” 8th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.
Buckreis, T., Nweke, C.C., Wang, P., Brandenberg, S.J., Shams, R., Ramos-Sepúlveda, M.A., Pretell, R., Mazzoni, S., Stewart, J.P. (2024) “User-interaction with a web-served global ground motion relational database.” 8th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.
Buckreis, T.E., Pretell, R., Sandikkaya, M.A., Kale, O., Askan, A., Brandenberg, S.J., and Stewart, J.P. (2024) “February 6, 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes: Ground motions.” 8th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Japan.
Pretell, R., Brandenberg, S.J., and Stewart, J.P. (2024). “Consistent framework for PGA estimation at liquefaction case history sites: Application to the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.” GeoCongress 2024, Vancouver, Canada.
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Abrahamson, N.A. (2022). “Numerical investigation of VS spatial variability effects on the seismic response estimated using 2D and 1D site response analyses.” GeoCongress 2022, NC.
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Davis, C.A. (2022). “Parametric investigation of ground failure at Balboa Boulevard during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake via nonlinear deformation analyses.” Lifelines 2021, CA.
Ziotopoulou, K., Davis, C.A., and Pretell, R. (2022). “Investigation of water pipeline failures at Balboa Blvd. during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.” Lifelines 2021, Los Angeles, CA.
Pretell, R., Sinha, S.K., Ziotopoulou, K., Watson-Lamprey, J.A., and Zekkos, D. (2021). “Broadening the utilization of CSMIP data: Double convolution methodology towards developing input motions for site response and nonlinear deformation analyses.” Seminar on Utilization Strong-Motion Data, Sacramento, CA.
Pretell, R., Humire, F., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2020). “On the performance of two advanced constitutive models in capturing the element response of tailings.” Tailings and Mine Waste 2020, Keystone, Colorado.
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Abrahamson, N.A. (2019). “Methodology for the development of input motions for nonlinear deformation analyses.” 7th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotech. Eng. (ICEGE), Rome.
Selected datasets:
Pretell, R., Buckreis, T., Brandenberg, S., and Stewart, J. (2024) Spatial correlation models for ground motion intensity measures of the 2023 Türkiye-Syria Earthquakes. DesignSafe-CI. doi.org/10.17603/ds2-27yr-5m86
Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., Watson-Lamprey, J., Sinha, S., and Zekkos, D. (2023) Acceleration time series at depth for 21 seismic stations in California: Application of the double convolution methodology. DesignSafe-CI. doi.org/10.17603/ds2-wpfr-4v13
Pretell, R., Brandenberg, S., and Stewart, J. (2023) Consistently computed ground motion intensity measures for liquefaction triggering assessment. DesignSafe-CI. doi.org/10.17603/ds2-6vj1-t096
Buckreis, T., Güryuva, B., 陌çen, A., Okcu, O., Altindal, A., Aydin, M., Pretell, R., Sandikkaya, S., Kale, O., Askan, A., Brandenberg, S., Kishida, T., Akkar, S., Bozorgnia, Y., and Stewart, J. (2023). Ground Motion Data from the 2023 Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Sequence. DesignSafe-CI. doi.org/10.17603/ds2-t115-bk16