Top > Visiting researchers > Hermann Marc Fritz

Hermann Marc Fritz

Self Introduction

Since 2008 I hold a full-time faculty position as a tenured Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. I started my dual-appointment at Georgia Tech in Savannah and Atlanta back in 2003. I obtained my Ph.D. degree in 2002 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland). I graduated from ETH as Civil Engineer in 1997 with an MSCE.

My research centers on costal hazards such as tsunamis, landslides and hurricane storm surges as well as their mitigation and coastal protection. Since joining Georgia Tech I conducted large scale landslide tsunami experiments at the NEES tsunami wave basin at Oregon State University. I participated and led numerous post disaster reconnaissance campaigns encompassing: 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2006 Java Tsunami, 2007 Solomon Islands and Peru Tsunamis, Cyclone Gonu, 2008 Cyclone Nargis and Hurricane Ike.

I came to ERI to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanism of tsunamigenic landslides and volcanic eruptions. Unfortunately, the field data from real world observations are limited to very few cases. The research goal is to compensate for this lack of data by fusing available physical modeling data sets with rare and incomplete field data sets from around the world with a particular emphasis on tsunamis of landslide and volcanic origin in Japan. This research will serve validation of physical, analytical and numerical models.