<div dir="ltr">



















<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="color:black">Tornado Hazard Wind Assessment and ReducTion Symposium
(THWARTS)</span></b><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;font-variant-caps:normal;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">September
26-27, 2018</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;font-variant-caps:normal;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – iHotel and Conference Center</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">This event may appeal especially
to researchers new to the hazards engineering field. The symposium focus will
be on severe storm meteorology, wind engineering and structural engineering
disciplines, but all related disciplines are welcome.</span><span class="gmail-apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></span><span style="color:black">There will be strong representation from the ASCE TWSE
group – with special emphasis on young researchers and students. The THWARTS
symposium offers partial travel funding to about 40 attendees who are early
career faculty or graduate students.</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">Why THWARTS? Better understanding
of near-surface tornado wind hazards and impacts requires representation from
all relevant disciplines and true interaction between these groups.</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">Additional details,
including dates of abstract submission, to follow.</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black">For details, contact Frank Lombardo
from the University of Illinois:  </span><span style="color:black"><a href="mailto:lombaf@illinois.edu" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration:underline"><span style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">lombaf@illinois.edu</span></a></span><span style="color:black">.</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-caps:normal;text-align:start;word-spacing:0px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></p>






</div>