Our People

Debra Murphy, PE

Ms. Murphy has performed earthquake engineering studies for many sites throughout the United States and abroad for new and existing buildings, critical infrastructure, and dams. Her areas of expertise include seismic hazard analyses, including the characterization of site-specific design ground motions using probabilistic and deterministic approaches and for different regulatory agencies, performed assessments of earthquake-related geotechnical and geologic hazards (e.g., surface fault rupture, liquefaction and related phenomena, slope instability) and geotechnical foundation evaluations. Ms. Murphy can perform seismic hazard assessments, develop acceleration time histories and perform site response analysis for the dynamic analysis of structures.

Ms. Murphy’s responsibilities have also included managing geotechnical evaluations, construction oversight and conducting performance assessments of existing large buildings, performing subsurface explorations using standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT) methods, geotechnical engineering analyses, and preparation of project documentation as well as supporting litigation, and performing peer reviews. Her experience on geotechnical studies includes literature reviews, subsurface investigations, geotechnical laboratory testing and analysis of soil samples, geotechnical engineering analyses, and preparation of project documentation.