James Bantis

Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Office: Holmes Hall 340
Phone: (808) 956-6628
E-mail: bantis@hawaii.edu

Areas of Specialty and Research Interest

  • Earthquake engineering
  • Seismic hazard and risk analysis
  • Regional seismic risk analysis
  • Regional multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment
  • Performance-based engineering and design
  • Structural engineering

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 2025
  • M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 2021
  • B.E., Civil Engineering, The Cooper Union, 2019

Experience

  • 2025-Present  Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
  • 2019-2025      Lecturer, Co-Teacher, and Teaching Assistant, Stanford University.
  • 2019-2025      Graduate Research Assistant, Stanford University.
  • 2019                Site/Civil Engineer, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, New York City.
  • 2018                Structural Engineer, Skanska, New York City.
  • 2017                Geotechnical/Structural Engineer, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, New York City.

Courses Taught (in the last five years)

  • CEE381: Structural Analysis (F’25)

Professional Activities

  • Member, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
  • Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Member, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC)
  • Reviewer for:
    Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
    Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics
    Earthquake Spectra

Honors and Awards

      • Honorable Poster Presentation, 5th Annual Conference for the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program, 2024
      • National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, 2022-2025
      • Shah Family Fund Fellowship for Disaster Risk, 2021-2022
      • Research and Teaching Fellowship at Stanford, 2020-2021
      • University Fellowship at Stanford, 2019-2020
      • Awarded the equivalent of the Salutatorian at The Cooper Union, 2015-2019

Journal Publications              

      1. Bantis, J., Miranda, E. and Heresi, P., 2025. Regional damage estimation of tall pre-Northridge steel moment-resisting frame buildings in San Francisco during the Loma Prieta earthquake. Earthquake Spectra, 41(3), pp.2060-2088.
      2. Bantis, J., Miranda, E. and Heresi, P., 2025. Impact of the Hypocenter Location of a Mw7.0 Scenario Earthquake on the Hayward Fault on the Seismic Response of Tall Buildings in San Francisco. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 54(8), pp.1975-1991.
      3. Bantis, J., Heresi, P., Poulos, A. and Miranda, E., 2025. Framework for regional seismic risk assessments of groups of tall buildings. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 54(3), pp.833-850.
      4. Bantis, J., Miranda, E. and Heresi, P., 2025. Simplified site response analysis for regional seismic risk assessments. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 188, p.109022.
      5. Bantis, J. and Miranda, E., 2025. Effect of damping on response spectral ordinates of ground motions recorded on soft soils in the San Francisco Bay Area. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 196, p.109449.
      6. Bantis, J.C. and Miranda, E., 2023. Evaluation of random-vibration procedures to estimate response spectral ordinates on soft soil sites from Fourier Amplitude Spectra. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 166, p.107776.
      7. Davalos, H., Miranda, E., Bantis, J. and Cruz, C., 2022. Response spectral damping modification factors for structures built on soft soils. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 154, p.107153.

Other Publications

    1. Miranda, E., Bantis, J., Poulos, A. and Heresi, P., 2024. Novel Framework for Regional Seismic Risk Assessment. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.
    2. Bantis, J. and Miranda, E., 2024. Impact of Site Effects and Directionality on Building Damages Computed with Fragility Functions. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.
    3. Bantis, J., Miranda, E. and Heresi, P., 2024. Improved Characterization of Response Spectral Ordinates on Soft Soils for Seismic Risk Analysis. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.
    4. Fisher, E., Miranda, E., Bantis, J., etc., 2022. EERI: Lugu, Taiwan September 18, 2022, Mw6.9 Earthquake. EERI Joint Reconnaissance Report.
    5. Bantis, J., Davalos, H., Miranda, E. and Cruz, C., 2022. Damping Modification Factors for Structures Built on Soft Soils. 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
    6. Miranda, E., Brzev, S., Bijelic, N., Bantis, J., etc., 2020. Petrinja, Croatia December 29, 2020, Mw6.4 Earthquake Joint Reconnaissance Report. STEER Joint Reconnaissance Report.

Presentations

    • “Framework for Regional Seismic Risk Assessments for Groups of Tall Buildings,” 5th Annual Conference for The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, July 2024.
    • “Impact of Site Effects and Directionality on Building Damages Computed with Fragility Functions,” 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy, July 2024.
    • “Improved Characterization of Response Spectral Ordinates on Soft Soils for Seismic Risk Analysis,” 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy, July 2024.
    • “Damping Modification Factors for Structures Built on Soft Soils,” 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, June 2022.
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