Amir M. Kaynia is Technical Expert in Vibration and Earthquake Engineering at NGI, and Adjunct Professor at Dept. of Structural Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He has received his BSc in Civil Engineering from Tehran University and his MSc and PhD degrees in Structural Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His areas of research and practice include Earthquake Engineering, Soil Dynamics and Soil-Structure Interaction. He has published more than 200 papers in peer reviewed journals and international conference proceedings, has authored 6 book chapters, and has held numerous keynote lectures worldwide. Amir Kaynia has led major international design projects onshore and offshore and has coordinated several research projects funded by the European Commission and the Norwegian Research Council related to offshore wind energy, earthquake engineering and vibrations from high-speed lines. He is member of several national and international scientific committees dealing with earthquake engineering and soil-structure interaction. He is also Chairman of the Norwegian Standards Earthquake Committee and is member of the Project Team for revision of Part 5 of Eurocode 8.