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EERI's Student Awards Committee offers an annual Graduate Student Paper Award from Earthquake Spectra. This competition encourages the active involvement of students in earthquake engineering and the earthquake hazards community and allows emerging experts to share their research. Since January 2018, papers with graduate student first authors published in each volume of Earthquake Spectra have been eligible for the competition. The submitted papers may have any number of authors, but the first author must be a graduate student researcher at the time of first submission. Papers undergo the normal peer-review process for Earthquake Spectra, and published papers are then reviewed by the Student Awards Committee to determine the winner. The authorship team wins the award, and at least one co-author should be designated to accept the award on behalf of the research team at the EERI annual meeting.

With a generous gift from the Shah family, EERI annually awards the Shah Family Innovation Prize. This prize rewards younger professionals and academics for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in the field of earthquake risk mitigation and management. A cash prize is awarded to recognize and honor one individual who has been involved in the development of cutting-edge, innovative solutions to problems in earthquake engineering and related disciplines. The individual should be in the developing or expanding stage of his or her career, with the promise of important contributions ahead. The intent of the prize is to stimulate further creativity and leadership in the earthquake risk mitigation community and EERI. Nominees will have emphasized creative and innovative thinking and demonstrated the potential to make major contributions to the field of earthquake risk mitigation and management at early stages in their careers. The Selection Committee particularly encourages the nomination of candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to activities that will help reduce the loss of life from earthquakes. Individuals are recognized for a combination of past accomplishments and future potential.

The annual Distinguished Lecture Award of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is awarded to members of the Institute to recognize and encourage communication of outstanding professional contributions of major importance for earthquake hazard mitigation. The contributions of the recipient and the topic of the Distinguished Lecture should be of broad interest to the membership and may range from research to public policy development. The award is established to communicate developments on topics of major significance for earthquake hazard mitigation. The recipients will prepare an address on the agreed topic for presentation as the Distinguished Lecture at the upcoming EERI Annual Meeting. This lecture will be subsequently presented as a nationwide series of lectures throughout the year. The lecture may be published in Earthquake Spectra. Each recipient will receive a framed citation and travel costs for presentation of the lecture.

The EERI/FEMA NEHRP Graduate Fellowship is a one-year fellowship designed to foster the participation of capable individuals in working toward goals and activities of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. Funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this fellowship recognizes graduate students with strong promise to advance the field of earthquake risk mitigation. The fellowship provides a stipend of $12,000 that can be used for tuition, fees, and research expenses. Students are evaluated based on a combination of graduate and undergraduate research experience and accomplishments, alignment of their work with the mission of EERI, academic excellence, leadership potential, extracurricular activities that contribute to reducing earthquake risks, and their ability to articulate their planned path forward in the field of earthquake risk reduction. Applicants are strongly encouraged to address each of these components in their application statement and describe the potential impacts of their research on earthquake risk mitigation. One graduate fellowship is awarded annually for each academic year.