As UC Berkeley’s Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center celebrated its first 10 years in business, the California Seismic Safety Commission (CSSC) issued a report citing the center as the “primary earthquake engineering arm” of California. The report recommended that the State ramp up funding as 10 years of financial support by the National Science Foundation comes to an end this fall.

The center is “emerging as a critical tool” statewide for design and evaluation of major buildings, utilities and lifelines, the report said. Specific successes have included a cost-effective seismic retrofit program for BART and guidelines for strengthening existing buildings, including seismically deficient buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. PEER has made significant contributions in the areas of earthquake ground motion estimation, computer simulation and performance assessment of facilities subjected to earthquakes, as well as student and practitioner training.

“The earthquake hazard will always be here,” says civil and environmental engineering professor and PEER director Jack Moehle, “but by building intelligently we can manage the risks posed by earthquakes.” Although NSF funding will end this year, PEER’s programs will continue with a range of federal, state and private contracts.

The CSSC is required by law to periodically monitor the work of PEER and has issued three previous reports. For more details, go to http://peer.berkeley.edu/events/summative.