EERI's Distinguished Lecturer for 2005: Jack P. Moehle

Watch the webcast of his lecture

Prof. Jack MoehleJack P. Moehle, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, was chosen as EERI’s 2005 Distinguished Lecturer. His topic is “Performance-Based Design: Developments and Applications” and he will be presenting his lecture again on February 28th at Sibley Auditorium in Bechtel Hall. A reception will follow at 5:00PM.

An EERI member since 1981, Moehle was nominated by the Honors Committee in recognition of his many years of outstanding leadership in the field of research on the seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of structures.

As PEER director, Moehle’s research interests and responsibilities include performance-based earthquake engineering. Current research aims to quantify earthquake risk and to express it in ways that are useful to decision makers who must determine courses of action for addressing seismic risk. In this program, research interests include characterization of seismic hazard, especially considering fault rupture and ground shaking; geotechnical earthquake engineering, including site response and ground failure; response of soil-foundation-structure-nonstructural systems; identification of engineering damage parameters; and translation of damage parameters to decision variables that are quantified for use in decision making by various stakeholders. Moehle’s personal research emphasizes response of soil-foundation-structure systems, but he is responsible for the full range of research conducted at PEER. Current topical areas include reinforced concrete buildings, reinforced concrete bridges, and transportation and utility lifelines systems. One of Moehle’s research goals is to understand the collapse of building frames under combined gravity and seismic loading and thereby to improve evaluation methods. Extensive static and shaking table dynamic tests are under way at PEER to improve understanding of this phenomenon.

In the mid-1990s, Moehle served a stint as the editor of Earthquake Spectra. He has served as a consultant or participant on a range of professional engineering and code and guidelines development projects. He currently is chair of the Seismic Subcommittee of the American Concrete Institute Building Code and a member the Provisions Update Committee for the NEHRP Recommended Provisions. With the Applied Technology Council, he has participated in guideline development projects, including those leading to publication of ATC-32 (Improved Seismic Design Criteria for California Bridges: Provisional Recommendations), FEMA-273 (Guidelines and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings), FEMA-306 (Evaluation and Repair of Earthquake-Damaged Concrete and Masonry Wall Buildings), FEMA-356 (Prestandard and Commentary on the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings), and FEMA-440 (Evaluation and Improvement of Inelastic Seismic Analysis Procedures). He currently is a member of the ATC-58 team on the development of next-generation performance-based seismic design procedures for new and existing buildings. He currently is chair of the Peer Review Panel for the seismic assessment and upgrading of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, and consultant or peer reviewer for several high-rise building projects.

Moehle has been a member of the UC Berkeley faculty since 1980. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1977, 1977, and 1980, respectively. From 1991 to 2001 he was director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Center. In 1997, he was named director of PEER. He has received many awards in recognition of his contributions to engineering teaching and research.

In February 2005, Moehle presented his lecture for the first time at EERI’s 57th Annual Meeting in Ixtapa, Mexico. Groups interested in having him present the lecture subsequently should contact the EERI office.


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