Michel Bruneau Named Deputy Director of Earthquake Engineering Research Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., an expert on seismic evaluation and retrofit of steel bridges, buildings and masonry infrastructure, has been named deputy director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), headquartered at the University at Buffalo.

Bruneau, currently director of the Ottawa-Carleton Earthquake Engineering Research Centre at the University of Ottawa, will be responsible for coordinating the center's nationwide research program in advanced technology applications.

He also has been appointed professor in the UB Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering.

He will assume his responsibilities next month.

Bruneau succeeds T.T. Soong, Ph.D., Samuel Capen Professor of Engineering Science at UB, who has served as MCEER interim deputy director since last year's departure of Ian Buckle, who left to become deputy vice chancellor for research at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

"Dr. Bruneau, with rich experience in basic earthquake engineering research, structural engineering practice, and project management, brings a unique combination of talents to the center," said George C. Lee, Ph.D., MCEER director. "We are extremely pleased to welcome him to the MCEER team."

Andrei Reinhorn, Ph.D., professor and chair of the UB Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, said Bruneau will add important expertise in structural design to the department's program in bridge engineering.

Bruneau is one of six founders of the Ottawa-Carleton Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, which he has headed since its inception in 1994.

He also has served as director of the University of Ottawa structures laboratory, and as associate professor of engineering in the university's Department of Civil Engineering.

A recipient of the Gzowski Medal for the best paper in the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering in 1994, Bruneau in 1996 received the Pratley Award given by the journal for the best paper in the field of bridge engineering.

He was the first recipient of the University of Ottawa Young Researcher Award.

Before joining the University of Ottawa, Bruneau was a consulting engineer with Morrison Hershfield Limited, a Canadian consulting firm specializing in structural and transportation engineering, and project management.

He holds an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Laval, Quebec, and a master's degree and doctorate in structural engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Bruneau has served as a consultant on earthquake design and retrofit for engineering firms in the United States and Canada.

Currently, he is taking part in the review of proposed changes to Canada's national building code.

Bruneau serves on the Seismic Committee of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, the American Society of Civil Engineers Steel Bridge Committee and the Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering Standing Committee on Seismic Design.

He has participated in numerous post-earthquake reconnaissance investigations in the U.S. and abroad, including those in Kobe, Japan (1995), Northridge, Calif. (1994), Erzincan, Turkey (1992), San Francisco, Calif. (1989), and Mexico City, Mexico (1985).

Bruneau is co-author of "Ductile Design of Steel Structures" (McGraw-Hill, 1997) and author of numerous book chapters and technical papers. He is a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering.

MCEER is a nationwide consortium on earthquake engineering research, headquartered at the University at Buffalo. Funded principally by the National Science Foundation, the state of New York and the Federal Highway Administration, the center was established by the NSF in 1986 as the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research. Its mission is to reduce earthquake and damage losses through multidisciplinary team research and the application of advanced technologies that improve engineering, pre-earthquake engineering and post-earthquake recovery strategies.