Structural engineering professor and director of UB's SEESL lab featured at the Research Institute of Structural Engineering and Disaster Reduction

By Peter Murphy

Bruneau was the invited Keynote Speaker, where he gave a talk titled “Christchurch: Rebuilding a Resilient City?” His discussion referenced a report from January he published with colleagues from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch where researchers examined the city of Christchurch’s transition from concrete to steel during its post-earthquake rebuild. Bruneau and collaborator Greg MacRae published their findings in a 170-page report, “Reconstructing Christchurch: A Seismic Shift in Building Structural System.”

The presentation was part of the Second International Workshop on Resilience, presented by Tongji University. Bruneau was subsequently invited to present to the Research Institute of Structural Engineering and Disaster Reduction (RISEDR) where he discussed “Resilience Challenges and Pragmatic Strategies for Resilient Structures.”

RISEDR is an academic department in the College of Civil Engineering at Tongji University, and consists of seven research division, one experimental center and four industry collaboration centers. The institute establishes long-term collaboration with over ten prestigious universities and research institutes.

Bruneau joined UB in 1998, and has worked in a number of different capacities. He is a former director of MCEER, and was a principal investigator on the grant to create the Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory. Bruneau is currently an Institute of Bridge Engineering (IBE) researcher and a professor. His research includes the evaluation and retrofit of existing steel bridges and buildings subjected to large destructive forces up to collapse, as well as the development of new design concepts capable of providing satisfactory seismic resistance, blast resistance, or both simultaneously as multi-hazard resistant concepts.