Earthquake center names new director

Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., a leading expert on earthquake-resistant design and retrofit of buildings and infrastructure, has been named director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) headquartered at the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y. MCEER is a National Science Foundation "Center of Excellence" in earthquake engineering.

Bruneau, who has served as MCEER deputy director since 1998, was selected for the post after a nationwide search. His appointment takes effect on Aug. 25. Bruneau came to MCEER and the University of Buffalo from the University of Ottawa, where he headed that institution's Ottawa-Carleton Earthquake Engineering Research Centre.

As director, Bruneau assumes overall stewardship of MCEER and its major research, education and industry-outreach initiatives. These include projects that involve research and development of tools and technologies that strengthen the nation's built environment and improve emergency response and recovery activities following earthquakes. Bruneau becomes the fourth director in the center's 17-year history.

In addition to his MCEER responsibilities, Bruneau will help manage completion of a $20 million expansion of the Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory on UB's North Campus. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the State University of New York, the facility will be equipped with twin shake tables capable of real-time seismic testing of structures up to 120 ft in length.