Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center
From GEOtechref
About
The PEER Center is a National Science Foundation (NSF) earthquake engineering research center located in Davis Hall at the University of California, Berkeley campus. The PEER Center is a part of NSF's program to reduce losses due to earthquakes through the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP). The Federal Government, the State of California and private industry provide funding for the Center. Investigators from over twenty universities and several consulting companies conduct research in earthquake-related geohazard assessment, engineering seismology, risk management, public policy, geotechnical and structural engineering.
PEER organizes its research around the concept of performance-based earthquake engineering, in which owners and other decision makers define performance targets in terms of safety, cost and functionality needs. This approach translates these performance targets into engineering criteria that aim to produce facilities that perform to expectations.
In addition to conducting research to develop performance-based earthquake engineering technology, the PEER Center's mission is to disseminate its findings to earthquake professionals who ensure the results are useful, useable and used. [1]
