Researcher's Rocking Frame 'Shakes' World of Performance-Based Seismic Design

Shattering the stereotype of an absent-minded professor, 20-year academic Gregory G. Deierlein is as focused as any design engineer. In recent years, the director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University has concentrated on performance-based seismic design, developing a "rocking frame" intended to give seismic engineers another structural option. Deierlein's peers say the licensed engineer is an exceptional researcher, educator and leader in structural engineering. Deierlein says he is motivated by the idea that his research can both answer design engineers' questions and have an impact on design.