9701568 Moehle The PEER Center is a consortium of nine core institutions, closely linked and regularly interacting through electronic networks. The focus of PEER is to develop urban earthquake risk reduction technologies within a performance-based earthquake engineering framework. The research program contains five basic thrust areas: (1) policy, planning and economics; (2) seismic hazards; (3) performance assessment; (4) systems reliability; and (5) innovative technologies. PEER serves as a problem-focused, integrative center that bridges disciplinary gaps and barriers. In addition, project applications provide research focal points, a business and industrial partnership program should attract funding, and urban demonstration projects will test the applicability of research results. Education and partnership programs are used to educate students and attract qualified under-represented minorities to earthquake engineering, and include innovations such as the Engineering Undergraduate Scholars Course, the K-12 Public Education Program and a WWW page. The PEER Center is one of three EERCs networked with an overarching governing board to provide synergism in creating new knowledge and technology, educating the next generation of earthquake engineers and scientists, and providing outreach to industry, government, pre-college schools and potential user groups.
