When it comes to earthquake safety. . .

No one wants to take chances

UCSD is the proven innovation leader in practical and cost-effective construction systems for seismic safety.

Be part of what's next.

With its one-of-a-kind facilities, the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center at the University of California, San Diego is enabling structural tests that have never been possible before. The Center is equipped with the world's first outdoor shake table adjacent to the country's largest soil-structure interaction facility, allowing researchers to perform dynamic earthquake safety tests on full-scale structural systems. The Center's blast simulator will be used to study the effects of bomb blasts and test new technologies to harden buildings against terrorist bomb attacks. A defining element of the Englekirk Center is strong collaboration with industry, and 45 companies and organizations among southern California's building industry participate on an advisory board and support research at the Englekirk Center.

"We feel a professional obligation to the people of Southern California to make the buildings we construct as safe as possible," said Robert Englekirk.

"We are convinced that through full-scale experimental testing, we can improve our design methodologies, and as a consequence produce safer and more economical buildings."

The Englekirk Center is an expansion of the Charles Lee Powell Structural Research Laboratories at UCSD, which are known world-wide for large-scale seismic safety tests of buildings and bridges.