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Building Seismic Safety Council
The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) deals with the complex technical, regulatory, social and economic issues involved in developing and promulgating building earthquake risk mitigation provisions. Established in 1979, the council’s purpose is to enhance public safety by providing a national forum that fosters improved seismic planning, design, construction and regulation in the building community.
In 1977, Congress passed the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act to protect the lives of building occupants, during an earthquake and mitigate the impact of such disasters on the national economy. The law established the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). BSSC, under contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), develops and maintains a key resource — the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures. The Provisions are used as the primary resource for the professional design standard ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures.
Evaluation
To evaluate research findings, practices, and fields investigations to aid in developing seismic safety provisions
Education
To provide ongoing education for structural design professionals through training materials, webinars, workshops and colloquia; and provide education outreach on seismic design and construction to the non-technical building community and the general public
Outreach
To promote the adoption of provisions by the national standards and model building codes, and advise government bodies on their programs of research, development and implementation.
Membership
BSSC's success with the Provisions is due to the efforts of its members and volunteer experts, including engineers, seismologists, architects, academics, researchers, code officials, manufacturers and suppliers.
Officers
Chair
Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD
President, American Institute of Steel Construction
Vice Chair
Kent Yu, PhD, SE
Principal, SEFT Consulting Group
Secretary
Roberto Leon, P.E., PhD
Professor, Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech
Member at Large
Craig A. Davis, PhD, PE, GE
Water System Resilience Program Manager & Seismic Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (retired)
Member at Large
Joann Browning, PhD, PE
Dean, College of Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio
Past Chair
James Cagley, PE, SE
President, Cagley & Associates
Board of Directors Liaison
Dr. Sez Ratamturktur Russcher
Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering, Penn State
Staff Liaison
Jiqiu (JQ) Yuan, PhD, PE, PMP
Executive Director, Multi-Hazard Mitigation and BSSC, National Institute of Building Sciences
2026 NEHRP PROVISIONS UPDATE COMMITTEE (PUC)
The NEHRP Recommended Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures embodies the state–of–knowledge criteria for the design and construction of buildings subject to earthquake hazards. The techniques and technologies contained in this resource document are diffused into several national standards, including the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE–7 Design Standard for Minimum Loads that are referenced by the model building codes developed by the International Code Council (ICC).
The Provisions are developed by the Provisions Update Committee (PUC), a technical committee of seismic experts that identify and apply the most advanced seismic technology available. The committee is supported by expert Issue Teams (ITs) that address specific aspects of seismic design methodology and construction. These committee and team members ensure that lessons learned from the building performance during the earthquakes, as well as new research to improve earthquake resistance, are reflected in state–of–the–art seismic requirements. The ITs develop proposals for requirements that are balloted by the PUC according to BSSC's consensus process, and subsequently balloted by its Professional Organizations (POs).
PUC Committee Members
| Member | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| John Hooper | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | Chair |
| Robert Pekelnicky | Degenkolb Engineers | Vice Chair |
| Kelly Cobeen | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. | Voting Member |
| Daniel Dolan | Washington State University | Voting Member |
| S.K. Ghosh | S. K. Ghosh Associates LLC | Voting Member |
| Emily Guglielmo | Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers | Voting Member |
| James Harris | J. R. Harris & Company | Voting Member |
| Jon Heintz | Applied Technology Council | Voting Member |
| John Hochwalt | KPFF CONSULTING ENGINEERS | Voting Member |
| Sandy Hohener | Degenkolb Engineers | Voting Member |
| Gyimah Kasali | RUTHERFORD + CHEKENE | Voting Member |
| Dominic Kelly | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. | Voting Member |
| Ryan Kersting | BUEHLER | Voting Member |
| Charlie Kircher | Kircher & Associates | Voting Member |
| Abbie Liel | University of Colorado Boulder | Voting Member |
| Philp Line | American Wood Council | Voting Member |
| Bret Lizundia | RUTHERFORD + CHEKENE | Voting Member |
| Bonnie Manley | American Iron and Steel Institute | Voting Member |
| Farzad Naeim | FARZAD NAEIM, INC. | Voting Member |
| Jim Malley | Degenkolb Engineers | Voting Member |
| Debra Murphy | Slate Geotechnical Consultants | Voting Member |
| Amit Varma | Purdue University | Voting Member |
| Rafael Sabelli | Walter P Moore | Voting Member |
| John Silva | Hilti North America | Voting Member |
| Greg Soules | CB&I Storage Solutions | Voting Member |
| Jonathan Stewart | University of California, Los Angeles | Voting Member |
| Paul Summers | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. | Voting Member |
| Reid Zimmerman | KPFF CONSULTING ENGINEERS | Voting Member |
| To be updated | Corresponding Members | |
| Robert Hanson | Federal Emergency Management Agency | FEMA Technical Advisor |
| Mai (Mike) Tong | Federal Emergency Management Agency | FEMA Project Officer and Liaison |
| Christina Aronson | Federal Emergency Management Agency | FEMA Liaison |
| Nico Luco | U.S. Geological Survey | USGS Liaison |
| Sanaz Rezaeian | U.S. Geological Survey | USGS Liaison |
| Andrew Makdisi | U.S. Geological Survey | USGS Liaison |
| Steven McCabe | National Institute of Standards and Technology | NIST Liaison |
| Jiqiu (JQ) Yuan | National Institute of Building Sciences | BSSC Executive Director |
2026 PUC ISSUE TEAMS (TO BE FORMED AND UPDATED)
2026 BSSC PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (TO BE FORMED AND UPDATED)
2015-2020 NEHRP PROVISIONS CYCLEReports
The NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures serves as the starting point for updates to U.S. seismic code provisions. The recommendations are reviewed, codified,…View ( ; 144 pgs)
The Design Examples are developed to illustrate and explain the applications of the 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (FEMA P-2082), ASCE/SEI 7-22…View ( ; 457 pgs)
The Training Materials contains a set of slides for use with Volume I Design Examples. They are developed to correspond to each chapter in the Volume I Design Examples to provide background…View ( ; 836 pgs)
The Design Flow Charts contains a series of flow charts to help practicing engineers better understand the provisions in the 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other…View ( ; 35 pgs)
The NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures plays a key role to introduce best available science and research results into the development and improvement of the…View ( ; 97 pgs)
The 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (NEHRP Provisions) marks the 10th edition of this landmark publication since the creation of the National…
This web-based interface tool is to allow users to preview seismic design map and related parameter values proposed for the 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other…View ( ; 1 pgs)
As part of its efforts to regularly update the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures, the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) is charged by the Federal…View ( ; 84 pgs)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) act cooperatively to develop the seismic design value maps. The current maps have…View ( ; 143 pgs)
A Part III Resource Paper approved for the 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Building and Other Structures addresses the potential relationship between future NEHRP Provisions and…View ( ; 24 pgs)
This report, prepared at the outset of the 2020 NEHRP Provisions development cycle, presents some important background on the NEHRP Provisions development process and summarizes the results of the…View ( ; 112 pgs)
On November 28, 2016, a Project 17 Workshop on Seismic Hazard Mapping was organized and presented by the Project 17 Committee of BSSC. The workshop was sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management…View ( ; 130 pgs)
The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures is a series of publications developed by the BSSC and published by FEMA…
FEMA/BSSC 2020 NEHRP Provisions Design Examples Webinar Series
The webinar series is organized by the eight chapters in the 2020 NEHRP Recommended Provisions: Design Examples, and serves as part the FEMA NEHRP/BSSC outreach and education effort. Registration for the webinar series is free (space is limited). CEUs (for AIA and ICC) and certificates of attendance for PDHs and will be provided to those who attend the live webinars. Learn more
BSSC COUNCIL MEETING AND SYMPOSIUM ON 2020 NEHRP PROVISIONS
Developed by the National Institute of Building Sciences Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) Provisions Update Committee (PUC) for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (NEHRP Provisions) help translate new knowledge and recent research results for improving national standards and codes. The Provisions are a state-of-art resource and reference document for design professionals and standard and code-development organizations. Learn more
Should you have any additional questions about the Building Seismic Safety Council or would like to know more about the council's activities, please contact:
Staff Liaison
Jiqiu (JQ) Yuan, PhD, PE, PMP
Executive Director, Multi-Hazard Mitigation and BSSC
National Institute of Building Sciences
37
Companies & Organizations
130
National Subject Matter Experts
50
