The Chair

Mission statement

Research - The Chair of Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (SDEE) carries out fundamental and applied research on reducing seismic risks and increasing the resilience of structures and infrastructure systems that make up the built environment of communities. Building on the fundamentals of structural dynamics and seismic design, the we work to expand the notion of probabilistic performance-based design and evaluation from stand-alone single elements of the built environment to portfolios of structures and systems of functionally interconnected entities. Such a systemic approach is aimed at developing and implementing community-level probabilistic performance-based seismic design and evaluation of seismic risk and resilience.

Teaching - SDEE Chair is responsible for the Master’s level curriculum in advanced statics, structural dynamic and seismic design of structures. We offer demanding multi-faceted courses where we challenge the students to apply the acquired theoretical basic knowledge to solve practical design problems, to establish a portfolio of digital modeling and computer-based analysis tools they can take to their first job, and to think critically so that they are ready to adapt to innovations, adopt new technologies and move the engineering practice forward during their career.

Service - Members of the SDEE Chair actively participate in ETH, D-BAUG and IBK governance. We transfer research findings to practice through the ETH Risk Center and IBK workshops and seminars, as well as by working in the national and international design code committees. We provide top-level consulting in the fields of seismic design and evaluation of structures and infrastructure systems, and structural vibration mitigation.