Professor Jonathan D. Bray, Ph.D., P.E., NAE has been appointed as a member of the Seismic Advisory Board for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA). The Seismic Advisory Board was created as a recommendation of the Governor’s Board of Inquiry following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Caltrans established the Caltrans Seismic Advisory Board to provide advice on seismic safety policy as it applies to the design of transportation structures in California.
The Seismic Advisory Board consists of a maximum of eight members appointed by the Director of Caltrans to assure balanced representation among pre-eminent scientists, engineers, researchers, and policy experts assembled from both the private and public sector. In 2016 Caltrans agreed to expand the expertise of the Seismic Advisory Board to review seismic design guidance for the CHSRA. Hence, the expertise of the Seismic Advisory Board now reflects the full breadth of Caltrans’ and CHSRA’s responsibilities for the seismic safety of transportation structures. Prof. Bray is providing expertise in the area of geotechnical earthquake engineering with a focus on bridge foundations, tunnels, slopes, and earth retaining structures.