Prof. BOMMER JULIAN J.

Date of Birth: 19 July 1964

POSITION

  • Professor of Earthquake Risk Assessment
  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Imperial College London, UK


EDUCATION

  • Imperial College, University of London (UK), PhD Engineering Seismology, 1991
  • Imperial College, University of London (UK), MSc/DIC Soil Mechanics and Engineering Seismology, 1986
  • Imperial College, University of London (UK), BSc Civil Engineering (1st Class Honours), 1985


ACADEMIC HISTORY AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • 1994-date Lecturer, Senior Lecturer (1999), Reader (2002) and Professor (2006), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London
  • 1993-1994 Lecturer and Researcher in Engineering Seismology, Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas”, San Salvador, El Salvador
  • 1987-1992 Research Associate, Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College, London
  • 1986-1987 Geotechnical Design Engineer, Rendel Palmer & Tritton, Consulting Engineers


TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • 10 years of experience teaching Engineering Seismology, Seismic Hazard Assessment, and Engineering Risk Analysis for undergraduate and postgraduate students at Imperial College London and the ROSE School, Pavia, Italy.
  • Organised and contributed to Short Courses on Earthquake Resistant Design at Imperial College in 1996 and 1999.
  • Recipient of Award for Excellence in Teaching from Imperial College London in 2002.
  • Appointed Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London in 2004.


PUBLICATIONS
Authored and co-authored more than 100 publications in scientific journals, international conferences, book chapters and technical reports. Selected recent journal publications include:

  • Bommer, J.J., G. Georgallides & I.J. Tromans (2001). Is there a near-field for small-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes? Journal of Earthquake Engineering 5(3), 395-423.
  • Bommer, J.J. & C. Ruggeri (2002). The specification of acceleration time-histories in seismic design codes. European Earthquake Engineering 16(1), 3-17.
  • Bommer, J.J. & C.E. Rodríguez (2002). Earthquake-induced landslides in Central America. Engineering Geology 63(3/4), 189-220.
  • Murphy, W., D.N. Petley, J.J. Bommer & J.M. Mankelow (2002). Uncertainty in ground motion estimates of slope stability during earthquakes. Symposium in Print on Landslides, Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 35(1), 71-78.
  • Bommer, J.J. (2002). Deterministic vs. probabilistic seismic hazard assessment: an exaggerated and obstructive dichotomy. Journal of Earthquake Engineering 6 (Special Issue 1), 43-73.
  • Bommer, J., R. Spence, M. Erdik, S. Tabuchi, N. Aydinoglu, E. Booth, D. del Re & O. Peterken (2002). Development of an earthquake loss model for Turkish catastrophe insurance. Journal of Seismology 6(3), 431-446.
  • Bommer, J., B. Benito, M. Ciudad-Real, A. Lemoine, M. Lopez-Menjivar, R. Madariaga, J. Mankelow, P. Mendez de Hasbun, W.
  • Murphy, M. Lovo-Nieto, C. Rodríguez-Pineda & H. Rosa (2002). The El Salvador earthquakes of January and February 2001: Context, characteristics and implications for seismic risk. Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering 22(5), 389-418.
  • Rey, J., E. Faccioli & J. Bommer (2002). Derivation of design soil coefficient (S) and response spectral shapes for Eurocode 8 using the European Strong-Motion Database. Journal of Seismology 6(4), 547-555.
  • Rolo, R., J. Bommer, B.F. Houghton, J.W. Vallance, P. Berdousis, C. Mavrommati & W. Murphy (2004). Geologic and engineering characterization of Tierra Blanca pyroclastic ash. In Natural Hazards in El Salvador, GSA Special Paper 375, Geological Society of America, 55-67.
  • López, M., J. Bommer & R. Pinho (2004). Seismic hazard assessments, seismic design codes and earthquake engineering in El Salvador. In Natural Hazards in El Salvador, GSA Special Paper 375, Geological Society of America, 301-320.
  • Bommer, J.J. & D.M. Boore (2004). Engineering Seismology. In: Encyclopedia of Geology, Academic Press (invited contribution)
  • Bommer, J.J. (2003). Uncertainty about the uncertainty in seismic hazard analysis. Engineering Geology 70(1/2), 165-168.
  • Restrepo-Vélez, L.F. & J.J. Bommer (2003). An exploration of the nature of the scatter in ground-motion prediction equations and the implications for seismic hazard assessment. Journal of Earthquake Engineering 7(special issue 1), 171-199.
  • Spence, R., J. Bommer, D. del Re, J. Bird, N. Aydinoğlu & S. Tabuchi (2003). Comparing loss estimation with observed damage: a study of the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake in Turkey. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 1(1), 83-113.
  • Bommer, J.J., J. Douglas & F.O. Strasser (2003). Style-of-faulting in ground motion prediction equations. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 1(2), 171-203.
  • Bommer, J.J., N.A. Abrahamson, F.O. Strasser, A. Pecker, P-Y. Bard, H. Bungum, F. Cotton, D. Faeh, F. Sabetta, F. Scherbaum & J.
  • Studer (2004). The challenge of defining the upper limits on earthquake ground motions. Seismological Research Letters 70(1), 82-95.
  • Bommer, J.J., G. Maegenes, J. Hancock & P. Penazzo (2004). The influence of strong-motion duration on the seismic response of masonry structure. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 2(1), in press.
  • Bommer, J.J. & A.B. Acevedo (2004). The use of real earthquake accelerograms as input to dynamic analysis. Journal of Earthquake Engineering 8 (Special Issue 1), in press