Richard M. Drake: Senior Project Engineer

Mr. Drake has over 30 years of experience in the design and construction of industrial, commercial, telecom, and nuclear fuel cycle facilities. During this time, he has designed structures of carbon steel, concrete, stainless steel, masonry and timber materials. He has also been actively involved in the seismic analysis, design and qualification of commercial and industrial structures, commercial and industrial equipment and nonstructural facility components.

Mr. Drake has extensive structural investigation experience including evaluation of existing structural integrity; identification of structural deterioration and/or damage; determination of the causes of structural problems; and preparing and plans for repair of facilities. Mr. Drake is well versed in the area of structural system models and associated design techniques utilizing the latest computer applications, RISA, ETABS, RISABASE, etc.

Mr. Drake has led several post-earthquake damage assessments after major California earthquakes for the United States Postal Service and other confidential financial clients. These assessments, and subsequent repair recommendations, addressed both structural and nonstructural systems.

Mr. Drake has authored several papers on the subject of seismic qualification of equipment and nonstructural components. He formerly served on the United States Building Seismic Safety Commission (BSSC) Technical Committee 8, responsible for the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) Seismic Provisions for Architectural, Mechanical, and Electrical components. The design force equations in the 1994 and 1997 NEHRP Provisions are based on his research and published papers. These equations were included in the 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC) and with slight modifications, the 2003 International Building Code (IBC). He served as a technical consultant in the area of nonstructural components for the "Built To Resist Earthquakes" training curriculum, prepared jointly by the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) for the California Seismic Safety Commission.

Mr. Drake is regarded as a world-class expert on state-of-the-art structural steel design methods. He currently teaches both graduate and undergraduate structural steel design courses at California Polytechnic  University, Pomona, California.

Registrations
Structural Engineer: California, S2931
Civil Engineer: California, C27824 - Alaska, CE5619

Education
B.S. Civil Engineering: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, 1974
M.S. Administration: University of California, Irvine, California, 1980