Jorge Gutierrez is R&D Director for Holcim Corporation of Costa Rica. He is a former Director of the National Laboratory for Materials and Structural Models (LANAMME) and Emeritus Professor of the School of Civil Engineering, both at the University of Costa Rica. From 1994 to 1996 he served as the University Vice-Rector for Research.
He holds a Civil Engineering degree from University of Costa Rica (1970) and a M.Sc (1973) and a Ph.D. (1976) in Structures and Earthquake Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in structural analysis, dynamics and earthquake resistant design and has been academic supervisor to more than 50 student dissertations.
His research and professional practice is concerned with the broad field of protection of buildings and civil infrastructure against earthquakes, including earthquake analysis and design methodologies and its implementation in seismic codes, earthquake response of low income housing and special structures, and seismic upgrading of historic buildings. He has more than 50 papers and reports on these subjects.
Jorge is a founding member and past Chairman (1998-2006) of the Costa Rican Seismic Code Committee, a permanent professional body created in 1973 in charge of the country’s seismic regulations. He drafted the first two editions of the Code (1974 and 1986) and directed the draft of the last edition (2002). He is also a founding member and former President (1986-1988) of the Costa Rican Structural and Earthquake Engineering Association. From 1988 to 1994 he was R&D Director of the Costa Rican Bamboo Project, a United Nations (UNDP) project that introduced bamboo as a construction material for social housing. and from 1997 to 2003 he was a member of the board of the Costa Rican National Council for Research on Science and Technology (CONICIT).
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