People: Senior Principals
David Bonneville
- B.S. Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1979
- M.S. Structural Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1980
Registration
- California—Civil Engineer, 1978
License No. 27717 - California—Structural Engineer, 1981
License No. 2355 - Other Registrations: Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, Nevada and Puerto Rico
Professional Affiliations
- Structural Engineers Association of Northern California: Fellow, Past President, Past Chair of Seismology Committee
- Structural Engineers Association of California: Fellow, Past Director, Past Chair of Seismology Committee
- National Council of Structural Engineers Associations: Past Chair of Seismic Code Advisory Committee and Code Advisory Committee. 2007 Delahay Award Recipient
- California Building Standards Commission: Chair of Lateral Forces Advisory Committee
- Building Seismic Safety Council: Vice Chair of Board of Directors; Member of Code Resource Support Committee
- American Society of Civil Engineers: Member of ASCE-7 Seismic Task Committee
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute: BSSC Liaison
- American Concrete Institute
Projects
- Hewlett-Packard Company, Corporate Seismic Program
- Agilent Technologies, Corporate Seismic Program
- Intel Corporate Seismic Program
- Western Digital Seismic Program
- State of California Department of General Services Seismic Upgrade Program
- US General Services Administration Seismic Program
David offers considerable expertise in seismic hazard reduction programs for corporate and government clients. Primary areas of specialization include the science and technology and government sectors. David has been an active contributor to the seismic code development process in California and nationally and holds positions on key committees influencing seismic engineering practices in the United States. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Building Seismic Safety Council and a member of its Code Resource Support Committee. He is a long time member and current Chair of the Lateral Forces Advisory Committee for the California Building Standards Commission. He is past Chair of the Seismic Code Advisory Committee for the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations and recipient of its 2007 Delahay Award for outstanding contributions to building code development. He is a member of the ASCE 7 Seismic Task Committee. David is past Chair of the Seismology Committee for the Structural Engineers Association of California and became a SEAOC Fellow in 2007.
Engineering Philosophy:
I was mentored in the early years of my career by an extraordinary old engineer named Mike Pregnoff. He kept a quote by Aristotle on his wall that read: “It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the nature of the subject admits and not to seek for exactness where only an approximation is possible.” To me that means that the most elegant solution is often the one that eliminates the problem rather than the one that analyzes the heck out of it. We’re now capable in structural engineering of analyzing structural system behavior at a level that has advanced well beyond our knowledge of the ground motion at the site. We should keep that in mind and make good decisions for our clients.
Virtues:
Practicing each day with the attitude that we’re in business to serve our clients. Understanding that the success of the firm requires that we develop our staff to replace us. Appreciating that we’re more fortunate than most and we should give something valuable back to society.
Vices:
I’m more than willing to spend 30 minutes to avoid waiting in a 5-minute line. There are many more but I lost the list on top of my desk.
Favorite Project:
Building a group of people who can build something I can’t build myself.
Special Interests:
I’m looking to trade in my 10th motorcycle in the last five years for my 11th and planning to take my latest sail boat on a cruise with my hot new wife. Wait, that’s my brother. I’m the one who majored in engineering, works in his garden and cooks Sunday dinners for the family.