The Institute of Engineering Mechanics (IEM), China Earthquake Administration (CEA), formerly the Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was established in 1954. The founding director is Professor LIU Huixian, the founder of earthquake engineering of China. Thereafter, Professors HU Yuxian, XIE Junfei, XIE Lili, FENG Qimin, Qi Xiaozhai, WANG Zifa and SUN Baitao all had been directors. The present director is Professor LI Shanyou, and the honorary director is Professor XIE Lili.

IEM is one of the national non-profit research institutes in China. Our main research fields are earthquake engineering, safety engineering and disaster reduction and mitigation. At present, IEM have eight research divisions of Engineering Seismology Research Center, Structural Engineering Research Center, Urban Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Research Center, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Strong-Motion Observation Center, Earthquake Engineering Experimental Center, Science & Technology Periodical Department, Transformation Center for Scientific & Technological Achievements, and one key laboratory of CEA, the Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration.

IEM has 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Science, 5 academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and more than 120 professors and associate professors. As a key base of graduate training of CEA, approximately 30 doctoral candidates, 120 master candidates, and several postdoctoral fellows are recruited annually and over 500 Ph.D./M.S. candidates working and studying here.

During the 60 years of history, IEM has made important contributions to our country in the field of earthquake prevention and earthquake disaster reduction. In recent years, the institute has undertaken many important projects of the National Key Basic Research Development Program, National Science and Technology Support Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation, and has obtained a number of significant scientific achievements.

Through active academic exchange and cooperation with research agencies of many countries and regions, IEM has established good cooperative relationships with research counterparts. IEM’s library also has long cooperation with famous universities and research organizations in the world. Now the library has about 60,000 volumes of books, and subscribes over 100 kinds of magazines, many E-journals and databases.

The institute hosts 4 journals, 1 in English Journal and three in Chinese. The 3 Chinese Journals, Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Dynamics, Journal of Natural Disaster, and World Earthquake Engineering are national core journals, and the English journal, Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration has been entered both Science Citation Index (SCI) and Engineering Index (EI) database.

The institute has two campuses, Harbin campus (the headquarters), and Yanjiao campus (the experimental base, near Beijing). IEM’s Earthquake Engineering Experimental Center (EEEC) is currently the most comprehensive large-scale seismic engineering laboratory in China, consisting of four sections: Structural Laboratory, Seismic Simulation Laboratory (Shaking Table Array), Centrifuge Laboratory, and Geodynamics Laboratory. The EEEC is equipped with world-class experimental facilities aimed at improving the safety and resilience of civil engineering and urban communities, such as: 1) an array of three shaking tables with platforms of 5 m*5 m, 3.5 m*3.5 m and 3.5 m*3.5 m, 2) a 5.5 m-radius dynamic centrifuge with a shaking table of 1500 kg payload, 3) a pseudo-dynamic testing system with a 6DOF boundary loading devices, 4) a large scale metrological verification platform of seismic mitigation and isolation devices, 5) nonstructural element earthquake response simulators; and 6) various micro observation and material testing apparatus.