Jack Baker’s research is at the forefront of the interface between earthquake seismology and earthquake engineering, focusing on the use of probabilistic and statistical tools for modeling of extreme loads on structures. At Stanford, he has worked on projects involving risk to spatially distributed systems, earthquake ground motion characterization, and predictions of soil failure from earthquakes, among other topics.
He is the director of the Stanford Urban Resilience Initiative, which applies engineering analyses to social impact and human behavior in the context of disasters and extreme events. Baker also has industry experience in seismic hazard assessment, construction management, and modeling of catastrophic losses for insurance companies, in part as co-founder of Haselton Baker Risk Group.
His recent textbook, Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis, was named a PROSE Awards finalist by the Association of American Publishers in 2022. Other honors include the Helmut Krawinkler Award in 2019 from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, and the 2018 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineering.