Karl Romstad, professor emeritus, served as chair of the Civil Engineering Department at UC Davis and as a member of the PEER Board of Directors. His areas of earthquake engineering research included nonlinear dynamic analysis using reduced order models; soil-structure interaction in bridge abutment systems, soil-pile systems and reinforced earth systems; and development of damage calibrated response spectra. Professionally he has served on the CUREE Board, on the SEAOC code development subcommittee for base isolation provisions, as technical program chair at a SEAOC convention, and as chair of an ACSE subcommittee on large structural systems.

Professor Romstad performed teaching and research in structural analysis and structural design, with a particular focus on the seismic behavior of bridge and building structures. Research projects included modeling the mass, stiffness, and damping characteristics of bridge abutments with the goal of improving numerical models predicting bridge response during earthquakes and incorporating duration of earthquake motion into design methodologies to properly characterize induced structural damage during extreme seismic events.

Published research emphasized developing reduced order numerical models which have the capability to accurately estimate nonlinear seismic response of large and complex structures on small computers.

Dr. Romstad has been the recipient of the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, the College of Engineering Alumni Teaching Award, the Magnar Ronning Teaching Award for the College of Engineering and the Outstanding Adviser Award for the College of Engineering.