EERI members include researchers, geologists, geotechnical engineers, educators, government officials, and building code regulators.

It quickly became its own independent, nonprofit organization, with the purpose of studying why buildings fail under earthquake disasters, and what methods can prevent these failures.

EERI focused more on identifying and investigating areas in need of research, and policymaking based on the university's lab results.

In 1991, EERI began receiving funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to continue publishing information on how to reduce damage from earthquakes.

EERI also publishes many other types of information, including a monthly newsletter, the Connections oral history series, and field investigation reports.

In 2006 an engineering firm related to the EERI has projected over $122 billion in damage, if a repeat of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake occurs.

[3] Since 2008 the EERI and SLC have held the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition, which was previously run by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER).