Peter J. May is professor of political science at the University of Washington where he
is also affiliated with the Center for American Politics and Public Policy and the Evans
School of Public Affairs. He has published widely concerning policy design and
implementation, environmental regulation, and natural hazards policies.

May's current research includes a study of compliance motivations for water quality
regulations (funded by the EPA) and a study of implementation considerations for
performance-based seismic regulations (funded by the Pacific Engineering Reseach
Center, an NSF funded engineering research center). Recently completed research
projects include studies of compliance with and regulatory enforcement of building codes
in the United States; a comparative study of environmental management in the United
States, Australia, and New Zealand; and collaboration in a study of ago-environmental
regulation in Denmark. May's extensive research on United States disaster and risk
reduction policy, beginning with the eruption of Mount St. Helens, has resulted in a
variety of articles and four books. May has served on a National Research Council
panels addressing landslide policy and management of earthquake risks. He has also
served on the board of directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, as a
Fulbright scholar in Australia, and as a visiting scholar in Denmark. He is currently a
member of the research committee of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research
Center of the University of California, Berkeley.


Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications

Books:
Environmental Management and Governance: Intergovernmental Approaches to Hazards
and Sustainability (London and New York: Routledge Press, 1996); Peter J. May,
Raymond J. Burby, et al.

Disaster Policy Implementation: Management Strategies Under Shared Governance
(New York: Plenum Press, 1986); Peter J. May and Walter Williams.

Recovering From Catastrophes: Federal Disaster Relief Policy and Politics
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985).

Articles/Chapters:
"At the Regulatory Frontlines: Inspectors' Enforcement Styles and Regulatory
Compliance," Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, forthcoming 2003,
Peter J. May and Robert C. Wood.

"Making Choices About Earthquake Performance," Natural Hazards Review, in press
2003.

"Social Regulation" in Lester Salamon ed. Tools of Government: A Guide to the New
Governance Oxford University Press, 2002: 156-185.

"Motivation for Compliance with Environmental Regulations," Journal of Policy Analysis
and Management 20 (Fall 2001): 675-698. Søren C. Winter and Peter J. May.

"Societal Perspectives About Earthquake Risk: The Fallacy of 'Acceptable Risk',"
Earthquake Spectra 17 (4) (November 2001): 725-737.

"Reconsidering Styles of Regulatory Enforcement: Patterns in Danish Agro-
Environmental Inspection," Law and Policy 22 (April 2000): 143-173. Peter J. May
and Søren Winter.

"Regulatory Backwaters: Earthquake Risk Reduction in the Western United States,"
State and Local Governmental Review, 32 (Winter 2000): 20-33. Peter J. May and T.
Jens Feeley

"Policy Design for Earthquake Hazard Mitigation: Lessons from Energy Conservation,
Radon Reduction, and Termite Control," Earthquake Spectra, vol. 14 (November 1998):
629-650; Peter J. May, Raymond J. Burby, and Howard Kunreuther.

"State Regulatory Roles: Choices in the Regulation of Building Safety," State and Local
Government Review 29 (Spring 1997): 70-80.

"Earthquake Risk Reduction: An Examination of Local Regulatory Efforts,"
Environmental Management 18, 6 (1994): 923-937; Peter J. May and Thomas A.
Birkland.

"Analyzing Mandate Design: State Mandates Governing Hazard-Prone Areas," Publius:
The Journal of Federalism, 24 (Spring 1994): 1-16.