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Resilience

Disaster & failure studies

NCST Advisory Committee Members

Committee Member	Title and Organization
Ross Corotis (Chair)	Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, Boulder, CO Term Expires: September 30, 2023 Dr. Ross Corotis is a member of the National Academy of Engineering with a background in structural mechanics and stochastic vibrations. Dr. Corotis' primary research interests are in the application of probabilistic modeling in design, new methods of reliability assessment, optimization of structures, and innovations in engineering education. He has also conducted research regarding the coordinated roles of engineering and social science with respect to framing and communicating societal investments for long-term risks and resiliency. He began his career as a faculty member at Northwestern University, where he served for eleven years. In 1981, Dr. Corotis took a position with the Johns Hopkins University, where he re-established and chaired the Department of Civil Engineering until becoming Associate Dean in 1990. In 1994, Dr. Corotis accepted the position of Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder. In 2001, Dr. Corotis took a position as a professor at the CU Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering where he currently resides.
José Izquierdo-Encarnación (Vice-Chair)	Principal, PORTICUS, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico Term Expires: September 30, 2026 José Izquierdo-Encarnación has over 35 years of experience as a civil engineer specializing in structural engineering. Puerto Rico. For the past 25 years he has worked in the international field of engineering, becoming president of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) from 2003 to 2004. He has held several professional, civic, and public positions in Puerto Rico, including serving as Secretary of State and Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for the Commonwealth, as well as President and Board member of the Institute of Engineers and Land Surveyors. Mr. Izquierdo-Encarnación has also served as a Board member and Vice President of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce and Trustee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.
Reginald DesRoches	President, Rice University, Houston, TX Term Expires: September 30, 2023 Dr. DesRoches has published over 150 articles in the general areas of earthquake engineering and seismic risk assessment and has given over 100 presentations in 30 different countries on his work. Dr. DesRoches served as a key technical leader for the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and was a member of an early response team which traveled to Haiti immediately following the earthquake to conduct critical building safety assessments for the United Nations. He later led a team of 28 engineers, architects, city planners, and social scientists to study the impact of the earthquake. This deployment resulted in a series of recommendations on the recovery and rebuilding of Haiti, and was the foundation for the Earthquake Spectra special issue on the Haiti earthquake, which consisted of a compilation of research papers on the lessons learned from the Haiti earthquake. Dr. DesRoches currently serves as an Executive Committee Member of the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Risk, Resilience, and Extreme Events, and served as Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Seismic Effects Committee from 2006 to 2010. Dr. DesRoches has received numerous awards for his work in the engineering field, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2002. The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. In 2015 Dr. DesRoches was inducted into Berkeley’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni from Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Donald Dusenberry	Consulting Engineer, Wakefield, MA Term Expires: August 31, 2025 Mr. Dusenberry is a licensed professional engineer in over 15 states and owns his own engineering consulting firm. He has over 45 years of professional experience, and in 2021 retired from the engineering mechanics division of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. in Waltham, MA, where he served as Senior Principal. Additionally, Mr. Dusenberry volunteers much of his time with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), where he is a Fellow. During his time with ASCE, he has served on technical committees, standards committees, awards committees, the continuing education committee, and worked as an associate editor for one of the journals. Mr. Dusenberry served on SEI’s Board of Governors for seven years, including two years as President. Before his term on the Board of Governors, he served on the Executive Committee of SEI’s Technical Activities Division for five years.
William Holmes	Senior Consultant, Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco, CA Term Expires: September 30, 2023 Mr. Holmes has over 45 years of professional experience in all aspects of structural design, with a focus on seismic design. Mr. Holmes has been active in local, national, and international professional committees and workshops and in research and development in seismic engineering. In 2017 Mr. Holmes was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his excellence in structural design and leadership in improving the seismic safety of buildings. Mr. Holmes’ leadership experience in the structural engineering field includes his term as President of the Applied Technology Council corporation, serving on the Board of Directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and serving as the Chair of the NIST National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program Provisions Update Committee. Mr. Holmes is also an expert in seismic vulnerability of buildings and loss estimation; he served as the Senior Technical Advisor for the development of FEMA 273, which is the current standard for seismic analysis of buildings and is the basis for state-of-the-art vulnerability calculations. He served on the controlling committee for the development of FEMA’s Hazards U.S. (HAZUS) application since its inception in 1991. HAZUS is a nationally applicable standardized methodology that contains models for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes.
Lori Peek	Professor, Department of Sociology and Director, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder Term Expires: April 2, 2026 Dr. Peek is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Peek has published extensively on the sociology of disaster, with an emphasis on the health and social effects on vulnerable populations. She is author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11, co-author of Children of Katrina and The Continuing Storm: Learning from Katrina, and co-editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora and the Handbook of Environmental Sociology. She has received multiple awards for her scholarly publications, teaching, and service to the discipline of Sociology and the hazards community. In 2021, she was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden and approved by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Institute of Building Sciences. Peek holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder, a M.Ed. from Colorado State University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Ottawa University (summa cum laude).
Kimberly Shoaf	Professor, Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT Term Expires: April 30, 2026 Dr. Kimberley Shoaf is a Professor in the Division of Public Health and Associate Chief for Community-Engaged Scholarship at the University of Utah. Dr. Shoaf is a practice-based public health systems and services researcher utilizing mixed-methods. Her expertise is in the combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for studying disasters. Her research in emergency public health includes the study of the health impacts of various hazards with an emphasis on earthquakes; casualty estimation modeling for earthquakes and other natural and human-induced hazards; the study of public health workforce issues relative to the field of emergency public health; as well as the study of factors related to the resilience of health systems. She has worked with more than 50 local health departments in preparing for a response to disasters through training, assessments, and exercises as well as in the development of written response plans. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Dr. Shoaf was the Associate Director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters, including serving as the principal investigator for the UCLA Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center.
Aspasia Zerva	Professor, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA Term Expires: August 31, 2025 Dr. Aspasia Zerva is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. She previously held appointments as Visiting Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, Visiting Associate under a National Science Foundation (NSF) Visiting Professorship Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education award in Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the California Institute of Technology, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. She also served as Program Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers in the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, Directorate for Engineering, at NSF. Her research interests span the areas of Engineering Seismology, with emphasis on the analysis of seismic spatial strong motion array data, modeling of spatially variable seismic ground motions, wave propagation techniques, and earthquake engineering.

Committee Member

Title and Organization

Ross Corotis

(Chair)

Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, Boulder, CO

Term Expires: September 30, 2023

Dr. Ross Corotis is a member of the National Academy of Engineering with a background in structural mechanics and stochastic vibrations. Dr. Corotis' primary research interests are in the application of probabilistic modeling in design, new methods of reliability assessment, optimization of structures, and innovations in engineering education. He has also conducted research regarding the coordinated roles of engineering and social science with respect to framing and communicating societal investments for long-term risks and resiliency. He began his career as a faculty member at Northwestern University, where he served for eleven years. In 1981, Dr. Corotis took a position with the Johns Hopkins University, where he re-established and chaired the Department of Civil Engineering until becoming Associate Dean in 1990. In 1994, Dr. Corotis accepted the position of Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder. In 2001, Dr. Corotis took a position as a professor at the CU Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering where he currently resides.

José Izquierdo-Encarnación

(Vice-Chair)

Principal, PORTICUS, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico

Term Expires: September 30, 2026

José Izquierdo-Encarnación has over 35 years of experience as a civil engineer specializing in structural engineering. Puerto Rico. For the past 25 years he has worked in the international field of engineering, becoming president of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) from 2003 to 2004. He has held several professional, civic, and public positions in Puerto Rico, including serving as Secretary of State and Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for the Commonwealth, as well as President and Board member of the Institute of Engineers and Land Surveyors. Mr. Izquierdo-Encarnación has also served as a Board member and Vice President of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce and Trustee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

Reginald DesRoches

President, Rice University, Houston, TX

Term Expires: September 30, 2023

Dr. DesRoches has published over 150 articles in the general areas of earthquake engineering and seismic risk assessment and has given over 100 presentations in 30 different countries on his work. Dr. DesRoches served as a key technical leader for the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and was a member of an early response team which traveled to Haiti immediately following the earthquake to conduct critical building safety assessments for the United Nations. He later led a team of 28 engineers, architects, city planners, and social scientists to study the impact of the earthquake. This deployment resulted in a series of recommendations on the recovery and rebuilding of Haiti, and was the foundation for the Earthquake Spectra special issue on the Haiti earthquake, which consisted of a compilation of research papers on the lessons learned from the Haiti earthquake. Dr. DesRoches currently serves as an Executive Committee Member of the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Risk, Resilience, and Extreme Events, and served as Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Seismic Effects Committee from 2006 to 2010. Dr. DesRoches has received numerous awards for his work in the engineering field, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2002. The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. In 2015 Dr. DesRoches was inducted into Berkeley’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni from Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Donald Dusenberry

Consulting Engineer, Wakefield, MA

Term Expires: August 31, 2025

Mr. Dusenberry is a licensed professional engineer in over 15 states and owns his own engineering consulting firm. He has over 45 years of professional experience, and in 2021 retired from the engineering mechanics division of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. in Waltham, MA, where he served as Senior Principal. Additionally, Mr. Dusenberry volunteers much of his time with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), where he is a Fellow. During his time with ASCE, he has served on technical committees, standards committees, awards committees, the continuing education committee, and worked as an associate editor for one of the journals. Mr. Dusenberry served on SEI’s Board of Governors for seven years, including two years as President. Before his term on the Board of Governors, he served on the Executive Committee of SEI’s Technical Activities Division for five years.

William Holmes

Senior Consultant, Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco, CA

Term Expires: September 30, 2023

Mr. Holmes has over 45 years of professional experience in all aspects of structural design, with a focus on seismic design. Mr. Holmes has been active in local, national, and international professional committees and workshops and in research and development in seismic engineering. In 2017 Mr. Holmes was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his excellence in structural design and leadership in improving the seismic safety of buildings. Mr. Holmes’ leadership experience in the structural engineering field includes his term as President of the Applied Technology Council corporation, serving on the Board of Directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and serving as the Chair of the NIST National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program Provisions Update Committee. Mr. Holmes is also an expert in seismic vulnerability of buildings and loss estimation; he served as the Senior Technical Advisor for the development of FEMA 273, which is the current standard for seismic analysis of buildings and is the basis for state-of-the-art vulnerability calculations. He served on the controlling committee for the development of FEMA’s Hazards U.S. (HAZUS) application since its inception in 1991. HAZUS is a nationally applicable standardized methodology that contains models for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes.

Lori Peek

Professor, Department of Sociology and Director, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder

Term Expires: April 2, 2026

Dr. Peek is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Peek has published extensively on the sociology of disaster, with an emphasis on the health and social effects on vulnerable populations. She is author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11, co-author of Children of Katrina and The Continuing Storm: Learning from Katrina, and co-editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora and the Handbook of Environmental Sociology. She has received multiple awards for her scholarly publications, teaching, and service to the discipline of Sociology and the hazards community. In 2021, she was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden and approved by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Institute of Building Sciences. Peek holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder, a M.Ed. from Colorado State University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Ottawa University (summa cum laude).

Kimberly Shoaf

Professor, Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT

Term Expires: April 30, 2026

Dr. Kimberley Shoaf is a Professor in the Division of Public Health and Associate Chief for Community-Engaged Scholarship at the University of Utah. Dr. Shoaf is a practice-based public health systems and services researcher utilizing mixed-methods. Her expertise is in the combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for studying disasters. Her research in emergency public health includes the study of the health impacts of various hazards with an emphasis on earthquakes; casualty estimation modeling for earthquakes and other natural and human-induced hazards; the study of public health workforce issues relative to the field of emergency public health; as well as the study of factors related to the resilience of health systems. She has worked with more than 50 local health departments in preparing for a response to disasters through training, assessments, and exercises as well as in the development of written response plans. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Dr. Shoaf was the Associate Director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters, including serving as the principal investigator for the UCLA Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center.

Aspasia Zerva

Professor, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Term Expires: August 31, 2025

Dr. Aspasia Zerva is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. She previously held appointments as Visiting Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, Visiting Associate under a National Science Foundation (NSF) Visiting Professorship Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education award in Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the California Institute of Technology, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. She also served as Program Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers in the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, Directorate for Engineering, at NSF. Her research interests span the areas of Engineering Seismology, with emphasis on the analysis of seismic spatial strong motion array data, modeling of spatially variable seismic ground motions, wave propagation techniques, and earthquake engineering.

Resilience and Disaster and failure studies

Created October 26, 2011, Updated July 20, 2023