Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Structures Group

The Structures Group provides performance prediction tools to reduce the vulnerability of building and infrastructure systems to extreme events (e.g., wind, fire, earthquake, impact, blast) through cost-effective reliability-based multi-hazard approaches.

The group: (1) conducts laboratory, field, and analytical research in the areas of wind engineering and coastal inundation, structural fire safety design and retrofit, mitigation of progressive structural collapse, nondestructive evaluation, and performance of structural materials and connections; (2) provides guidance, tools, and science-based criteria for vulnerability assessment, design, and retrofit applications; (3) conducts disaster and failure investigations; and (4) supports the technical information needs of federal agencies in formulating national policies related to building and infrastructure applications.

STAFF DIRECTORY

News and Updates

Projects and Programs

Resilient Infrastructure and Future Hazard Impacts: Windstorms

Ongoing
Objective By 2026, publish A Roadmap to Advance Standards for the Built Environment Subject to Future Hazards and Conditions. By 2028, have provisions for future wind hazards incorporated into the ASCE 7-28 Standard for Minimum Design Loads on Buildings and Other Structures. Technical Idea Engineers...

Windstorms and Tornadoes: Hazard Characterization and Structural Design

Ongoing
Objective To significantly reduce the loss of life and property caused by extreme wind events and to enhance the resilience of American communities through improved characterization of extreme windstorms and tornadoes, development of performance-based design methods for extreme winds, and...

Publications

Awards

Marc Levitan Received the Distinguished Engineer Award

​The TTU's Distinguished Engineer Award was established during the 1966–1967 academic year to recognize the most outstanding former students of the Whitacre College of Engineering. Since that time, 230 former students of the Whitacre College of...

2022 Gold Medal Award---Levitan and Phan

Awarded for achievements in science and engineering. The group is recognized for technical innovations in conceiving and developing probabilistic tornado hazard maps and tornado load methodology for the United States. These first-of-a-kind maps...
Was this page helpful?