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Resilience

Disaster and failure studies

NCST Advisory Committee Members

Committee Member	Title and Organization
Donald Dusenberry (Vice Chair)	Consulting Engineer, Wakefield, MA Term Expires: August 31, 2028 Mr. Donald Dusenberry is an engineering consultant and former Senior Principal of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. in Waltham, MA. He has led numerous complex investigations, analyses, and peer reviews of buildings, building components, bridges, and other structures. Mr. Dusenberry is an active participant in professional organizations, including the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, for which he is a former President of the SEI Board of Governors. He also served as President of the Board of the Applied Technology Council. Mr. Dusenberry chaired committees that developed ASCE/SEI 59 Blast Protection of Buildings, and ASCE/SEI 76 Standard for Mitigation of Disproportionate Collapse Potential in Buildings and Other Structures. He has also written extensively on failure investigations and topics such as structural performance under extreme events including blast, fire, and disproportionate collapse.
Kurtis Gurley	Professor, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Term Expires: August 31, 2027 Dr. Kurtis Gurley is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. His primary areas of research are wind effects on residential structures and stochastic modeling of extreme winds and structural resistance. Dr. Gurley has largely focused on modeling the vulnerability of residential structures to hurricane wind damage. Dr. Gurley is an Associate Editor for ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, the Associate Director of the UF Engineering School for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Environment (ESSIE – early faculty development), and the Associate Director of the shared-use UF NSF NHERI Wind Hazard Experimental Facility.
George Guszcza	President and CEO, National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C. Term Expires: August 31, 2029 Dr. George Guszcza is the President and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). Prior to joining NIBS, he served as the Chief Transformation Officer of Michael Baker International, adjunct professor at The George Washington University, and as a strategic advisor to the Middle East Institute’s Board of Directors. He hass over 25 years of experience in the built environment spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors in the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Dr. Guszcza previously held executive roles as the COO (CRO) of the Neal Richards Group and the EVP for Finance and Administration (CFO/CIO) of Adams and Associates. As the founder/CEO of the Aedifos Group, he and his team led the restart of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital project on behalf of Project HOPE and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In 2003, as an active duty US Army Medical Service Corp officer and the National Director of Healthcare Facilities for Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Ministry of Health, Dr. Guszcza led a staff of 3000 architects and engineers to restart 240 hospitals, 10 specialty centers, and 1200 clinics across the country. He has served as the Chair of George Mason University’s Civil Engineering Institute Board of Directors, Treasurer of the Society of American Military Engineers Northern Virginia Post Board of Directors, and on the WiRED International Board of Directors.
John Osteraas	Corporate Vice President & Principal Engineer, Exponent Engineering & Scientific Consulting, Menlo Park, CA Term Expires: August 31, 2027 Dr. John Osteraas is a Senior Fellow and Principal Engineer in Exponent's Civil and Structural Engineering Practice. He specializes in the evaluation of the performance of buildings under extreme loads, including earthquake, wind, flood, landslide, explosion, high-energy impact, and construction failure. His research has focused on performance of structures under seismic loading and full-scale instrumentation and testing of structures under dynamic loading. Dr. Osteraas' expertise in structural and earthquake engineering includes structural safety and damage assessment; structural analysis; soil-structure interaction; seismic site response assessment; and analysis and design of wood, steel, concrete, masonry, and composite systems. Dr. Osteraas is a Fellow the American Society of Civil Engineers and an Honor Member of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. He has also served as a Structures Specialist with FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue program and has been deployed to New Orleans in 2005, the World Trade Center in 2001, and Oklahoma City in 1995 to assist with search and rescue activities.
Randall Poston	Senior Consultant, Pivot Engineers, Austin, TX Term Expires: August 31, 2029 Dr. Randall Poston is an internationally recognized expert in structural engineering and inductee to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He has authored and delivered hundreds of papers and presentations related to the structural engineering industry and championed the repair of existing structures for upwards of 30 years. As past Chair of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 318 Structural Building Code (2008-2014), Dr. Poston oversaw a monumental effort to completely reorganize the concrete code, the first undertaking of its kind in the history of ACI. He has won numerous awards for his code leadership and repair projects. Dr. Poston was selected as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering in 2014, following his election to the Academy of Distinguished Graduates at The University of Texas at Austin Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering in 2008.
Aspasia Zerva	Professor, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA Term Expires: August 31, 2028 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

Donald Dusenberry

(Vice Chair)

Consulting Engineer, Wakefield, MA

Term Expires: August 31, 2028

Mr. Donald Dusenberry is an engineering consultant and former Senior Principal of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. in Waltham, MA. He has led numerous complex investigations, analyses, and peer reviews of buildings, building components, bridges, and other structures. Mr. Dusenberry is an active participant in professional organizations, including the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, for which he is a former President of the SEI Board of Governors. He also served as President of the Board of the Applied Technology Council. Mr. Dusenberry chaired committees that developed ASCE/SEI 59 Blast Protection of Buildings, and ASCE/SEI 76 Standard for Mitigation of Disproportionate Collapse Potential in Buildings and Other Structures. He has also written extensively on failure investigations and topics such as structural performance under extreme events including blast, fire, and disproportionate collapse.

Kurtis Gurley

Professor, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Term Expires: August 31, 2027

Dr. Kurtis Gurley is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. His primary areas of research are wind effects on residential structures and stochastic modeling of extreme winds and structural resistance. Dr. Gurley has largely focused on modeling the vulnerability of residential structures to hurricane wind damage. Dr. Gurley is an Associate Editor for ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, the Associate Director of the UF Engineering School for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Environment (ESSIE – early faculty development), and the Associate Director of the shared-use UF NSF NHERI Wind Hazard Experimental Facility.

George Guszcza

President and CEO, National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C.

Term Expires: August 31, 2029

Dr. George Guszcza is the President and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). Prior to joining NIBS, he served as the Chief Transformation Officer of Michael
Baker International, adjunct professor at The George Washington University, and as a strategic advisor to the Middle East Institute’s Board of Directors. He hass over 25 years of experience in the built environment spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors in the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Dr. Guszcza previously held executive roles as the COO (CRO) of the Neal Richards Group and the EVP for Finance and Administration (CFO/CIO) of Adams and Associates. As the founder/CEO of the Aedifos Group, he and his team led the restart of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital project on behalf of Project HOPE and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In 2003, as an active duty US Army Medical Service Corp officer and the National Director of Healthcare Facilities for Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Ministry of Health, Dr. Guszcza led a staff of 3000 architects and engineers to restart 240 hospitals, 10 specialty centers, and 1200 clinics across the country. He has served as the Chair of George Mason University’s Civil Engineering Institute Board of Directors, Treasurer of the Society of American Military Engineers Northern Virginia Post Board of Directors, and on the WiRED International Board of Directors.

John Osteraas

Corporate Vice President & Principal Engineer, Exponent Engineering & Scientific Consulting, Menlo Park, CA

Term Expires: August 31, 2027

Dr. John Osteraas is a Senior Fellow and Principal Engineer in Exponent's Civil and Structural Engineering Practice. He specializes in the evaluation of the performance of buildings under extreme loads, including earthquake, wind, flood, landslide, explosion, high-energy impact, and construction failure. His research has focused on performance of structures under seismic loading and full-scale instrumentation and testing of structures under dynamic loading. Dr. Osteraas' expertise in structural and earthquake engineering includes structural safety and damage assessment; structural analysis; soil-structure interaction; seismic site response assessment; and analysis and design of wood, steel, concrete, masonry, and composite systems. Dr. Osteraas is a Fellow the American Society of Civil Engineers and an Honor Member of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. He has also served as a Structures Specialist with FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue program and has been deployed to New Orleans in 2005, the World Trade Center in 2001, and Oklahoma City in 1995 to assist with search and rescue activities.

Randall Poston

Senior Consultant, Pivot Engineers, Austin, TX

Term Expires: August 31, 2029

Dr. Randall Poston is an internationally recognized expert in structural engineering and inductee to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He has authored and delivered hundreds of papers and presentations related to the structural engineering industry and championed the repair of existing structures for upwards of 30 years. As past Chair of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 318 Structural Building Code (2008-2014), Dr. Poston oversaw a monumental effort to completely reorganize the concrete code, the first undertaking of its kind in the history of ACI. He has won numerous awards for his code leadership and repair projects. Dr. Poston was selected as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering in 2014, following his election to the Academy of Distinguished Graduates at The University of Texas at Austin Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering in 2008.

Aspasia Zerva

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

Term Expires: August 31, 2028

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 October 1, 2026

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