Forensic Structural Engineer and Expert Witness: Structural Performance and Failure Investigation (1265)
Expertise
Professional Engineer in MA, NJ, NY, PA, DE.
Structural Engineering: General, residential, commercial, industrials structures.
Failure investigation: Disaster mitigation and response.
Design analysis construction: Flood mitigation design; earthquake seismic design analysis; blast vibration; explosion effects and design analysis.
Structural and construction materials expertise: Concrete, steel, timber, brick, block, cables, wire, rope and roofing.
Telecommunications facilities towers, design and materials of construction.
Skilled with international contracts specifications
Expert witness for structural failure litigation.
Experience
World Trade Center Disaster Structures Specialist for New Jersey Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1. Called by Mayor of City of New York the morning of the disaster for immediate assistance in search and rescue mission of collapsed complex. As Structures Specialist provided emergency engineering assistance for rescue operations and risk mitigation to general public. Present throughout initial 10 day search, rescue and recovery efforts.
Atlantic City Parking Garage Collapse. Structures Specialist for New Jersey Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 responding to collapse of precast concrete parking garage under construction. Provided emergency engineering assistance for rescue operations and risk mitigation to general public.
Fire Damaged Apartment Building Stabilization, East Orange, NJ Emergency stabilization of high rise unreinforced masonry apartment building damaged by fire and neglect prior to gutting and reconstruction
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 1. Structures Specialist, Pennsylvania’s Task Force 1 Urban Search & Rescue team, providing emergency disaster response to determine access viability, means, methods and supervision of victim extrication from collapsed structures.
Roof Evaluation of Historic Building., Philadelphia, PA. Rapid response pre-purchase evaluation of air handling units support structure fixed to a steep pitch roof of a historic building.
General Motors Corporation 1995 Facility Asset Management Program for Roofing. Inspection, design, bidding and construction for roof maintenance program comprising over 6 square miles of various roof constructions located at 38 facilities throughout the GM Midwest, East and South regions.
United States Postal Service. Structural Engineering Consultant for building condition assessment of a 400,000 sq. ft. office/warehouse/etched mirror manufacturing facility proposed for possible conversion to a USPS distribution center.
International Airport Terminal Expansion. Inspection, testing and evaluation of new terminal during construction following tile delamination and slab curling.
McGuire Air Force Base. Assistance with construction documentation and submission reviews, including welding procedures and NDT.
Coastal Construction Manual Structural Engineering design review of new Coastal Construction Manual for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as representative of the ASCE.
Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan Consultant to New Jersey Office of Emergency Management administering and conducting GIS earthquake loss estimation study and mitigation plan. Responsibilities include development of study methodology, implementation, subcontract administration.
Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Hardware and software design, procurement, installation, and commissioning of building motion monitoring instrumentation and data acquisition equipment to confirm typhoon response.
Inspection and Repair Program, British and United States Army and Air Force bases in the U.K. Project management, contract administration and inspection and design responsibility a maintenance program for over 500 telecommunications, radar, watch, lighting, and water towers of multiple materials and construction types.
Whitehill Quarry Earth Satellite Station Expansion. Design for major expansion of existing earth station facility in near Oxford, United Kingdom including office and equipment buildings, roads, architectural components, site drainage and layout, cliff stabilization, large diameter antenna supports and ancillary structures.
Kenya Nairobi/Mombasa Microwave Link. Major telecommunications network installation and upgrade for the Kenya Post and Telecommunications Corporation from Nairobi to Mombasa.
Blast/Explosion Design. Specialized consulting services, providing blast load, analysis and design services for new FAA/GSA design build project at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York.
Off-Shore Platform Evaluation Assessment of both steel and concrete off-shore platforms for wind, wave and ice loading, including preliminary development of intrinsically safe instrumentation systems and review of current ice loading for military aircraft components.
Honors & Publications
Past Chair, ASCE Performance of Full Scale Structures Committee
Founder and Past Chair of ASCE Committee on Telecommunications Facilities
Structures Specialist, Urban Search & Rescue Team Task Force 1, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management
Co-founder Rescue Engineering Council
Past Chair, New York Academy of Sciences, Engineering Section
Selected publications:
Through Jim’s Eyes: A Structural Engineer and NRCA Member Explains His Experiences at Ground Zero
Building and Structure Collapses - Principles of Investigation and Reporting
Avoiding Personal Injury Liability Through Proper Maintenance
Tower Failure Survey: Current Efforts and Preliminary Results
Case Study of a Townhome Community Gone Awry
The Use of Engineering to Prove or Disprove Allegations in Litigation
Training for Management of Urban Disasters
Professional associations: American Society of Civil Engineers; American Concrete Institute; Institute for Business and Home Safety; Construction Specifications Institute; American Institute of timber construction; American Association for Wind Engineering; Roofing Consultant's Institute
Education
M.S., Concrete Structures, Imperial College of Sciences & Technology
Certificate of Course Completion (Distinction), Fracture Mechanics
B.S. (Distinction), Civil Engineering, Cornell University