A mechanical engineer and expert witness with more than 30 years of experience, this professional specializes in forensic engineering, mechanical design, failure analysis, materials engineering, accident investigation, and safety engineering. Technical expertise includes the design and manufacture of machines, equipment, and mechanisms; stress analysis; friction; corrosion and environmentally assisted failures; materials characterization and testing; and analysis of dynamic events involving collisions, impacts, fires, and explosions. Additional areas include industrial equipment failures, product reliability and liability, patent review, human factors, guarding and warning standards, slips, trips and falls, lightning, electrocution, and electrical fire cause-and-origin investigation. The expert has provided engineering analysis, expert witness testimony, and consulting services involving mechanical design, failure investigation, stress analysis, materials testing, and experimental engineering analysis.

Academic and leadership responsibilities have included service as a tenured full professor of mechanical engineering, Director of a Materials Performance and Failure Analysis Laboratory, and Director of an Applied Forensic Engineering Graduate Certificate Program. Research and forensic work encompass metals, polymers, composites, fracture mechanics, residual stresses, fatigue, corrosion, pressure vessels, industrial machinery, roofing materials, wind-turbine components, coefficient of friction, hail-impact damage, polymer degradation, and impact-related failures. Educational attainment includes bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration.

Professional qualifications include licensure as a Professional Engineer, Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator, Certified Fire Investigation Instructor, and specialized training in Crash Data Retrieval technology and analysis. Professional affiliations include the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Safety Engineers, Society for Experimental Mechanics, ASM International, SAE International, Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society, National Association of Fire Investigators, and NACE International. Leadership and professional service have included regional education and governance responsibilities with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, National Science Foundation proposal review, scientific committee service, and invited instruction on failure analysis, forensic engineering, materials mechanics, residual stress, corrosion, and accident investigation. This combination of engineering research, forensic analysis, materials testing, safety evaluation, and expert testimony supports assessment of mechanical failures, product performance, accident causation, fire and explosion events, and disputed engineering design issues.