BBD 2017 Speaker Bios

Fernando Moreu

Assistant Professor in structural engineering at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of New Mexico (UNM) at Albuquerque, NM. Cross-appointed in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Moreu’s research interests include structural dynamics, structural health monitoring, wireless smart sensor networks, railroad bridges, commercial space vehicles, infrastructure management, machine learning, and augmented reality. He received his BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Granada in Spain and his MS and PhD degrees in structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, his working experience beyond academia includes ESCA Consultants, Inc. for over ten years and a research scientist summer appointment at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2016. He is the director of the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab) at UNM.

Michael LaViolette

HDR, Inc. Mike has over 25 years of experience in complex bridge design, plan preparation and construction engineering services. He is very active in a number of national technical societies and associations. His involvement includes leadership roles and committee positions as noted below:

Glenn Washer

Professor at the University of Missouri – Columbia (MU)
Dr. Washer received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) at the Johns Hopkins University in 2001. Prior to joining the faculty at MU, he worked for 14 years at the Turner Fairback Research Center as a research engineer and program manager for the FHWA NDE program. Dr. Washer has expertise in a wide variety of NDE technologies for the condition assessment of infrastructure, such as ultrasonics, thermography, ground penetrating radar, radiography and visual inspection. His research interest also include the reliability of visual inspection, thermal imaging of concrete, and ultrasonic stress measurement.

Kostas Alexis

Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at University of Nevada, Reno
Dr. Kostas obtained his Ph.D. in the field of aerial robotics control and collaboration from the University of Patras, Greece in 2011 and further conducted 4-years of research as a Senior Researcher at the Autonomous Systems Lab of ETH Zurich. His research includes the fields of planning, perception and control for autonomous systems. Dr. Alexis is the head of the Autonomous Robots Lab hosting approximately $10$ researchers. He has organized and supervised major research projects both in Europe and in the USA including Horizon 2020 and National Robotics Initiative grants. Together with the fixed-wing team of the Autonomous Systems Lab, he holds the world record on small UAV endurance demonstrating continuous flight for 81.5h using the AtlantikSolar solar-powered UAV. http://www.kostasalexis.com

BBD 2016 Speaker Bios

Kevin Rice

Director of Union Pacific Railroad’s Maintenance of Way – Environmental
Kevin Rice is the Director of Union Pacific Railroad’s Maintenance of Way – Environmental and formerly the Senior Manager Structures Design for Union Pacific Railroad’s Southern Region. In Kevin’s different roles at the Railroad, he has been involved in maintaining the health of Union Pacific’s vast infrastructure system wide through collaboration with inspection, maintenance, construction and design groups. Kevin has more than 14 years of experience in the railroad bridge engineering industry. Kevin holds bachelor’s degrees in both Civil Engineering and Biology from the University of Nebraska and is a registered Professional Civil Engineer.

Mark Traynowicz

State Bridge Engineer, Nebraska Department of Roads
Mark received his Civil Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska. His career with the Department includes experience in bridge design, geotechnical engineering, research program, and construction management. He has been in his current position for 8 years. Mark has two sons, and enjoys fishing and attending Husker sporting events.

Zach Becker

Design & Construction Engineer, City of Lincoln - Engineering Services
Born and raised just south of Lincoln. Grew up playing outside and being hands-on, enjoying all things related to how stuff works. 2005 Graduate of UNL with a degree in Mechanical Eng. Worked for City of Lincoln in Engineering Services since 2009, as a construction inspector and then construction project manager, and currently as a design and construction engineer since early-2015. He enjoys long walks on the beach, inspiring conversations by candlelight, and puppies.

Lucas Laughery

Post-doctoral Researcher, Purdue University
Dr. Lucas Laughery is a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Lyle’s School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. He has more than four years of experience conducting tests of reinforced concrete structures, including dynamic tests of frames with high-strength steel reinforcing bars. Dr. Laughery worked for more than two years in research data management, first at NEES as a data curation assistant and currently with DataHub, where he provides input on the user interface, creates datasets, and promotes the platform to other researchers.

Santiago Pujol

Professor, Purdue University
Dr. Santiago Pujol is a professor in the Lyle’s School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University and the Academic Director for Research Computing. He has more than a decade of experience conducting tests of reinforced concrete structures and conducting post-earthquake reconnaissance and failure investigations. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and a member of ACI committees 445 (Shear and Torsion), 314 (Simplified Design of Concrete Buildings), 133 (Disaster Reconnaissance), and 318R (Building Code Subcommittee on High-strength Steel Reinforcement). Dr. Pujol was formerly involved at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and now directs a team in the development of DataHub, a discipline-neutral cyber platform for research data organization, sharing, and preservation.