Biography

General Number: 62709. Initiated in 1965 at State University of New York-Buffalo, Dr. Symans is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he served as the Faculty Advisor for the student chapter of Chi Epsilon for eight years. Prior to joining Rensselaer in 2001, he was a faculty member at Washington State University. He holds a B.S. in Physics and a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in civil engineering. Dr. Symans' area of expertise is in structural dynamics and structural earthquake engineering, a field in which he has authored numerous technical papers and given research presentations worldwide. Dr. Symans is a member of the Center for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (CEES) at RPI and is a member of a number of professional societies, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Within ASCE, Dr. Symans has served in a number of leadership roles including chairing national committees and serving as the Associate Editor for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. Dr. Symans is also a Member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Panel of the International Association for Structural Control and Monitoring. Dr. Symans is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award and the Rensselaer School of Engineering Outstanding Research Team Award. In addition to his research, Dr. Symans has a strong interest in engineering education, having served as an instructor for a FEMA-sponsored Advanced Earthquake Engineering Course and currently serving as the Director for ABET Accreditation for the Civil Engineering Program at RPI.