Aspasia Zerva, PhD, professor of civil, architectural and environmental
engineering (CAEE), has been appointed to the National
Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee (NCSTAC) at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Established by the National Construction Safety Team Act, signed into law
by President George W. Bush in 2002, the NCSTAC advises the NIST on the
procedures used to investigate major building failures and reviews the
reports such investigations. The committee has aided in the investigations
on the collapse of the World Trade Center as well as buildings affected by
tornadoes and hurricanes and has advised the NIST on its disaster readiness
protocols.
Members of the NCSTAC are appointed for a term of three years and are
selected on the basis of established records of distinguished service in
their professional community and their nationally-recognized knowledge of
on issues affecting the National Construction Safety Teams. Committee
members can be come from industry jobs, universities, state and local
government bodies, and non-profit or federal research institutions. The
Committee, which reports directly to Congress, is currently comprised of
nine members.
Zerva’s research focuses on earthquake engineering, a field that seeks to
understand the effects of earthquakes on the response of structures in
order to design safer buildings, bridges and other infrastructure. In
addition to her position in CAEE, Zerva is an affiliated professor of
electrical and computer engineering at Drexel. She previously held
appointments at Princeton University, California Institute of Technology,
and the Aristoteleion 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 the National Science Foundation (NSF).