John W. Lawson is an Associate Professor in Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and teaches various structural and seismic design courses within their rigorous structures curriculum. John is also often sought after as an expert witness in building failures and construction defect litigation. As past Vice President of a structural engineering consulting firm, John oversaw the engineering of over 100 million square feet of buildings similar to the subject of this presentation. He has been deployed to numerous disasters either as a member of a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue task force response, or simply on behalf of a private client. He has a Masters in Structural Engineering from Stanford, and a Bachelors from Cal Poly. As a licensed California Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer and with his 25 years of experience engineering commercial and industrial buildings, John's background of academia and professional practice enables him to uniquely blend research with applied design issues. John has received national awards in his building designs and teaching methods, and is a member of ASCE, NCSEA, EERI, ACI and SEAOC.

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