Hussam Mahmoud is the Craig E. Philip Endowed Chair in Engineering and a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He is also the director of the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate (VSEC). Dr. Mahmoud’s current research group is focused on establishing Socio-Physical and Hazard-Integrated Environments (SoPHIE) under the theme of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, focusing on establishing new frameworks for functionality recovery, performance-based design, and life-cycle analysis for the built environment and communities subjected to natural disasters and deterioration with considerations to climate change.

Dr. Mahmoud’s research focuses on three thrust areas – 1) spatial and temporal variation of resilience at a community scale, 2) resilient and sustainable built environment subjected to natural and man-made hazards, 3) infrastructure deterioration, repair, failure, and management under typical operation conditions.

Dr. Mahmoud is an international authority on infrastructure and community resilience and an advisor to the World Bank, the International Science Council, the United Nations, and insurance companies, and other agencies on such topics. He has authored over 350 publications and given over 200 presentations, including 150 invited talks at national and international conferences and workshops, distinguished lectures, and keynotes. He has chaired and served on numerous technical committees, including the ASCE Committees on Fire Protection and Multi-hazard Mitigation. Dr. Mahmoud is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute, and is the recipient of various awards.