Thomas Gernay, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, which recognizes early-stage scholars with high levels of promise and excellence.
Founder and leader of Johns Hopkins Multi-Hazard Resilient Structures research group, Gernay develops innovative methods to advance resilience of the built environment against fire. His five-year award will support his project, “Performance-Based Fire Design for Cold-Formed Steel Structures,” which will enable more accurate modeling of the effect of fire on cold-formed steel structures. In his research, Gernay develops computational modeling techniques and risk-based methodologies that are used worldwide by structural engineers, architects, and builders. He also is the co-author of SAFIR®, an innovative software used by more than 250 institutions, engineers, and researchers worldwide to model accurately and predict a structure’s response to fire.