Ross Corotis, the Denver Business Challenge Professor of Engineering, was recently appointed to a three-year term on the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Since 2002, NIST has been authorized to investigate major structural failures and fires in the United States, and the NCST Advisory Committee advises NIST on carrying out their investigations. Members are selected based on their technical expertise and experience, established records of distinguished professional service, and their knowledge of issues affecting NIST studies.
Corotis is a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, and former dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2002 for his pioneering contributions to structural safety and reliability.
“This new opportunity to serve our country by guiding the safety of the built environment through investigations of structural failures is an exciting and fitting culmination of my career dedication to theoretical and practical theories of structural reliability,” Corotis said.
Corotis currently also serves on two boards for the National Academies: the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, and the Laboratory Assessment Board, which he chairs. He has also served on three recent study committees for the National Academies focused on coastal flooding, actuarial rates for the National Flood Insurance Program, and resilience of communities behind dams and levees. In 2007-08, he was a Jefferson Science Fellow in Washington, D.C., serving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the highest honor ASCE can bestow.