National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact 

Reduction (NACWIR) Member 

 

Forrest J. Masters, PhD., P.E. 

Associate Dean for Research and Facilities

Professor of Civil and Coastal Engineering

Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering 

University of Florida

Dr. Masters has broad-ranging expertise in 

measurement and the physical simulation of wind 

hazards and their interaction with the built 

environment. He is a Professor of Civil and Coastal 

Engineering at the University of Florida, and serves as 

the Associate Dean for Research and Facilities in the 

Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. Dr. 

Masters is a registered P.E. in the State of Florida. He 

earned his PhD in civil (structural) engineering from 

the University of Florida. 

Dr. Masters is one of a very small number of academic researchers in the international wind 

engineering community focusing on field and full-scale research. He has conducted field 

experiments in hurricanes and other extreme wind events to study wind characteristics, winddriven rain and structural loading. He has also conducted laboratory experiments, where fullscale building systems are subjected to realistic simulations of fluctuating wind load and rain 

conditions to evaluate their performance. His findings appear in wind engineering, building 

science, meteorological, arboricultural and psychosocial literature.

He is the Principal Investigator on a $3.6M cooperative agreement with NSF to create one of 

seven national experimental facilities to study infrastructure performance in natural hazards. His 

facility supports research for mitigating the impacts of extreme wind and rain events on civil 

infrastructure and provides users with access to a diverse suite of wind engineering experimental 

resources, including an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel and specialized testing devices, 

which can replicate damaging effects from tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hurricanes.

Dr. Masters has published well over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference 

proceedings and holds a patent on an experimental device to simulate dynamic wind velocities 

and pressures. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Civil 

Engineers’ Infrastructure Resilience Division, the Board of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, 

and formerly, the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology. 

Dr. Masters has been invited internationally to speak at more than 100 conferences, covering a 

broad range of topics including: water intrusion research and recommendations for water 

management; changes to building codes and standards following hurricanes; wind and winddriven rain effects on low-rise structures, residential roof covering investigations of wind 

resistance of asphalt shingles; wind, storm surge and wave effects on coastal buildings; and 

measurement of tropical cyclone surface winds at landfall. He was honored with the 

Outstanding Achievement Award in Mitigation at the National Hurricane Conference, and 

received the Junior International Association for Wind Engineering Award, which recognizes 

significant and original research contributions to research by an individual under the age of 40.