He received his Bachelor’s (1999), Master’s (2001), and Ph.D. (2008) degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. Before joining McMaster University, he was Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley and the United States Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research interests and experience are in earthquake engineering and engineering mechanics with a primary focus on seismic isolation, nonstructural components, rocking structures, and resilience of nuclear and other critical facilities.