Hussam Mahmoud is the Craig E. Philip Endowed Chair in Engineering and a professor in the Department of Civil and Evironemtnal Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He is also the director of the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate (VSEC). In his role as director of VSEC, he is orchestrating campus-wide multi-disciplinary collaborations and progressing VSEC’s vision in research, education, innovative engagement and global outreach. Prior to joining Vanderbilt University, he was the George T. Abell Professor in Infrastructure and the director of the structural laboratory in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. He obtained his BSc and MSc in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., he was the technical manager of the NEES Earthquake Laboratory at the UIUC and a research scientist at Lehigh University. Dr. Mahmoud’s research focuses on sustainable and resilient infrastructure and communities, emphasizing system-level sustainability and resilience analysis, quantifying building damage to extreme single and multiple hazards, and repairing and managing deteriorated infrastructure. His research on infrastructure recovery integrates human behavior, supply-chain, and socio-economic policies to devise sustainable solutions tailored to each community.
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, insurance companies, and other agencies on such topics. His recent work on predicting wildfire vulnerability to the built environment is set to provide a new paradigm for wildfire mitigation worldwide, and he has recently received significant funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support this effort. In addition, his work on investigating the use of carbon and basalt fiber composites for the underwater repair of steel structures using new experimental methods provides a new approach for realistic assessment and has been widely applied to navigation structures across the U.S. 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 committees including, the AAAS Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development, the New Voices of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Advisory Committee, the ASCE Committees on Fire Protection, and the ASCE Committee on Multi-hazard Mitigation.
Dr. Mahmoud is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineering Institute, a National Geographic Explorer, and a recipient of numerous honors and awards. He has been invited to participate in high-level symposia convened by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Dr. Mahmoud was selected by NASEM as a member of its New Voices Cohort, representing emerging leaders across the United States. In this role, he served as a member and co-chair and led multiple initiatives, including serving as Chair of the International Conference of Young Scientists held at NASEM. In 2025, he was appointed Co-Chair of the 3rd U.S.–Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium of the U.S. National Academies. In 2026, Dr. Mahmoud was selected by the leadership of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to serve on the international expert drafting group for the 2026 S20 Statement, “Strengthening Resilience to Natural Disasters through Emerging Technologies and International Collaboration,” coordinated by the NAS in its role as host of the 2026 G20 Summit.