Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
structural engineering and mechanics, earthquake engineering, structural robustness, precast and prestressed concrete, infrastructure and smart cities
Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, 2016
M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, 2013
B.S. Civil Engineering, Oregon State University, 2011
B.S. Physics, Mathematics, University of Puget Sound, 2009
Travis Thonstad returns to Civil and Environmental Engineering this fall as an assistant professor, after working for four years as a research structural engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Washington, DC. Travis received both his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from the University of Washington. In his doctoral dissertation, he worked to develop high-performance structures for seismic regions that could both reduce the impacts of earthquakes and improve construction speed. He designed and developed tests of a quarter-scale bridge mounted on three shaking tables, which were used to apply recorded earthquake ground motions to the 70-foot long structure.
Across his research, Travis is interested in improving the resilience and robustness of bridges and buildings, developing novel structural systems, and assessing the performance of aging infrastructure.