Engineering (General) Consultants: 64

As an arbitrator, structural/civil engineer, and expert forensic consultant with nearly four decades of experience, Casey Hemmatyar has provided extensive expert services for defendants’ and plaintiffs’ attorneys on numerous construction litigation matters throughout the United States and Canada.

He has been retained as an expert engineer in over one hundred litigation matters on single and class-action legal cases by the U.S. government, law firms, and insurance carriers at the State and Federal levels, working with both plaintiff and defendant sides.

A partial list of litigation cases is available upon request. His understanding of core engineering and legal concepts has enabled him to assist a wide range of clientele effectively. He brings diversified experience in structural and civil engineering design and forensic engineering, investigation, and evaluation.

He also conducts research, has assisted in the development of building codes and standards, and has supervised the construction of domestic and international projects. His experience includes special structures and new buildings as well as modifications, alterations, seismic/hurricane retrofits, and upgrades to existing structures. He has provided failure analysis, expert consultation, structural forensic investigation, and damage assessment services for numerous litigation and insurance-related matters.

He actively presents continuing education lectures to audiences of licensed engineers, architects, and general contractors on topics of structural and forensic engineering throughout North America. Mr. Hemmatyar has been the principal structural engineer on high-profile projects for prestigious clients, including NASA and other notable organizations.  Currently, he directs PSFEG and has served as Director for SEAOSC from 2011 to 2013.

His work encompasses a diverse range of structures, including hospitals,  educational institutions (including schools and universities), telecommunication centers, aviation facilities, government buildings, laboratories, as well as commercial, industrial, and residential structures.

Dr. J.P. Purswell, PhD, PE, CPE has extensive experience in Human Factors, Ergonomics and Safety Engineering. He has completed projects for clients in all these areas and regularly teaches ergonomics and safety engineering at Colorado State University. 

Dr. Purswell Consults with Manufacturers on Product Safety Issues, including Warnings and Instructions. He also Consults with Employers regarding the development and implementation of safe and ergonomically sound work practices, including the identification and control of ergonomic risk factors for back injuries and upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders. 

Dr. Purswell has prepared ANSI Z535 compliant instructions and warnings for attic ventilators, deer-stands, LPG hoses, ammonia hoses, warehouse rack systems, and arts and craft products among others. He has also prepared ANSI Z129.1 compliant warnings for a range of chemical products from gasoline pump warnings to brake pads and ammonia hoses, and OSHA and ANSI Z400.1 compliant material safety data sheets for several chemical manufacturers. 

He is the author of more than 20 publications or presentations on product safety, occupational safety, printed warnings, and auditory warnings. He has been inducted into Alpha Pi Mu, the Industrial Engineering Honor Society and is a recipient of the Gordon Fellowship from the University of Oklahoma. 

Consulting Services:

• Design and Testing of Instruction Manuals and on Product Warnings
• Usability Testing of Products for Ease-of-Use and Safety
• OSHA Audits for Employers
• Employer Training - Benchmarking Safety Performance Against a Company's Industry
• Employer Training - How to Prepare For OSHA Inspections

View Dr. Purswell's Expert Witness Profile.

R. Kevin Smith PE, BSME, MMAE, has been a specialist in Engineering Forensic Safety and Design for 35 years. He has consulted on over a 1,000 matters nationwide. Mr. Smith is a registered professional engineer and holds a BSME and MMAE from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He specializes in Material Handling Equipment Safety, including lift trucks, dock safety, truck loading, conveyors, and aerial work platform safety.

Mr. has been actively involved as a member of the committee that writes the Safety Standard for Low Lift and High Lift Trucks (ASME/ANSI B56.1) for over 30 years. He also serves on the B56.6 committee (rough terrain lift trucks) and the ANSI A92.5 and A92.6 subcommittees (self-propelled elevating work platforms). 

Litigation Support - Mr. Smith formerly worked for Triodyne, Inc. for over 15 years as a forensic engineer/principal engineer. As President of R. K. Smith Engineering Inc., he currently has a laboratory for examination and testing, and owns or has access to varied testing equipment and tools. He has testified at depositions and trials on several hundred matters. Mr. Smith has performed hundreds of investigations into product failures involving injury and property damage, and has reconstructed numerous accidents. His expertise is available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant. Mr. Smith also is on the Adjunct Math faculty at Prairie State College. 

Areas of Expertise:

Forklift Trucks Aerial Work Platform Lifts Product Testing Material Handling / Lifting / Rigging Equipment Accident Reconstruction Machine Guarding Safeguarding Warnings

Agricultural and Construction Equipment Skid Steer Loaders Stability Testing Loading Dock Safety Consumer Products / Testing OSHA Citations Codes & Standards Standard of Care in Design

View R. Kevin Smith's Expert Witness Profile.

Robert O. Peruzzi, PhD, PE is a Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer with particular expertise in Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits (MSICs). His subspecialty within this broad category is with Integrated Circuits (silicon chips) used for signal-processing. Dr. Peruzzi's recent clients include Quantenna Communications, Wavefront Research, LSI, Berkeley Design Automation, among others. Examples of Signal Processing Systems:

• Telephones, mobile phones, cell phones
• Data recording and retrieving systems for magnetic media such as disk drives
• Radio transmitters / receivers - low noise amplifiers, filters, automatic gain control and frequency mixers
• Audio amplifiers
• Audio recording / reproduction systems
• Heat, ventilation, air conditioning controllers
• Data transmitting / receiving systems

Areas of Expertise:

• Behavioral modeling of analog/mixed-signal circuits using Verilog-AMS, VHDL-AMS or MATLAB/Simulink
• Specific verification requirements
• High-speed verification using real-value modeling techniques
• System-level design exploration
• Executable design specs

View Expert Witness Profile.

Independent system-level evaluation, failure analysis, and lifecycle assessment of fall protection and access systems (design, manufacturing, installation, and operation)

Summary

Rauch Safety & Engineering operates as an independent engineering authority focused on fall protection systems, façade access systems (including Building Maintenance Units – BMUs), and permanent access infrastructure.

Engagements occur in complex, high-consequence environments where system performance, lifecycle conditions, and alignment between design, manufacturing, installation, and operational use directly impact safety, liability, and asset integrity.

RSE is engaged to evaluate system conditions, discrepancies, and performance across the full lifecycle, particularly where misalignment exists between design intent and real-world execution.

Scope includes:

• Design intent and engineering integration 
• Manufacturing constraints and system configuration 
• Installation and commissioning conditions 
• Operational performance and lifecycle exposure

RSE does not perform construction, installation, maintenance, or operational services, and does not act as a contractor or project manager. All work is conducted as an independent, non-operational authority focused on system-level evaluation.

Engagement is typically driven by complexity, ambiguity, or conditions where standard project delivery does not resolve system-level risk.

Principal Areas of Specialization:

• Fall Protection Systems — system performance, configuration, and failure conditions
• Façade Access Systems (BMU) — design alignment, installation conditions, operational performance
•  Suspended Access Systems — system behavior and lifecycle conditions
• Permanent Access Infrastructure — anchors, lifelines, integrated access systems
• Design vs. Installation Discrepancy Analysis
• System Failure & Performance Analysis
• Commissioning Condition Review (non-operational)
• Lifecycle Condition Evaluation
• OSHA / ANSI / IWCA Standards Interpretation
• Independent System Review across full lifecycle

System-Specific Focus :

Building Maintenance Units (BMU) & Facade Access Systems

• Design intent vs. building integration
• Installation alignment with system specifications
• Commissioning conditions and readiness
• Discrepancies between manufactured and installed systems
• Operational and lifecycle performance conditions

Custom & Specialized Access Systems

• Non-standard or project-specific system configurations
• Design integration and manufacturing constraints
• Installation alignment and system behavior in operation

Lifeline & Anchor Systems

• System configuration and structural integration
• Installation conditions relative to design and standards
• Performance, loading conditions, and lifecycle exposure

Infrastructure Environments 

RSE engages across infrastructure environments where fall protection and access systems are critical to ongoing operation and asset integrity:

• High-rise and commercial buildings
•  Airports and transportation infrastructure
• Industrial facilities and processing plants
• Power generation and transmission infrastructure
• Bridges and specialized structural systems
• Mining and heavy industrial environments
• Marine and shipping infrastructure
• Towers and vertical access structures

Professional Associations

• Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC)
• Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA)
• Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
• Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA)
• National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP ASE)
• National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE)

View Rauch Safety and Engineering's Expert Witness Profile.

Expert Background: Dr. Thomas L. Read is the Principal and CEO at A. Read Consulting, LLC. He received his PhD. from Stanford University in 1972 and has over 25 years of manufacturing experience in electronics, metallurgy, factory safety, failure analysis, glass fracture, glass failure and bottle failure. As a member of the electronics industry, he has earned process patents and has an extensive background in manufacturing techniques. In parallel, Dr. Read has spent over twenty five years as a consultant to attorneys and engineers. He has given more than 100 depositions and has appeared in court numerous times. Company Profile: Read Consulting, LLC is a full service laboratory providing services in the following areas:

• Failure Analysis; Factory Safety and Personal Injury (including machine guards and manufacturing safety)
• Glass Failure Analysis - Glass Fracture, Glass Failures and Bottle Failure
• Metal and Ceramic Failure
• Grinding Wheel Failures
• Intellectual Property and Patent Disputes
• Product Liability and Product Quality
• Manufacturing Disagreements (such as Intellectual Property, Failed equipment and Contract Disputes)
• Reverse Engineering

Since 1988, Real-World Forensic Engineering, LLC ("RWFE") has provided engineering services to industries and government labs, as well as litigation support to both plaintiff and defense attorneys practicing in many areas.

RWFE Areas of Expertise Include:

Components & Machinery Metallurgy & Corrosion Dynamics of Impact & Collisions Friction Analysis / Slips, Trips and Falls Intellectual Property & Patent Review Accident Reconstruction / Animation Computer Aided Design Education & Training

Electrocution & Switch Malfunction Grounding & Lightning Protection Lightning Impulse Testing Products and Premises Liability & Safety High-Voltage & Current Power Systems Bridge Design and Safety Fire & Explosion Cause and Origin And Much More...

At RWFE, we proudly distinguish ourselves by our Four C's:

CREDENTIALS. COMPETENCE. CREDIBILITY. COMMUNICATION.

Credentials:	B.S., M.S., M.Eng., M.B.A., J.D., and Ph.D. Degrees Licensed Professional Engineers in Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering Tenured University Professors and Professionals NAFI Certified Fire and Explosion Investigators (CFEI) Licensed Master Electricians
Competence:	Over 80 Combined Years of Experience in Engineering R&D, Industry, Academia, Consulting, and Expert Witness Litigation Support Over 120 Combined Deposition and Court Testimonies
Credibility:	Internationally Recognized in Our Areas of Expertise More Than $19 Million in Peer-reviewed and Funded Research Grants Over 200 Combined Scientific Publications and Journal Articles
Communication:	Over 20 Different Undergraduate and Graduate-level University Courses Over 30 Invited Short Courses, Talks, and Lectures

Design Evaluation – Accident Investigation – Intellectual Property - Failure Analysis – Fire Cause & Origin – Component Testing - Computer Aided Drafting – Accident Animation - Expert Witness & Litigation Support

www.ExpertEngineering.com

Rieser Building Group is a leading builder, engineer, architect, and forensic team with over 25 years of experience in management, design, and construction of over 4,000 units. These units range from custom homes, commercial buildings, and developments, to public works like Caltrans and BART construction, and roadway improvements (over 500 miles). With a full breadth of professional development services, they manage all aspects of a project, from entitlements to design to warranty.

Building Services - Design in-house, or, as licensed engineering and construction professionals, Rieser Building Group can manage an outside team of architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, and landscape architects.

Engineering and Design Services - Spearheaded by a professional Engineering & Architectural team, Rieser provides innovative designs and timely approvals in custom homes, commercial buildings, apartments, large developments, structures, topo-mapping, hydraulics, traffic engineering, and transportation engineering.

Development Services - Developing single custom-built home or a multiphase project, Rieser will expedite the development process, establish a joint venture to share costs, or purchase the project. In addition to flexible management, they conduct property feasibility studies to calculate the right mix of homes and maximize ROI. 

Mark E. Rieser, II, MS, PE, AIA, GBC, GEC, has over 30 years of experience in the Construction and Building Design industry. He provides his clients with a comprehensive knowledge of Construction Technology and Construction Standards of Professional Practice. Background Experience - President of an active Design / Build company, Mr. Rieser has managed, designed, and constructed over 4,000 units to include high-rise, single family homes, condominiums, townhomes, podiums, apartments, and commercial buildings, His experience includes construction, management, and design of over 500 miles of asphalt and roadway improvements, tunnels, San Francisco Airport, Santa Clara Light Rail, Southern Pacific Railroad, Caltrain, and BART. Mr. Rieser has an insightful understanding of Civil / Structural Engineering, Soil Engineering, Transportation / Traffic Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Architectural Design, Asphalt Design, Cost Estimation, Public Works Design Bidding and Estimation, General Engineering, General Building, and an Accident Reconstruction expert.

NorCal Headquarters San Jose Office 2033 Gateway Pl Suite 500 San Jose, CA 95110	San Francisco Office 425 Market St Suite 2200 San Francisco, CA 94105	SoCal Headquarters Los Angeles Office 10100 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90067	Sacramento Office 777 Campus Commons Rd Suite 200 Sacramento, CA 95825

View Mark Rieser's Expert Witness Profile.

Award winning, Oxford Educated scientist whose areas of expertise include medical imaging, electronics, semiconductors, medical devices, sensors, MEMS, signal processing and image processing. Dr Daft has deposition and trial testimony experience. Extensive Intellectual Property experience including patent development, analysis, licensing, and litigation. Serial inventor who holds 23 U.S. Patents with several pending. Completed more than 98 hours of SEAK Expert Witness Seminars, including patent-specific training. Diverse industry experience including multi-nationals such as GE, Medtronic, Fujifilm, Samsung and Siemens as well as several start-ups. Well published. Winner of grants from National Institute of Health. Extensive international consulting experience. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) Senior Member since 2004. Three years’ experience teaching electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois. Holds BA and MA in Physics from Oxford University as well as Doctorate from Oxford in Materials Science.

View Dr. Christopher Daft's Expert Witness Profile.

SepiSolar is a national solar-plus-storage design, engineering, and consulting company, where passion meets expertise in upholding the integrity of the Solar Industry. As fervent advocates for sustainable energy, we have positioned ourselves as the premier Business Consultants for solar-related matters. Our commitment to transparency, ethical practices, and cutting-edge knowledge has made us a trusted authority in the field. 

Joshua Weiner, NABCEP, founder of SepiSolar, leads a growing team of designers, engineers, and technical consultants. He is an experienced solar, energy storage, and micro-grid design and engineering executive and consultant with a demonstrated history of product, project, and business development success. Mr. Weiner is skilled in developing early-stage business units, new program / product implementation, project development, product design / integration, and scaling teams to address customer and market needs by deploying sustainable, clean, plug-and-play services and solutions. His expertise extends to residential, commercial, industrial, and utility scale markets as well as energy storage and solar microgrid technologies.

Consulting Services:

Solar PV Systems Financial and Technical Solar Engineering and Design Solar Batteries and Solar Storage Solar Microgrids Residential, Commercial and Utility Scale Solar

Project Management Technology Due Diligence Contract Structures Public Health and Safety Codes Municipal Permits Industry Codes and Standards

View Joshua Weiner's Expert Witness Profile.

Shatec Engineering Consultants provides engineering consulting services in a variety of areas including highway engineering, traffic engineering, pavement engineering, geotechnical engineering, materials engineering, forensic engineering, construction support services, and other civil engineering matters. Example services include the following:

Traffic Engineering Highway Design Standards/ Geometric Design/ Plans and Specifications Highway Specifications / Guidelines Highway and Traffic Safety Highway Safety Traffic Control Devices / Traffic Control Plans/ MUTCD Sight Distance Requirements Road and Roadside Hazards ADA Requirements Surface Conditions - Friction, Skid Resistance Road Defects Code Violations

Pavement Design/ Materials Pavement Management Geotechnical Engineering Construction Quality Construction Defects Construction Claims Drainage Requirements Hot Mix Asphalt/Modified Asphalt Structural and Pavement Concrete Standards Mass Concrete/ Thermal Control Plans/ Instrumentation Highway Repairs / Maintenance Public Agency Policies / Practices

President, Shakir Shatnawi, PhD, PE, is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the Transportation Engineering industry. He has over 30 years of practical and extensive engineering and transportation expertise covering industry and public agencies including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). He taught highway and transportation engineering at California State University.

Dr. Shatnawi served as a principal investigator on multi-million dollar transportation projects. He held various positions in Caltrans including a Senior Transportation Engineer, a Supervising Transportation Engineer and a Division Chief.  Dr. Shatnawi's education and experience demonstrates a wealth of engineering knowledge stretch in highway design, traffic engineering, pavement design, geotechnical engineering, materials and construction . As a recipient of many acknowledgements from the government, Dr. Shatnawi has an impeccable reputation within the industry for his significant professional contributions. As an expert orator, he frequently shares his knowledge at major conferences around the world. 

View Dr. Shatnawi's Expert Witness Profile.

Dr. Ghjassan Hamarneh's professional experience extends over 20 years. He obtained his Ph.D. from Chalmers Univ. of Tech. in 2001, was a Post-doc fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and at the Dept. Med. Biophysics at the Univ. of Toronto. Since 2003, he has been on the Computing Sciences faculty at Simon Fraser University. 

Dr. Hamarneh's research area is Medical Image Analysis (MIA) (computer vision and 3D image processing for biomedical imaging applications). He is a leader on a large number of technical projects in collaboration with local and int'l health centers. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery. 

Under Dr. Hamarneh's leadership, members of his group won several awards (e.g. 6 best papers), recognitions, and media coverage. His group secured funding from NSERC, CIHR, MSFHR, MITACS, NIH, and the Qatar Foundation. Furthermore, he played a leading role in the organization of major workshops: Two highly successful workshop at the Banff International Research Station on "Math. Methods for Medical Image Analysis" and "Geometry for Anatomy", as well as the first MICCAI workshop on functional medical image analysis.

Dr. Hamarneh has over 200 scientific publications in high impact journals and peer-reviewed conferences, 7 book chapters, and several software contributions with tens of thousands of downloads, e.g. TurtleSeg, MATITK, N-SIFT, I-DO, and VascuSynth. He has given many invited talks at top universities and companies. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE TM. He has been on the editorial board of JIVC; a reviewer for int'l high impact journals: J MedIA, IEEE TMI, PAMI, TBME, SIAM Imaging Science, NeuroImage, etc. He served on the program and review committees of many int'l conferences/workshops: MICCAI, CVPR, ICCV, IPMI, MMBIA, ISBI, etc. 

Dr. Hamarneh is the co-founder/director of the Medical Image Analysis Lab at SFU, a founding member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Chapter - Vancouver Section, Rehabilitation Aimed at Muscle Performance (RAMP), and the SFU Centre for Disability Independence Research and Education (CDIRE). He is a member of the Int'l Society on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) and the Vancouver Brain Research Centre, a NeuroDevNet Network Investigator, and a Faculty/Mentor in the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Bioinformatics Training Program.

William C. Stein, Jr., PE, CCM, has more than 45 years of Roadway / Heavy Highway Construction and Materials Engineering experience. He has a rich and varied work history that includes construction materials engineering for highways and bridges, industrial plants, high rise offices, and power plants. He has worked for private owners and general contractors as well as the Department of Transportation.

Litigation Support - Mr. Stein Offers consulting and expert services for attorneys on issues regarding road, street, highway, temporary traffic control, runway, and earthwork; asphalt, concrete, coatings and other construction materials; designs, plans, specifications, CPM scheduling (Primavera) and contract documents; right-of-way issues; and work zone safety. Licensed in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas, he performs contract performance forensic investigations and provides consulting, expert reports, rebuttals, and testimony if required.

Areas of Expertise:

Highway Construction Roadway Construction Bridge Construction Highway Engineering Materials Engineering Construction Site Work

Traffic Safety Concrete / Cement Building Contractor Liability Construction Damages Scheduling Delay and Analysis Soil Analysis

Certifications:

• Certified Construction Manager (CCM)
• Certified Primavera Basic (CPM)
• Certified Primavera Advanced (CPM)
• Certified LADOTD Structural (bridge)
• Inspector/Technician Certified Troxler
• Humboldt Nuclear Moisture/ Density Operator
• Lead Abatement
• Certified Quality Compliance Surveillance in Fossil Power Plants, Organic & Inorganic Coatings Application and Inspection
• Certified Traffic Control Supervisor
• Certified Flagger Instructor

Mechanical Engineer - Turbomachinery Expert. Gas turbine engines, steam turbines, jet engines, compressors, pumps, expanders, generators, cogeneration, combustion equipment, diesel engines, and reciprocating compressors. 

Failure analysis, stress analysis, mechanical design, design analysis, troubleshooting, performance analysis, durability assessment. Access to metallurgical laboratory. Experienced Expert witness. 

Please see our Service List at https://sbkushnick.com/servicelist.pdf for a concise description.

Summit Associates of Bedford is a Materials and Manufacturing firm offering growth strategy, operations improvement, and international sourcing to commercial clients ranging in size from $3 to $150 million.

Summit Associates has a record of fixing troubled organizations and driving growth in complex technology based operations. Skilled at positioning small and middle market companies for sustained growth, they have commercial experience in ten countries, including creation and oversight of global partnerships in Europe and India and acquisition, sale, and licensing of fifteen technologies in seven countries.

Consulting Services:

Turnaround Leadership Organizational Change and Alignment Accelerated New Product / Market Development Product Launch

Lean Manufacturing Technology Acquisition Sale and Licensing International Partnerships Technology Valuation

Principal, Thomas W. Caldwell, PE, has over 40 years of experience in Materials Research and Development, Process and Product Development, and Manufacturing Operations in the Precision Cast and Machined Products industry.

Mr. Caldwell has designed and manufactured components for consumer and industrial products, including safety-critical applications such as aircraft landing gear brakes, seat belt lockup devices, windshield wiper, and window lift motor systems. He has experience creating and guiding technology development and manufacturing partnerships in Europe and Asia, licensing and selling intellectual property and creating supply chains in China.

Mr. Caldwell has lectured in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, and India on manufacturing premium quality metal products and manufacturing processes, and was a technical paper peer reviewer for 20 years for the Society of Automotive Engineers. A United States patent holder, he has published peer reviewed research in electrochemistry and materials processing, and has written and spoken numerous times on the subject of Materials Selection.

View Thomas A. Caldwell's Expert Witness Profile.