Dr. Barry J. Goodno is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the Structural Engineering (SEI) and Engineering Mechanics (EMI) Institutes of ASCE. He currently serves as Past-President of the SEI Board of Governors. He teaches graduate courses at Georgia Institute of Technology in structural dynamics and matrix structural analysis, as well as undergraduate courses at Georgia Tech in statics and dynamics and mechanics of materials. His research interests include: earthquake engineering, structural dynamics, matrix structural analysis, hybrid control of structures, influence of nonstructural systems on building response, base isolation, vibrations, and finite element analysis. Dr. Goodno received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and is a registered Professional Engineer in Georgia.

James M. Gere (1925-2008) earned his undergraduate and master's degree in Civil Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1949 and 1951, respectively. He worked as an instructor and later as a Research Associate for Rensselaer. He was awarded one of the first NSF Fellowships, and chose to study at Stanford. He received his Ph.D. in 1954 and was offered a faculty position in Civil Engineering, beginning a 34-year career of engaging his students in challenging topics in mechanics, and structural and earthquake engineering. He authored nine texts on various engineering subjects starting in 1972 with Mechanics of Materials. He served as Department Chair and Associate Dean of Engineering and in 1974 co-founded the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford. In 1980, Jim Gere also became the founding head of the Stanford Committee on Earthquake Preparedness. That same year, he was invited as one of the first foreigners to study the earthquake-devastated city of Tangshan, China. Jim retired from Stanford in 1988 but continued to be an active and most valuable member of the Stanford community.