Reginald DesRoches

Reginald DesRoches, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, to speak at commencement ceremony on Dec. 14.

 PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (November 14, 2019) – Reginald DesRoches, Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, has been slated to deliver the keynote address at Prairie View A&M University’s (PVAMU) 24th fall commencement on Saturday, December 14.

Dean DesRoches will address the more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students receiving their degrees as well as an expected 6,500 guests. The graduation ceremony will be held at the William “Billy” J. Nicks Sr., Gym (Babydome) on PVAMU’s campus.

DesRoches has been serving as the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University since 2017. He also holds joint appointments in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rice.

Previously, DesRoches was the chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), DesRoches’ research focuses on the design of resilient infrastructure systems under extreme loads and the application of smart and adaptive materials.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in Queens, New York City, DesRoches completed his Ph.D. in structural engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2002, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given to scientists and engineers early in their careers.

DesRoches serves on the National Academies Resilient America Roundtable, the Board on Army Science and Technology, the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Committee, the Global Earthquake Modeling Scientific Board, and the advisory board for the Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure, and Emergency Management Research Center. He chaired the ASCE’s Seismic Effects Committee and the executive committee of the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering.

Live updates and photos from the ceremony will be posted to the University’s Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts. Graduates and guests can tag their commencement posts on social media using the hashtag #PVAMU2019.

For a full biography of Dean DesRoches, and for more information about the upcoming ceremony, visit www.pvamu.edu/academicaffairs/commencement/.