David Rosowsky

David V. Rosowsky was appointed Vice President of Research at Kansas State University in 2021. In this role, Dr. Rosowsky reports to the K-State president and is a member of the president’s cabinet. As VPR, Rosowsky is responsible for encouraging and facilitating the integration and enhancement of research, scholarly and creative activities across the university’s colleges and multiple research centers, and for leading university-wide strategic research growth activities. He also provides leadership for the acquisition of research funding, the planning and development of academic research space, patenting and commercialization efforts, the incubation of new companies and recruitment of corporate research partners, and guiding public outreach as it relates to research, innovation, industry engagement, and economic development.

Prior to joining K-State, Rosowsky served for six years as Provost and Senior Vice President at the University of Vermont (UVM), where he drove significant growth in the research enterprise, the launch of several new transdisciplinary centers and institutes, and the creation of a university-wide innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Prior to that, Dr. Rosowsky served as the 15th Dean of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and before that as Head of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also held the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering. He also previously held the Richardson Chair in Wood Engineering and Mechanics at Oregon State University and was a faculty member (Asst/Assoc/Professor) at Clemson University.

Dr. Rosowsky maintains an active research program in wind and earthquake engineering and continues to supervise graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. He is a member of numerous editorial boards, national technical committees, is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds the rank of Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute.

Rosowsky has written extensively about the pandemic’s impact on public universities and the opportunities for institutions to emerge from the pandemic stronger, more resilient, more accessible and more sustainable. His writing has appeared in Forbes, The Chronicle for Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, University Business, Trusteeship magazine, and several other major publications. As a recognized higher education thought leader, Rosowsky has been invited to speak with university leadership teams, as well as boards and foundations on higher education leadership, finance, governance, partnerships, and innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the context of preparing for the post-pandemic era in higher education.

As UVM’s Provost, Dr. Rosowsky served as the chief academic officer and chief budget officer and was responsible for enhancing the University’s intellectual climate, strengthening instruction and scholarship, advancing diversity, creating an outstanding student experience, promoting student access to success, and identifying investments and efficiencies to ensure a thriving future for the University.

Since 1990, Dr. Rosowsky has conducted research in the areas of structural reliability, performance of wood structural systems, design for natural hazards, stochastic modeling of structural and environmental loads, and probability-based codified design. His current research addresses three topics: (1) behavior of the built environment subject to natural hazards, most recently including the effects of climate change and adaptation, (2) modeling and analysis of load effects on buildings and other structures with particular emphasis on complex environmental phenomena, and (3) performance-based engineering for design, post-disaster condition assessment, and loss estimation studies. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journals Structural Safety and Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, and he is a past editorial board member of the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering and the journal Natural Hazards Review.

As a researcher, Dr. Rosowsky has authored or co-authored more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 140 papers appearing in conference proceedings. A recognized expert in the field of structural reliability, he has been invited to present his research work around the world, including invited lectures in France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He has supervised more than 20 Masters and Doctoral students, and he is the recipient of the ASCE Walter L. Huber Research Prize, the T.K. Hseih Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and the ASCE Norman Medal.

Dr. Rosowsky maintains an active research program in wind and earthquake engineering and continues to supervise graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. He is a member of numerous editorial boards, national technical committees, is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds the rank of Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute.