Our Story
While studying Civil and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University, John Thomas and Dan Eisenberg made an unfortunate discovery: resilience knowledge could help protect infrastructure systems from disaster, but few people were aware of it. There were three reasons for this: 1) resilience theory and expertise was primarily held by specialists in social science rather than engineering; 2) resilience knowledge perspectives often exist in isolated academic domains; and 3) recent popularity of the term resilience has led to a bloated library of research that was not well integrated or citing the original theory and practice. Resilience Engineering Institute was first conceived by John and Dan as a way to integrate diverse perspectives and disseminate resilience knowledge to a broader audience. They are especially interested in sharing ways to apply resilience engineering in everyday life. The initial ideas for the organization and its function were developed during their PhD studies from 2014-2017.
Dr. John E. Thomas is Executive Director of Resilience Engineering Institute. Dr. Thomas is a resilience engineering scholar with over 25 years of professional experience that includes wireless communications, software, semiconductors, defense radar, and consumer electronics industries. John’s research explores the dynamic relationships between human resilience, psychological development, and the resilience of complex socio-technical systems like critical infrastructure including energy, water, transportation, communications and cyber-security. Areas of research focus include the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions, capacities, and adaptive processes impacting how humans interact with and depend on technological systems. John holds Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration, with Honors, from Santa Clara University. In 2017, he earned a Ph.D. in Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. 
Dr. Daniel A. Eisenberg is Chief Operating Officer of Resilience Engineering Institute. Dr. Eisenberg is a resilience engineering scholar in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University. Dan’s research focuses on the design, operation, and adaptation of resilient infrastructure systems with emphasis on integrating knowledge from engineering and social science together to improve crisis management policies. The resilience of infrastructure systems depends upon the physical limitations of built technologies under stress and human actions to manage unforeseen adverse events. Still, there is limited knowledge of how both systems respond when faced with catastrophic failures. Dan’s work advances novel theory and modeling tools to assess technological and social systems together, and reveals ways in which built systems and management policies can be improved to adapt to unforeseen threats. Specific areas of expertise includes resilience engineering, critical infrastructure, and complex systems. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, with Honors, from the University of California at Davis, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.