Dr. Jerry Wekezer joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in 1994 as Department Chair, after serving as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage for four years. During his 10-year tenure as chair, the department launched the highly successfully B.S. program at FSU’s Panama City campus, and began the Ph.D. program at the FAMU-FSU campus in Tallahassee.
Wekezer’s research interests include simulation-based engineering science and applied computational mechanics; his work has been sponsored by NSF, FHWA, FDOT and ARL, among other federal and state agencies and organizations. In 1999, he began a longstanding research program examining the crashworthiness of paratransit buses. Using computational techniques based on dynamic finite element analysis, along with laboratory tests of individual components and full-scale crash tests, his team has worked with the Florida Department of Transportation to test various types of paratransit buses for their ability to survive a side impact and rollover accidents with minimal harm to occupants. Wekezer’s work has been instrumental in developing and validating national and international standards for crash safety assessment of small buses. As Professor Emeritus, Wekezer continues to work in this important field in concert with Dr. Sungmoon Jung and research operations manager Jeffrey Siervogel.
Wekezer is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in 2007, he was recognized for his achievements as a Distinguished University Professor. An ASCE Fellow and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Wekezer received the Engineering Service Award in 2004 and the Engineering Teaching Award from FAMU-FSU in 2008. He was awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor at FAMU in 2002.