Abhinav Gupta is Director of Center for Nuclear Energy Facilities and Structures (CNEFS) at NC State University and Professor of Structural Engineering and Mechanics. Gupta’s research interests are focused on uncertainty quantification and probabilistic risk assessment for external hazards. He has worked on developing new computational and probabilistic models needed for decision support and strategy development in reducing the operation, maintenance and construction costs associated with structures, systems, and components. He was a member of ASME’s five person team to explore the benefits of reliability-based load and resistance factor design methodology for updating the piping design equations in Section III of the ASME Boiler Pressure Vessel and Piping Code. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Paper Award in the seismic division at the 2005 ASME-Pressure Vessel and Piping Conference for his paper that describes his research on probabilistic methods for consideration of uncertainties in seismic analysis of coupled building-piping systems. He is the Chairman of the 25th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT) to be held in Charlotte, NC in 2019. He is the Vice President  and Secretary of the Board of International Association for SMiRT. He has served as the Chair of ASCE’s Technical Committee on Emerging Computing Technologies, as Associate Editor for ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering, and as a Visiting Faculty at US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 2010, he was inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State University. He has also served as a member of an IAEA panel for development of technical guidelines on vulnerability assessment of operating nuclear power plants to extreme external events.