Former ASCE president Feniosky Peña-Mora on how engineers can outbuild disaster

Feniosky Peña-Mora, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Executive Vice President of Research at Mexico’s Tecnológico de Monterrey, emphasizes the critical role of resilient infrastructure in mitigating disaster impacts. Drawing from his extensive experience—including leadership roles in New York City and academia—Peña-Mora advocates for integrating smarter materials, advanced data, and innovative design to build infrastructure that can better withstand climate extremes. His perspective on resilience has evolved from focusing solely on physical infrastructure to embracing community resilience, recognizing that disasters affect not just structures but also families and social systems. Peña-Mora highlights six essential qualities for engineers: passion, purpose, preparation, perspiration, perseverance, and people. He stresses that technical expertise alone is insufficient; collaboration across disciplines and with communities is vital to address complex societal challenges. His personal history, including witnessing the devastation of Hurricane David in the Dominican Republic during his childhood, deeply informs his commitment to building infrastructure that supports both physical and social resilience.