Rate My Professor Anthony Tessari

Anthony Tessari served as Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo from 2013 to 2024, beginning as Assistant Professor and receiving promotion to Associate Professor in 2022. He earned his B.S. in 2006, M.S. in 2007, and Ph.D. in 2012, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.). His academic background in civil engineering has supported extensive research in experimental geotechnics, leveraging centrifuge modeling to investigate soil dynamics under seismic loads, explosions, and extreme fire conditions.

Tessari's research interests encompass geotechnical engineering, infrastructure resilience, geohazard mitigation, soil-structure interaction, novel sensors for concrete foundations, high-temperature soil testing equipment, and the response of soil-liner systems to tunnel fires. He contributed to projects on post-fire damage assessment of reinforced concrete tunnel liners and slabs, supported by the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) and ACI Foundation, collaborating with researchers including Negar Elhami-Khorasani and Ravi Ranade. These efforts advanced experimental and numerical methods for fire safety in underground infrastructure. Prominent publications include "Characterizing damage to a concrete liner during a tunnel fire" (2021, Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology), "Experimental study of fire damage to reinforced concrete tunnel slabs" (2022, Fire Safety Journal), "Tactile pressure sensors in centrifuge testing" (2014, ASTM International), "Shear wave velocity measurement in the centrifuge using bender elements" (2014, Geotechnical Testing Journal), "Residual compressive strength of concrete after exposure to high temperatures: A review and probabilistic models" (2023, Fire Safety Journal), "Numerical modeling of the fire behavior of reinforced concrete tunnel slabs during heating and cooling" (2022, Engineering Structures), and "Centrifuge shake table tests on the liquefaction resistance of sand with clayey fines" (2022, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering). His contributions extend to bridge engineering, soil sliding at foundations, and local projects like the Kensington Expressway deck. Tessari taught Geotechnical Engineering, Foundation Engineering, and Dynamics of Soil and Soil-Foundation Systems.