Meet Our Team

John has over 30 years experience in executive management roles across technology, logistics and port operations, commercial management, management consulting and energy sectors.

David has over sixteen years of experience as a research engineer conducting studies into low rise buildings and their components with the Cyclone Testing Station.

John joined the Cyclone Testing Station as a Research Fellow in December 1996, and was involved with carrying out research and testing in the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. He is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Science and Engineering, JCU.

Working in multiple industries based around building materials, Simon is experienced in all aspects of project management and quality assurance. At CTS Simon is mainly involved in providing testing services to the clients.

Patrick has worked extensively in the delivery of digital business solutions, business analysis, and project management to a variety of businesses. He is currently studying a masters in Urban Planning and Design.

Dr. Smith's work covers a wide range of topics including: structural engineering for natural hazards, post-event damage assessment, mobile weather station deployment in extreme wind events, and insurance loss analysis.

Korah Parackal is a Structural Engineer focusing on progressive failures of roofing connections during windstorms. He brings this knowledge to the CRC project on retrofitting older houses to be more resilient to wind loads.

Rod has experience in applying industry standards for design safety and performance. At CTS, Rod’s role is to assist with finalising test programmes, supervising testing and preparing test reports.

Don has been involved in the full scale house testing projects and fabricates and maintains the specialised CTS loading and test equipment. He constructs intricate building and terrain models for the Wind Tunnel testing.

Dennis has over 30 years practical experience in the building industry, in plumbing, building and carpentry. Dennis’ role in the team makes good use of his practical trade expertise and critical thinking skills.

Geoff is currently an Adjunct in the College of Science and Engineering, JCU, and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and a member of both the Australasian Wind Engineering Society and the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society.

Debbie works on projects to improve the resilience of buildings to severe winds and to investigate damage to buildings following extreme wind events. She is part of the North Queensland Strata Title Inspection Program.

Saira develops web applications that help researchers manage and visualise their data. Her other interests include the theory of distributed systems, wireless mobile ad hoc networks and systems, the IoT and data visualisation.

Lucy joined the Cyclone Testing Station in 2018. She is also apart of the North Queensland Strata Title Inspection Program working in a Project Support role.

Geeth has worked as a site engineer in Dubai, UAE and as a mechanical engineer for the Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka. Geeth's PhD is on “Wind Induced Internal Pressure Fluctuations In Industrial type Steel Buildings”.