Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s (SGH) Engineering Mechanics & Infrastructure (EMI) group will make organizational changes to its Boston Division to support continued growth and encourage specialized expertise. Effective today, SGH’s EMI Boston Division will split into two client-focused, market-facing groups: the Structural Mechanics & Materials Division, led by SGH Associate Principal Robert MacNeill, and the Water & Industrial Infrastructure Division, led by SGH Associate Principal Peter Nardini. 

“These changes reflect the incredible growth we have seen from our advanced analytical teams in Boston, and create exciting new leadership opportunities for our team members to deliver key insights for our clients,” said SGH Chief Technical Officer Niklas Vigener. “Rob and Peter are energetic team builders and bold innovators in their fields—I am eager to see where they will lead us.”

Structural Mechanics & Materials (SMM) 

The SMM group focuses on four core service areas: nuclear structures, science and defense, materials engineering, and advanced analysis. They specialize in delivering engineering mechanics insights and specialized finite element analysis across a range of structural analysis applications, including composites, seismic assessments, soil-structure interaction, impact, fatigue, contact, and nonlinear response. They also test material properties to identify material defects and anomalies, validate analysis results through physical testing, and push materials to their limits of strength and endurance. 

Rob has a background in mechanical engineering, with specialized interests and capabilities in the fields of engineering mechanics, nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis, failure investigation, and testing. He is active in the fields of transportation safety, rail infrastructure, and structures vulnerability and protection. 

Water & Industrial Infrastructure (WII)

The WII group helps clients manage critical water and industrial infrastructure—including pipes, tanks, culverts, facilities, and offshore structures—for the water, wastewater, transportation, and power generation industries. They have expertise in performing condition assessments, advanced soil-structure interaction and fluid-structure interaction analyses, seismic and blast analyses, failure risk analyses, failure investigations, repairs, laboratory and field testing, and asset management for these complex structures. 

Peter specializes in condition assessment, failure risk analysis, failure investigation, and repair for pipelines. He has particular expertise consulting on concrete, metallic, and HDPE pipelines in the water, wastewater, and power generation industries across the U.S. and abroad. 

“SGH’s EMI group provides innovative engineering approaches and sophisticated computational modeling techniques to solve our clients’ toughest engineering challenges with practical solutions,” said SGH Senior Principal and Head of EMI Jesse Beaver. “With these changes, our EMI teams in Boston are positioned to share expertise with clients in our technical work and lead our peers across the industry.”