Desi Maldonado

About Desi Maldonado

Desi has more than two decades of experience in civil and structural engineering with a specific focus on port, coastal, environmental, and marine structural design and analysis; project management; construction administration (CA); and Construction Engineering and Inspection (CEI). Desi is a leader in the cruise facility industry, specializing in cruise terminal marine works, passenger boarding bridge operations, mooring analysis, and associated marine structures. Along with being an instructor for the FEMA Building Science Branch, he has served on FEMA Mitigation Assessment Team following several natural disasters including the 2011 Northern Alabama tornado outbreak and the 2017 Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico. He has also served on field deployments following widespread flooding in the Houston, Texas area in 2016 and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricane Irma in 2017. At Kimley-Horn, Desi’s practice area encompasses ports and coastal structures, as well as general structural including bulkheads, wharfs, ports, piers, boardwalks, environmental structures, water and wastewater treatment facilities, and pile-founded structures. Along with his design focus, he also regularly performs evaluations of existing structures. Desi has a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with field of study in Structural Engineering from Florida State University, where his thesis \"ANALYSIS OF TILT-UP BUILDING DESIGN AND INDUSTRY STANDARD PRACTICES IN TORNADO-PRONE REGIONS\" was focused on tilt-up construction performance.

Experience

1. Marine Structural Engineer

   Kimley-Horn

   Dec 2025 — Present

Education

• Florida State University

  MS, Structural Engineering

  2010 — 2013

• Florida State University

  BS, Civil Engineering

  2001 — 2005