Mikhail Gershfeld

About Mikhail Gershfeld

Self-employed for the last 25+ years. Principal of a small structural consulting firm (10 years). CEO of a small manufacturing company, VP and CEO of another small manufacturing company (12 years). Assoc. Professor CE Department Cal Poly Pomona (7 years), Professional Practice Professor (20+ years). Spent a year and a half working for APA-Engineered Wood Association, a non-profit industry Association.I have divested from all business activities and am devoting my time to teaching. This is my passion, and I love doing it.Specialties: My current interest is in the Design of Wood Structures, and my efforts are focused on integrating it into civil engineering education.As of June 1, 2025, I retired from Cal Poly Pomona and am now focusing on wood education, music for children, and a small manufacturing company specializing in wood-concrete and wood-steel connections. Check it out, TICOMTEC/TICOMTECUSA. https://ticomtec.de/en/Currently serving as: Senior Advisor, TallWood Design Institute. A collaboration between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University (Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Wood Science) to support applied research related to Mass Timber Construction. Advisory Board Member - State of California Department of Natural Resources, Joint Institute For Product Innovation. Courses I love teaching: Advanced Timber Design (graduate level course - advanced topics in design of wood structures, including large diaphragms, tall walls, mass timber, composite concrete-wood systems, and light frame and heavy timber connections) Undergraduate class on Design of Wood Structures, all the basics of wood design. Introduction to Structural Design - and design in this class does not mean member sizing. It is about force-resisting systems, load path, demand-capacity relationship and load deformation characteristics. The essentials of structural engineering. And of course all favorites Structural Analysis.

Experience

1. Senior Advisor

   Tallwood Design Institute

   Mar 2016 — Present

Education

• California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

  B.S., Civil Engineering

  1977 — 1980

• California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

  M.Egr., Structural Engineering

  1980 — 1982

Skills

• Sap2000
• Seismic Design
• Earthquake Engineering
• Structural Engineers
• Structural Engineering
• Structural Analysis
• Civil Engineering
• Wood
• Structural Dynamics