PPI Instructors
Any educational program is only as good as the people who construct and deliver it. We have assembled the most effective, well-respected, and competent team of professional writers and instructors to create and deliver PPI, a Kaplan Company's content and instruction.
Although declaring major in Math in Computer science in Poland, where she is from, and showing great inclination for sciences, especially Chemistry, during High School, and winning multiple art contests, she has decided that she is looking for something greater, a field that unites all fields and is a feast for a Renaissance man or woman. She decided to marry her love for art, sciences & humanities and major in Architecture. Five years later, in 2012, she graduated from the PRATT Institute and has worked within the field since. She had an opportunity to work in various size firms, both Residential and Commercial, ranging from private to public and high-end to more budget conscious.
Besides her academic work, she has committed herself to various non-for-profit and volunteer work. She is a member of Polish Scouting Organization, used to dance traditional dances at PAFDC, and volunteered during film festivals. She is founder of the Father Popiełuszko Square, a member of the board of Polish National Home in Greenpoint NY, and a leader for emergency relief fundraising efforts. During her time at PRATT Institute, she coordinated tutors who were a part Tutoring Program for Structural Courses, as well as tutored the students herself, she graduated with highest honors and received Henry Adams Award & Medal. She spent one of the semesters at PRATT participating in the study abroad program in Rome where she spent her time learning the culture, language and architecture.
and guest lectures for watercourses at the University of Toledo in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
He passed his P.E. Civil-Water Resources and Environmental Engineering depth in October 2018 in the state of Texas. He is an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers. He enjoys teaching, learning, and listening to podcasts.
Bhaven has had working experience with federal and state funded research projects and has over the last 18+ years made significant contributions to the transportation systems engineering area through his research works. Beyond engineering, he enjoys spending time with his wife and son, working on DIY construction projects, watching soccer (footie!), and worshipping God.
Let’s get ready for the PE exam with Bhaven!!
There, he spent his time designing structures ranging from single-family homes to churches, shopping centers, offices, and mid-rise post-tensioned concrete buildings, and also spent significant quantities of time working on historic renovation and adaptive reuse projects. Since moving to Florida, he has been actively engaged in the complexities of projects such as the design of entertainment and amusement structures and condominium buildings that reach 37 stories.
Brian attended school at the University of Virginia for his undergraduate degree and the Pennsylvania State University for his Masters of Science degree. As part of his MS, he focused his research in the area of fiber-reinforced polymer strengthening for concrete construction. In a series of internships during both degrees, he learned the value of skilled drafting and the basics of structural engineering.
Previously, he worked as a consultant designing bridges, retaining walls, solar site foundations, substations, and a variety of other structures. He has conducted bridge inspections and site investigations as well. He is particularly interested in the complexities of seismic design, finite element analysis, and soil-structure interaction. You will see his projects in nearly every state in the United States.
He received his BS in Civil Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He successfully defended his Master’s Thesis in “Stochastic Modeling by Polynomial Chaos Expansions on the Long-Term Behavior of Concrete Beams with CFRP Composites.” He is expected to complete his MS in Structural Engineering soon with only one class remaining. While at Mines, he ran DII Cross Country and Track, racing events from the 1500m to the 10k. He also participated in ASCE, AGC, Civil Engineering Honor Society, and the Navigators.
He recently moved back to Colorado with his wife, 2 dogs, and 1 cat. In his free time, David likes to run long distances and is currently training for ultra-marathons. He likes to spend time with his wife hiking, playing disc golf, and exploring.
She has over six years of experience in construction engineering, surveying, hydrology and hydraulics, geometry control and site development for residential, commercial and public works projects. Elena holds a professional engineer license in the State of California.
After completing his MSEE studies, Dr. Kim took a position as an Electrical Engineer at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado responsible for precise measurement of optical fiber geometries and established the national optical fiber far-field and near-field measurement standard procedures and tests. He was awarded the certificate of achievement from the Department of Commerce for his work on establishing a fiber optic national standard.
Upon completion of his PhD studies, he joined Burroughs Corporation in San Diego as a Project Engineer developing fiber optic transmitters and receivers for an advanced local area network.
He began his environmental career as the Site Investigation Group Leader responsible for investigating contamination at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California. After leaving the Air Force, Guy worked at an air toxics laboratory helping with sales, marketing, and development of new methods for siloxanes analysis for waste to energy projects. He is currently a civil/environmental consultant for GHD, Inc. and serves as the Engineering Team Lead for the Contamination, Assessment and Remediation Group. He has conducted remediation projects at Superfund sites, landfills, dry cleaners, mines, burn dumps, off-shore oil/gas platforms and on-shore refineries, a decommissioned nuclear research facility, and during the demolition of the east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He is a Professional Mechanical Engineer (CA) and a Professional Civil Engineer (CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, HI). On his time off, Guy likes to go rock climbing, mountain biking, caving, kayaking, canyoneering, and exploring the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Mr. Mirabile is a senior member of IEEE, IEEE Industry Applications Society, IEEE Power and Energy Society, and IEEE Standards Association. He is also a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers. He is currently Northeast Vice Chair of NSPE’s Professional Engineers in Industry. He is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), Certified Energy Auditor (CEA), Certified in Power Quality (CPQ), and a LEED AP O+M.
Mr. Mirabile was named IEEE Power and Energy Society – Baltimore Chapter’s 2011 Outstanding Engineer.” He is the current President of Maryland Society of Professional Engineers. His term expires in July 2021.
His areas of focus include marine construction, structural concrete, post tensioning, and temporary structures. Day-to-day, he is ultimately responsible for all field operations including safety, quality, union relations, schedule, and equipment.
Jimmy received a BS in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University in 2011 then passed the FE and PE exams in Spring 2018. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and enjoys saltwater fishing in his free time.
A specific research topic is the development of technologies based on the water retention properties of unraveled bovine hide collagen. At Widener, Prof. Maffia founded the Collagen Research Group, which has involved more than 300 students, industrial and government researchers and faculty colleagues. In 2010, Prof. Maffia retired from Widener as Emeritus Professor. In 2010, Prof. Maffia joined his Alma Mater, Manhattan College, as Professor of Chemical Engineering.
Prof. Maffia is an active consultant in chemical and bio-based processes, and is an associate of several consulting firms. He has offered short courses and training seminars on process engineering and related topics at sites around the world on six continents. A frequent volunteer for a variety of community and outreach activities, Prof. Maffia has also served on Meals on Wheels in Newtown Square, PA for the past 20 years. In 2008, Prof. Maffia established a student chapter of Engineers Without Borders at Widener University. He is now involved in service projects for potable water supply in Haiti, Kenya, and the Philippines through Manhattan College. Recently, Prof. Maffia has reestablished the collagen research group at Manhattan College and has initiated research projects with NASA, L'Oreal, ARK and the USDA.
Josh has a broad range of experience. He is currently a licensed structural engineer and Project Manager for a premier structural engineering firm, Dunn Associates, Inc., located in Salt Lake City, Utah which specializes in building design. He has worked on numerous building projects that do not fit typical design standards and loves every minute of it.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from the University of California, Davis in Civil Engineering he went on to help open up a new office for his previous firm. While in Los Angeles, California he prepared for the PE exam. He passed the Civil PE Exam (Structural Depth) along with the California Specific Exams (Seismic and Surveying), and he wants you to pass too!
He oversees 3.4 million square feet of the company’s commercial real estate portfolio for all properties on Kauai, Maui, and a majority of O’ahu. Justin believes that the most successful project managers utilize influence to accomplish their goals by establishing credibility, demonstrating competency, and genuinely caring about their projects and teams.
Before transitioning to Commercial Real Estate Development in 2018, Justin worked at two of the nation’s largest construction firms; PCL Construction and Swinerton Builders. During his time in construction, Justin worked as a project engineer. His duties included project planning and execution, scheduling, quality management, document control, and subcontractor management of various disciplines such as structural, mechanical, plumbing, and fire protection.
Two years later, he transferred to the metal buildings industry as a Design Engineer at American Buildings Company, a part of the Nucor Buildings group, and has served in that role for over seven years. Quint hopes to lead the development of his team and those of the entire Nucor Buildings Group in the coming years. Until then, he works as a mentor to young engineers and takes every opportunity to help them grow. Quint has been a practicing PE since February of 2015 and is registered in Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida.
Quint has many hobbies, but his main passion is playing games with friends. He enjoys much of his time outside of work with his wife and two children. A teacher at heart who married an actual teacher, Quint is excited to pass along his knowledge to help others succeed.
Dr. Taher has a bachelor of civil engineering from INSA de Lyon, Lyon, France. She has a master’s degree and a doctorate in civil engineering/building technology from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, in Paris, France.
Dr. Taher participated in some building technology research in the field of building design for high winds and hurricanes, and she has several published articles in this field in addition to a book published by McGraw Hill Education entitled “Building Design for Wind Forces”. She has authored and co-authored several published books in structural technology for architects including some review books for the ARE exam. Dr. Taher is currently serving as the President of the ASCE/SEI (Structural Engineering Institute) Chapter of North Jersey.
After completing her masters in Applied Geography with a concentration in Business Geography and Location Science at the University of North Texas, she is working as a location analyst and real estate agent researching and working on feasibility studies for private developers. In addition, she is developing GIS apps that facilitate business geographic research.
Tina’s professional career and growing awareness of the impact of the environment on daily life inspired her to seek LEED certification and subsequently, she has utilized her skills in convincing clients to obtain LEED certification. Tina is also a certified International Code Council Building Plans Examiner, and Registered Accessibility Specialist in the state of Texas. She has worked as Building Plans Examiner in Texas for about 2 years and reviewed numerous commercial new building and finish out projects as well as residential projects for Building and Energy code compliance. Tina has been an instructor for AutoCAD, 3D Studio MAX and Adobe Photoshop and lecturer for Building Design and Materials. Tina plays an active role in training Boy Scouts and is a certified Merit Badge Counselor for Sustainability and Archery.
During his eight years of active duty in the Navy, Mr. Arment held several positions of leadership in both operations and maintenance of multiple submarine nuclear reactor plants. Mr. Arment also taught several classroom-based courses on quality maintenance practices for high energy systems, as well as topics on radiological controls, primary, and secondary chemistry controls.
Mr. Arment presented his research on Diesel engine efficiency internationally at the 2010 SAE Small Engines Conference in Linz, Austria. He also published his work on critical heat flux enhancement in pressurized water reactors in Nuclear Engineering and Design in 2013.
Rafael has worked throughout the US Armed Forces and Department of Defense as well as state and local government as a project engineer, manager & construction manager with a proven track record in MEP mechanical engineering, systems engineering, facilities management, power generation, biomedical engineering, biotechnology (biosecurity &biodefense), electronics and electrical engineering as well as city and regional planning. Some of the main tasks included: Operational design and risk prevention, constructability design assessment for LEED standards and all engineering disciplines, emergency power generation, MEP, security and life safety systems, bio-safety labs (I – IV), in the commercial, residential, industrial and military sectors.
Rafael has tutored through his career as he graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1999 from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY and went on to pursuing higher education with a MS in City & Regional Planning (Pratt Institute, NY), Master in Biomedical Engineering (Catholic University of America, DC), MS in Biotechnology (Biosecurity & Biodefense) (UMUC in MD) and he is seeking to obtain his Ph.D. Degree either in Biomedical Engineering (Prosthetics) or in Public Health-Epidemiology. Rafael passed the NCEES Mechanical PE exam in Thermal-Fluid Systems and is familiar with the new exam format and specs.
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