Last November, the engineering firm
Simpson Gumpertz &Heger (SGH)
announced that it has welcomed new
senior leaders Brian Pailes and Dustin
Turnquist to the firm’s Engineering
Mechanics &Infrastructure (EMI) group.
Brian Pailes, PhD,
PE, joins SGH
as an Associate
Principal. Based
in Tampa, Florida,
he will collabo-
rate with SGH
experts there while drawing on the firm’s
technical resources across the US. He
specializes in nondestructive evaluation
(NDE), material testing, structural evalua-
tion, cathodic protection, and corrosion
on a wide variety of structures. Brian is
an Association for Materials Protection
and Performance (AMPP)–certified
Cathodic Protection Specialist (CP-4)
and Professional Engineer (PE) in several
states.
Pailes chairs the AMPP Concrete
Infrastructure Standards Committee and
is an active member of the Transportation
Research Board (TRB) Corrosion
Committee and the Coasts, Oceans,
Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) Asset
Management Task Force.
Dustin Turnquist,
PE, CFEI, joins
SGH as a Project
Director, part-
nering closely with
team members
across the US
while bolstering the technical capabil-
ities of the Denver (Colorado) office
and SGH’s Applied Science &Research
Center. He brings extensive expertise in
metallurgy, engineering investigations,
failure analysis, and testing, with special-
izations in fatigue and fracture character-
ization, corrosion analysis, and damage
assessment for components and systems
across a wide range of industries. He is a
Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator
(CFEI) and a Professional Engineer in
several states.
Turnquist enjoys sharing his expertise
across the industry, both as a member of
the American Society for Metals (ASM)
International, Failure Analysis Society
(FAS), and National Association of Fire
Investigators (NAFI), and as a technical
reviewer and editorial board member
for the Journal of Failure Analysis and
Prevention.
APPOINTMENTS
Last month, ASNT member Wael
Hoziefa began a new position as an
associate professor of Metallurgy and
Materials Engineering at Al-Azhar
University in Cairo, Egypt. He previously
served as a lecturer at the university.
DEATHS
Christopher Allin
Black, 64, passed
away suddenly
at his home in
North Bend,
Washington,
5 January 2025.
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, on
10 March 1960, Black attended the
University of South Dakota in Vermillion
before embarking on a successful, life-
long technical career in nondestructive
testing. He began his career in Iowa at
Quad City Testing, inspecting welds
and learning the ropes from his brother
Stephen, then worked in the oil and
gas industry in Houston, Texas, before
settling down in the Seattle region as a
Level III inspector for Boeing. He received
the 1998 Boeing Commercial Division
award for Fabrication Inspector of the
Year. ASNT honored Black in 2013 with
the Mentoring Award and again in 2015
as the Lou DiValerio Technician of the
Year. Boeing also honored him in 2015
with their Meritorious Invention award,
which led to his subsequent patent in
2017 for conceiving and designing a
device to detect lost tools inside an
aircraft.
A member of ASNT’s Pacific Northwest
Section, Black also taught at Clover
Park Technical College from 2012–2019,
where he was the recipient of their award
for outstanding mentoring skills. As a
Union representative and member of the
International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, Chris retired
from Boeing in 2023 after 36 years. He
continued to work part-time as an inde-
pendent contractor with his own firm, CBI
NDT Consulting.
Eugene Sigurd
Monks, 90,
passed away on
12 December
2024, at his home
in Noblesville,
Indiana. Born
on 19 October 1934 in Oil City,
Pennsylvania, Monks began working in
nondestructive testing (NDT) at Republic
Steel Corp.’s Electromagnetic Research
Center in Cleveland, Ohio, as a Fenn
College co-op student in 1955. In 1957
he was transferred to Republic Steel’s
plant in Youngstown, Ohio, as an NDT
technician. During this assignment he
continued his education at Youngstown
University, graduating in 1961 with a
BSEE, and supervised an NDT depart-
ment that grew to more than 30 NDT
inspectors.
Monks worked 30 years for Republic
Steel as the superintendent for the
finishing, inspection, and shipping
departments (FIS), where he developed
novel NDT systems for the inline inspec-
tion of steel bars, coils, rods, tubes,
plates, and billets. After retiring from
Republic Steel in 1985, he worked briefly
at Lone Star Steel in Texas before joining
GE Aircraft Engines in Evendale, Ohio,
where he was responsible for devel-
oping inspection techniques for military
aircraft engines. A Lifetime Member
of ASNT, Monks served on numerous
committees including the Steel
Producers Committee (1984), chaired
the Technical and Education Council
from 1985–1987, and was an ASNT
SCOPE
|
PEOPLEWATCH
60
M A T E R I A L S E V A L U A T I O N • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5
2502 ME Feb.indd 60 1/23/25 1:21 PM
Simpson Gumpertz &Heger (SGH)
announced that it has welcomed new
senior leaders Brian Pailes and Dustin
Turnquist to the firm’s Engineering
Mechanics &Infrastructure (EMI) group.
Brian Pailes, PhD,
PE, joins SGH
as an Associate
Principal. Based
in Tampa, Florida,
he will collabo-
rate with SGH
experts there while drawing on the firm’s
technical resources across the US. He
specializes in nondestructive evaluation
(NDE), material testing, structural evalua-
tion, cathodic protection, and corrosion
on a wide variety of structures. Brian is
an Association for Materials Protection
and Performance (AMPP)–certified
Cathodic Protection Specialist (CP-4)
and Professional Engineer (PE) in several
states.
Pailes chairs the AMPP Concrete
Infrastructure Standards Committee and
is an active member of the Transportation
Research Board (TRB) Corrosion
Committee and the Coasts, Oceans,
Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) Asset
Management Task Force.
Dustin Turnquist,
PE, CFEI, joins
SGH as a Project
Director, part-
nering closely with
team members
across the US
while bolstering the technical capabil-
ities of the Denver (Colorado) office
and SGH’s Applied Science &Research
Center. He brings extensive expertise in
metallurgy, engineering investigations,
failure analysis, and testing, with special-
izations in fatigue and fracture character-
ization, corrosion analysis, and damage
assessment for components and systems
across a wide range of industries. He is a
Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator
(CFEI) and a Professional Engineer in
several states.
Turnquist enjoys sharing his expertise
across the industry, both as a member of
the American Society for Metals (ASM)
International, Failure Analysis Society
(FAS), and National Association of Fire
Investigators (NAFI), and as a technical
reviewer and editorial board member
for the Journal of Failure Analysis and
Prevention.
APPOINTMENTS
Last month, ASNT member Wael
Hoziefa began a new position as an
associate professor of Metallurgy and
Materials Engineering at Al-Azhar
University in Cairo, Egypt. He previously
served as a lecturer at the university.
DEATHS
Christopher Allin
Black, 64, passed
away suddenly
at his home in
North Bend,
Washington,
5 January 2025.
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, on
10 March 1960, Black attended the
University of South Dakota in Vermillion
before embarking on a successful, life-
long technical career in nondestructive
testing. He began his career in Iowa at
Quad City Testing, inspecting welds
and learning the ropes from his brother
Stephen, then worked in the oil and
gas industry in Houston, Texas, before
settling down in the Seattle region as a
Level III inspector for Boeing. He received
the 1998 Boeing Commercial Division
award for Fabrication Inspector of the
Year. ASNT honored Black in 2013 with
the Mentoring Award and again in 2015
as the Lou DiValerio Technician of the
Year. Boeing also honored him in 2015
with their Meritorious Invention award,
which led to his subsequent patent in
2017 for conceiving and designing a
device to detect lost tools inside an
aircraft.
A member of ASNT’s Pacific Northwest
Section, Black also taught at Clover
Park Technical College from 2012–2019,
where he was the recipient of their award
for outstanding mentoring skills. As a
Union representative and member of the
International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, Chris retired
from Boeing in 2023 after 36 years. He
continued to work part-time as an inde-
pendent contractor with his own firm, CBI
NDT Consulting.
Eugene Sigurd
Monks, 90,
passed away on
12 December
2024, at his home
in Noblesville,
Indiana. Born
on 19 October 1934 in Oil City,
Pennsylvania, Monks began working in
nondestructive testing (NDT) at Republic
Steel Corp.’s Electromagnetic Research
Center in Cleveland, Ohio, as a Fenn
College co-op student in 1955. In 1957
he was transferred to Republic Steel’s
plant in Youngstown, Ohio, as an NDT
technician. During this assignment he
continued his education at Youngstown
University, graduating in 1961 with a
BSEE, and supervised an NDT depart-
ment that grew to more than 30 NDT
inspectors.
Monks worked 30 years for Republic
Steel as the superintendent for the
finishing, inspection, and shipping
departments (FIS), where he developed
novel NDT systems for the inline inspec-
tion of steel bars, coils, rods, tubes,
plates, and billets. After retiring from
Republic Steel in 1985, he worked briefly
at Lone Star Steel in Texas before joining
GE Aircraft Engines in Evendale, Ohio,
where he was responsible for devel-
oping inspection techniques for military
aircraft engines. A Lifetime Member
of ASNT, Monks served on numerous
committees including the Steel
Producers Committee (1984), chaired
the Technical and Education Council
from 1985–1987, and was an ASNT
SCOPE
|
PEOPLEWATCH
60
M A T E R I A L S E V A L U A T I O N • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5
2502 ME Feb.indd 60 1/23/25 1:21 PM
