Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2021
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Ben Gurion University, 2016
  • B.S., Structural Engineering, Ben Gurion University, 2014
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer, California, #94832
  • Professional Engineer, Connecticut, #PEN.0038389
  • Professional Engineer, Michigan, #6201313242
Additional Education & Training
  • NHERI RAPID Intensive Equipment Training Workshop, 2021
  • Learning from Earthquakes Study Program in New Zealand, 2019
  • ATC- 20 Post-Earthquake Safety Assessment of Buildings Training
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC)
  • Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
  • Provisions Update Committee (PUC) for the 2026 NEHRP (Corresponding Member)
  • Journal of Structural Engineering and Journal of Earthquake Engineering (Reviewer)

Dr. Tal Feinstein specializes in earthquake engineering, structural dynamics, and structural analysis. Her expertise extends to structure failures, construction defects, design errors and code compliance issues, spanning both domestic and international disputes. Dr. Feinstein also has experience evaluating the engineering standard of care for large-scale energy and infrastructure projects, having developed numerous expert reports for use in international arbitration and domestic litigation cases.

Dr. Feinstein has experience in a variety of structural laboratory testing methods, including quasi-static cyclic testing and large-scale shaking table testing. She received her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, where she developed nonlinear analysis methods to evaluate flexible-rocking structures under seismic loading. Her doctoral research focused on seismic design of anchored floor-mounted nonstructural components, including shaking table tests at the PEER shaking table in Richmond, CA and at the NARlabs shaking table in Tainan, Taiwan. Her M.S. thesis from Ben Gurion University involved assessment of pipe-soil interaction based on large deformation analysis. She has also worked as a structural design engineer on steel bridges and concrete structures at Rokach & Ashkenazi Consulting Engineers, LTD.

Dr. Feinstein currently serves as an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University, where she teaches a graduate level course on bridge design. She is also the chair of the Seismology Committee of Structural Engineering Association of Northern California (SEAONC). Dr. Feinstein's involvement in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) includes acting as a board member of the Northern California chapter and participating in the 2019 Learning from Earthquakes Travel Study Program in New Zealand.