Dr. Matheu currently serves as the Executive Director, Directorate of Research and Development (R&D), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In this capacity, he serves as the senior advisor to the Director of Research and Development in the development and implementation of policy, strategic planning, programmatic coordination, and interagency collaboration initiatives across the R&D spectrum.
Before his current position, Dr. Matheu served as Associate Director for Sector Management in the Stakeholder Engagement Division of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In this role, he oversaw the development and implementation of cybersecurity and infrastructure security strategies with Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector stakeholders to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure. His responsibilities included oversight of CISA’s Sector Risk Management Agency role for eight critical infrastructure sectors (Chemical; Commercial Facilities; Communications; Critical Manufacturing; Dams; Emergency Services; Information Technology; and Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste).
He began his professional career as a Research Scientist in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He also served as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University. He later joined the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) as a research structural engineer in the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory. While at ERDC, he was responsible for R&D efforts related to structural analysis, blast mitigation, and earthquake engineering of water resources infrastructure. Dr. Matheu was later appointed to serve as USACE’s liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in support of Hurricane Katrina’s response and recovery operations.
In 2007, he joined DHS as Chief of the Dams Sector Branch within the Office of Infrastructure Protection, later serving as Chief of the Critical Lifelines Branch and subsequently as Chief of the Cross-Sector Integration and Innovation Center. He provided oversight to high-priority initiatives on physical security, cybersecurity, interdependency analysis, risk management, infrastructure recovery, and regional resilience.
Dr. Matheu holds a B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina, a M.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the National Award of Merit by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials for his contributions to the dam safety profession. He has served as invited subject matter expert in international collaboration efforts focused on the physical security, resilience, and cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. Dr. Matheu has authored and co-authored more than 100 technical publications.