Structural/Earthquake engineering, structural reliability, enhanced seismic performance systems, performance-based design and assessment methods, community resilience.

Google Scholar

• Is My Kid’s LAUSD Campus Safe From Earthquakes? | LAist, March 2023
• University of California Funds Interdisciplinary, Multicampus Research | Daily Bruin, February 2023
• Two professors win UC’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives competition | UCLA Newsroom, January 2021
• Rust Valley Restorers | History Channel, January 2020
• Engineering earthquake resilience in downtown skyscrapers - Science Nation | National Science Foundation, March 2018

• Ph.D., (2014), Stanford University
• M.S., (2004), Stanford University
• B.S., (2002), Morgan State University

• 2016 Burton Receives NSF’s CAREER Award
• 2014 National Science Foundation, Next Generation of Hazards and Disaster Researchers Fellowship
• 2014 Best Paper Award, International Conference on Building Resilience, Manchester, England
• 2012 Diversifying Academia Recruiting Excellence (DARE) Fellowship, Stanford University
• 2011 Young Researcher Travel Award, International Conference on Earthquake Engineering, NSF
• 2000 Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Environmental Protection Agency

C&EE 135L: Structural Design and Testing Laboratory C&EE 235A: Advanced Structural Analysis C&EE 244: Structural Loads and Safety of Civil Structures/Structural Reliability