Dwayne McDaniel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Florida International University. He received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Florida in 1991, 1993, and 2000, respectively. He then joined the University of Florida as an Associate Adjunct Professor from 2000 to 2001. He served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami (2005–2006) and as an Engineer at the Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Miami (2001–2006). He joined FIU in 2006 as a Research Scientist (2006–2009), Senior Research Scientist (2009–2014), Principal Scientist (2014–2019), and Associate Professor (2019–present). He was the Graduate Program Director at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, from 2020 to 2024. His research interests include robotics with applications to infrastructure inspection, autonomous systems, sensor systems, nondestructive evaluation, multi-body dynamics, and structural mechanics. He is also a registered professional engineer in the state of Florida.