Dwayne Toscano

MASc PEng

Senior Engineer

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dwayne.toscano@meaforensic.com
949.416.6814
949.416.6814
Los Angeles
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Dwayne Toscano leads MEA’s Failure Analysis group in California and manages our metallurgy and testing capabilities. He relies on over a decade of forensic engineering experience to investigate the role of defects and mechanical failures across a wide range of systems and products. His casework includes water escapes from domestic plumbing and fire sprinkler systems, HVAC equipment malfunctions, industrial equipment and machinery, lithium-ion battery fires, consumer products, medical devices and automotive defects.

Dwayne holds a Master’s degree in Applied Science from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor’s of Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining MEA, Dwayne worked as a collision reconstruction engineer focused on mechanical assessments, vehicle teardowns, and EDR data analysis. “I was specializing in mechanical failures, so I decided to go back to academia to gain a better understanding of the nature and causes for unexpected failures”, he recalls of the time he made the decision to pursue a Master’s degree.

He spent the following years in the University of Waterloo’s research lab, studying the loading behavior of next-generation materials in fatigue-critical automotive applications – he has published 6 peer-reviewed papers based on this work. Since joining MEA, he has conducted and published research into the factors leading to motor vehicle wheel separations.

“I constantly seek to understand the world around me,” explains Dwayne. “Learning is a passion, it has led me to become a forensic engineer and a researcher, and is still my driving force. As each MEA file brings a new challenge, I see them as opportunities to test, learn and grow. I am inspired by the possibility that our work and our research could uncover new ways to improve safety.”

expertise

  1. Failure Analysis
  2. Collision Reconstruction

areas of specialization

  1. Consumer product failures
  2. Water escapes
  3. Wheel separations
  4. Plumbing failures

education

  1. Master of Applied Science, Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, ON, 2018
  2. Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, ON, 2013

professional status

  1. Registered Professional Engineer, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, License No. 50554
  2. Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), National Association of Fire Investigators, 2022
  3. Level 1 X-Ray Fluorescence Operator, Natural Resources Canada, 2020

professional associations

  1. National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI), since 2022
  2. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), since 2020
google scholar researchgate

Professional Experience

  1. MEA Forensic Engineers and Scientists
    2019 to present – Senior Engineer since January 2025

    Conduct technical investigations of mechanical and material failures related to product, property, transportation, and equipment losses including water escapes, consumer product and equipment malfunctions, lithium-ion battery explosions and appliance fires. Employing scientific failure analysis tools to isolate root and contributing causes related to defective use, maintenance, inspections, manufacture, or design. Engineering work includes evidence and site examinations, non-destructive and destructive testing, statics and stress analysis, metallurgical analysis, and materials characterization for various metallic, plastic and composite components. Conduct routine experiments to test hypotheses of failure modes and failure sequences for components, products, vehicles and machinery relative to reported conditions or applicable standards and codes.

  2. University of Waterloo, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance
    Research Associate, 2018-2019

    Developed a FE model of Flow Drill Screw (FDS) joints for body-in-white (BIW) simulations to be used with RUPP approach for fatigue life predictions of joined components.

  3. University of Waterloo, Ford Motor Company, Multimatic Inc.
    MASc Researcher, 2015-2018

    Characterized the quasi-static and cyclic behaviour of AZ31B Mg alloy for use in a fatigue-critical front lower control arm (FLCA) for a high-volume passenger vehicle. The aim of this research was to achieve lower curb weight and therefore improved fuel economy.

  4. Kodsi Forensic Engineering
    Crash Reconstructionist, 2013-2015

    Analyzed single/multi- vehicle collisions, pedestrian impacts, visibility assessments and mechanical failures. Performed 300+ MVA investigations, 120+ vehicle examinations including EDR imaging and 30+ mechanical inspections. Executed complex multi-vehicle simulations using PC-Crash along with EDR data analyses to quantify the avoidability of a collision for the involved parties. Conducted advanced investigations using SEM and chemical analysis on components of interest including: wheels, tie-rods and master cylinders. Drafted engineering reports on findings along with rebuttals of other expert reports. Served as an in-court technical advisor in a criminal litigation case.

  5. Kraft Foods Inc. / Mondelez International
    Engineering Intern, 2011-2012

    Responsible for reducing material usage and improving packaging efficiency: developed packaging prototypes to test the feasibility of proposed changes versus current packaging; conducted load analysis for pallet-scale shipping units to identify possible issues associated with overloading or buckling during warehousing; performed small-scale CCD experiments to determine optimal settings for test variables such as film thickness, dwell time and sealing temperature. The optimal results from the small scale tests were taken to full-scale production tests including pilot runs.

Awards

  1. Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2017 
  2. President’s Graduate Scholarship, 2017
  3. Paul Niessen-Teck Award, 2017

Lectures & Presentations

  1. September 24, 2025 – Lithium-ion Battery Fires, Let the Evidence Speak Seminar, MEA Forensic, Vancouver, BC.
  2. July 30, 2025 – Engineering Investigations of Failure, MEA Webinar Series, Online.
  3. September 10, 2024 – Forensic Failure Analysis – Property Claims. Lake Okanagan Insurance Society Conference (LOIS), Kelowna, BC.
  4. August 17, 2023 – Failure Analysis Webinar. MEA Forensic, Virtual.

Training & Professional Development

  1. July 24-25, 2025 – Failure Analysis for Injection-Molded Plastic Products, Pennsylvania State University Behrend College, Erie, PA.
  2. January 18-19, 2025 – National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Winter Conference, Santa Fe, NM.
  3. May 9-13, 2022 – Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator Training Program, International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), Grimsby, ON.
  4. March 22–25, 2021 – iNPUT-ACE Video Evidence Symposium 2021, Online.
  5. May 2020 – X-Ray Fluorescence Operator – Level 1, Natural Resources Canada, Vancouver, BC.
  6. August 2019 – PC Crash 12.0, MEA Forensic, Seattle, WA.
  7. June 2019 – CDR Operator Certification, Collision Safety Institute, Everett, WA.

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