Joseph E. Minor, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, an internationally renowned expert in wind engineering and natural hazards research, has been honored by ASCE with inclusion in its 2018 class of Distinguished Members for development and adoption of windborne debris impact provisions in building codes and standards, advocating the formal engineering of residential structures, contributions to window glass design practice, and educating the next generation of civil engineers.
Minor is well known in the United States and Australia. Several of his areas of special expertise are wind-structure interaction phenomena, effects of tornadoes and hurricanes on buildings, performance of window glass and curtain wall systems, building code provisions for wind loads, the economics of wind-resistant construction, and the impact of natural hazards on socio-economic systems.
He was instrumental in formulating and implementing windborne debris impact provisions in the Florida Building Code, the International Building Code, ASTM International, and ASCE 7. In addition, Minor contributed to changes in the approach to window glass design in ASTM Standard E1300. Foremost among his accomplishments in this standard are the integration of membrane theory into glass plate analysis and definitions of weathered window glass and laminated glass strengths.
Minor has supervised investigations into more than 60 damaging windstorm events and directed the utilization of information gained in a wide-ranging program of research and engineering practice. He is active on building code committees and industrial advisory boards, and serves as a consultant to governmental agencies, trade associations, and private organizations. He has experience as an expert witness in legal matters and has lectured in the United States and abroad on topics related to the integration of wind engineering research into professional practice.
His mentorship of students and faculty has been through the Departments of Civil Engineering at Texas Tech University (18 years), the Missouri University of Science and Technology (five years as Chairman), and Texas A&M University-Kingsville. His graduate students have pursued careers teaching in universities as well as practicing professionally in key engineering organizations.
Minor is currently a consulting engineer in private practice and a part-time instructor at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He is a member of Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi (faculty advisor Texas Tech University,1983-86), Phi Kappa Phi, Chi Epsilon, ASCE (past president of Texas Section and Corpus Christi Branch), the National Society of Professional Engineers, and ASTM.
He won the Texas Section Daniel Mead Paper Contest for Associate Members in 1964. He received the Texas Section’s Award of Honor in 2003 and Haliburton’s Excellence in Research Award from Texas Tech University in 1983. He also accepted the National Hurricane Conference’s Distinguished Service Award (1999), and in 2017 was a participant in the ASCE Texas Section’s History & Heritage Award given to the Corpus Christi Branch.
Minor has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in engineering from Texas A&M University and a doctorate from Texas Tech University. He is a registered professional engineer in Texas, Missouri, and Florida.
