ASCE has honored the writing team of Ran Cao, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE; Anil K. Agrawal, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE; Sherif El-Tawil, P.E., F.ASCE; Xiaochen Xu; and Waider Wong with the 2020 Wellington Prize for their paper “Heavy Truck Collision with Bridge Piers: Computational Simulation Study,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, June 2019. Highway bridges form critical nodes in the transportation infrastructure network and are exposed to various types
ASCE has honored Kyung Doug Suh, Ph.D., D.CE, with the 2020 International Coastal Engineering Award for his research and advances in wave theory and the design of coastal structures; his numerous contributions to academic publishing; and his stewardship of generations of coastal engineers. For more than 40 years, Suh has conducted cutting-edge research on breakwaters and perforated walls of various types and their interaction with
The scenes this spring along highways cutting through Seattle were something out of a “Twilight Zone” episode. Morning commute, midday, 5 p.m. rush hour – it didn’t matter. There were barely any cars on the roads. “Eerie,” is how one King County Department of Transportation engineer described it at the time. The COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home and cars off the road not just
Danielle Schroeder, EIT, A.M.ASCE, is an associate bridge engineer in Pennoni’s transportation division, based in its Philadelphia headquarters. Though just three years into her career, she’s already been extraordinarily active in ASCE, most recently serving locally as the K-12 outreach co-chair for the Philadelphia Younger Member Forum, as well as in Society-level posts on the Structural Engineering Institute’s Structures Congresses Committee and as a corresponding member
ASCE has honored Beena Ajmera, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, with the 2020 Collingwood Prize for the paper “Characterization of the Reduction in Undrained Shear Strength in Fine-Grained Soils Due to Cyclic Loading,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, May 2019. The author’s paper provides the first comprehensive and systematic study that yields relationships to estimate the strength loss in fine-grained soils through an extensive laboratory testing program
Cybercrime is a growing global threat. More companies are falling victim to hackers in large-scale data breaches. The news frequently reports new phishing scams targeting the public. But cyberattacks aren’t limited to commercial schemes. In 2015, a power grid in Ukraine was taken down by a cyberattack – the first successful attack of its kind. The resulting blackout affected hundreds of thousands of people in
Edward K. Rice, founder of CTS Cement Manufacturing Co. of Garden Grove, California, and a visionary who held 26 cement and concrete patents, has died. He was 94. Rice, P.E., FACI, F.ASCE, recognized that improving concrete structures required progress in cement chemistry. CTS focused on shrinkage-compensating and rapid-setting concretes based on calcium sulfoaluminate. Rapid Set cement was used in the rebuilding of the Santa Monica
Robert H. “Bob” Rampetsreiter, a structural engineer in Wisconsin who launched and ran Rampetstreiter Engineering for 30 years, has died at 81. Rampetsreiter, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, lived a life devoted to civil engineering and to his family, from the time he wrote his Lehigh University thesis, “Compressive Properties of Thin Steel Coupons” through the founding of his own firm. Early education and assignments saw him
Peter R. Goldsmith, a prominent geotechnical engineer and expert witness in New Zealand, has died. He was 75. He had a particular aptitude for litigation cases, when with gentle but confident persuasive skills he pitted his arguments against other highly skilled courtroom players and was scarcely known to lose. Goldsmith, Ph.D., P.E., Aff.M.ASCE, managed the engineering consultancy firm Fraser Thomas, in Auckland, for 23 years,
“A team is only as strong as its weakest link.” It’s a statement we’ve all heard before. But it’s something that rings true, especially in the civil engineering industry. Individuals have their own set of talents and skills that they bring to the table. In the end, though, it’s teamwork that is at the heart of any operation. It not only cultivates a healthy work
