Topic: Society News

Ted E. Webster, a geotechnical engineer with such an affinity for soils that he "loved dirt," as his most recent employer put it, has died. He was 73. A consummate professional, among the many projects to his credit is the Edgewater Pier, a seasonal beach on Lake Erie, which he designed during his tenure as president of his company, Webster Engineering Associates. Most recently, he...

Heng Wei, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, professor of transportation systems and engineering, and the founding director of the Advanced Research on Transportation Engineering and Systems (ART-EngineS) Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati (UC), has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction. Wei has extensive research expertise and industrial experience in intelligent transportation systems, connected and automated vehicle (CAV) impacts, infrastructure-CAV nexus in traffic...

George R. Koerner, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, director of the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI), in Folsom, Pennsylvania, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction. Koerner is a leader in his field, with 35 years of experience integrating polymers into sub-, near-, and on-surface applications related to geotechnical, transportation, hydraulic, and geoenvironmental engineering challenges. He teaches courses on the subject regularly and is recognized...

Dinesh Katti, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, a geotechnical engineer and professor at North Dakota State University, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction. Katti’s contributions to the field of civil engineering range from research and scholarly accomplishments to contributions to the discipline as a practicing engineer and as an educator. His research includes the development of rigorous physics-based mechanics for cohesive soils...

Augustine J. “Jay” Fredrich, a highly accomplished hydraulics engineer, professor, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers computer modeler, has died. He was 81. Fredrich, P.E., D.WRE(Ret.), F.ASCE, was first employed by the Little Rock (Arkansas) District of the Corps of Engineers as a hydraulic engineer. When a computer program he wrote came to the attention of the Corps’ Hydrologic Engineering Center in Sacramento, California, the...

Jeffrey B. Bradley, a hydraulic engineer whose career began with work following the eruption of Mount St. Helens, has died. A past president of ASCE's Environmental and Water Resources Institute and founding president of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers, Bradley was 57. Bradley, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, followed in his father’s footsteps into a long and illustrious career in hydraulic engineering. Coupling his...

Ben T. Yen, an acclaimed structural engineering researcher and professor emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh University, has died. He was 88. Many of Pennsylvania’s bridges in use around Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton bear his mark. In fact, he led highly popular tours of the bridges throughout the area. Yen, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, also led a prolific research career focused on...