Outstanding Journal Paper Awards for 2012

Each year, the ASCE Technical Council on Forensic Engineering selects one paper published in this Journal during the previous calendar year for our Outstanding Paper Award. This year, the award recipients are Yue Li, Aakash Ahuja, and Jamie E. Padgett. Award certificates mounted on wall plaques will be given to each recipient.

The selected paper, “Review of Methods to Assess, Design for, and Mitigate Multiple Hazards,” was published in the January/February 2012 issue (Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 104–117). The Journal Publications Committee noted that the well-written paper explores a timely and critical performance topic. It includes detailed discussion with the potential to influence needed changes in codes and standards of practice.

Yue Li, Ph.D. (Fig. 1), is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Technological University (MTU). He joined MTU as the Donald and Rose Ann Tomasini Assistant Professor of Structural Engineering in 2005. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering, with an emphasis in Structural Engineering, from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2005. Dr. Li’s research interests include structural reliability analysis, probabilistic design, natural and man-made hazard mitigation, structural load modeling and combinations of loads, structural monitoring and condition assessment, bridge engineering, performance-based engineering, earthquake engineering, wind engineering, wood engineering, effects of climate change on infrastructure risk assessment, and climatic adaptation. He has more than 80 publications in leading professional journals. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Michigan DOT, State of Michigan, ASCE, Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability in Australia. Dr. Li received the Michigan Tech Research Excellence Fund Award in 2008. Dr. Li’s teaching interests include basic structural engineering, timber and masonry design, structural dynamics, probabilistic analysis and reliability, and performance-based structural design.

Dr. Li currently serves as an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. He is chair of the ASCE/Structural Engineering Institute Subcommittee on Design of Wood Structures. He is a founding member of the ASCE Structural Engineering Institute Committee on Multiple Hazard Mitigation and serves as Vice Chair for the committee. He serves as a voting member for the ASCE 7-16 Subcommittee on Load Combinations and as a control member for the ASCE/SEI Technical Council on Life-Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability and Risk of Structural Systems. Dr. Li has worked as a structural engineer for 5 years and was involved in the design of the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Aakash Ahuja (Fig. 2) is a mechanical/civil engineer. He attended graduate school at MTU, where he obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Mr. Ahuja’s work in graduate school focused on damage assessment from multiple hazards and methods to mitigate these hazards. The paper “Review of Methods to Assess, Design for, and Mitigate Multiple Hazards” was a component of Mr. Ahuja’s graduate school project, entitled “Review of Assessment, Design, and Mitigation of Multiple Hazards.” Along with this paper, Mr. Ahuja also coauthored “Loss Analysis for Combined Wind and Surge in Hurricanes,” which was published in Natural Hazards Review (February 2012) and presented at the 11th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP11) held in Zurich, Switzerland, in August 2011.

Jamie E. Padgett, Ph.D. (Fig. 3), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Dr. Padgett’s research focuses on the application of probabilistic methods for risk assessment of structures, including the quantification of infrastructure sustainability. Her work addresses the protection of structures and infrastructure such as bridges exposed to multiple hazards, including earthquakes, hurricanes, or aging and deterioration. Dr. Padgett is the Chair of the ASCE Technical Committee on Multiple Hazard Mitigation and serves on the Executive Committee for the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE). She currently serves on editorial boards for the ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering and Earthquakes and Structures. Dr. Padgett has received several awards and recognitions including the 2011 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and ASCE’s 2009 New Face of Civil Engineering for her work in the field of infrastructure risk assessment and protection. Her research has been supported by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, Transportation Research Board, and Houston Endowment.

Other nominees for the Outstanding Paper Award were:

Congratulations are extended to each of these authors. The nominations submitted by Journal readers were appreciated.