Editor’s Note

With sadness and with fond memories, members of the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering note the passing of our inspirational colleague, Lewis L. Zickel (Fig. 1). Lew’s wisdom, humor and commitment to the highest professional standards will be sincerely missed. Personally, I have appreciated his counsel and guidance over many years as a member of the Editorial Review Board for this Journal. I have asked Howard Greenspan, also a member of our Editorial Review Board, to prepare the following tribute to his longtime close friend and colleague:

Each year, the ASCE Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE) selects one paper published in this Journal the previous calendar year for our Outstanding Paper Award. Last year (2006) was an unusual year for the Journal. Many worthy papers were nominated from our typical issues. In addition, we published a Special Topic issue in November 2006 on the timely subject Mitigating the Potential for Progressive Disproportionate Structural Collapse. Several innovative and groundbreaking papers were nominated from that Special Topic issue, which was also released as a stand-alone publication available to nonsubscribers.

After considerable deliberation, the TCFE Awards Committee decided to recommend two papers for the 2006 award—one from our typical issues and one from the Special Topic issue. The TCFE Executive Committee agreed with this recommendation. I am therefore pleased to announce that the Outstanding Paper Award certificates and wall plaques will be presented to Dario A. Gasparini and Judith Wang; as well as to Mark Loizeaux and Andrew E. N. Osborn.

Gasparini and Wang’s paper, “Battery-Joralemon Street Tunnel,” appeared in the February 2006 issue (Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 92–107). The paper reviews design and construction problems encountered in completing the first subway tunnel placed in service under the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn (1903–1907). As a historic case study, the paper is a model for scholarly research, skillful use of illustrations, and clarity of writing.

Dario A. Gasparini (Fig. 2) is professor of Civil Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a structural engineer who has conducted research and published manuscripts in the areas of stochastic structural dynamics, reliability, and structural engineering history. Gasparini has been a consultant to the Historic American Engineering Record of the National Park Service for more than $10\text{years}$ . He and his students have completed structural studies of historic suspension bridges, reinforced concrete bridges, metal truss bridges, and covered wooden bridges. Gasparini is a corresponding member of the History and Heritage Committee of ASCE. He holds a bachelor of engineering degree from Villanova University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Judith Wang (Fig. 3) is assistant professor of civil engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. Her research interests include dynamic soil-structure interaction and soil-structure system behavior. Before her current appointment, Wang was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she had the opportunity to work with Professor Dario Gasparini in investigating Clifford Holland’s early work on the New York City subway system. Wang holds a B.S.E. in civil engineering, an M.S. in civil engineering, a Ph.D. in civil engineering, and a B.A. in English, all from Case Western Reserve University.

Loizeaux and Osborn’s paper, “Progressive Collapse—An Implosion Contractor’s Stock in Trade,” appeared in the November 2006 Special Topic Issue, Mitigating the Potential for Progressive Disproportionate Structural Collapse (Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 391–402). The paper explores lessons learned from the controlled demolition of structures, through explosive-induced progressive collapse. The unique perspective provided by the demolition expert offers insights into design strategies that more effectively provide resistance to the disproportionate collapse of structures subjected to extreme loading.

Mark Loizeaux (Fig. 4) is CEO and co-owner of Loizeaux Group International (LGI), a demolition consulting organization that was formed to assist governmental officials, property owners, architects, engineers, and construction managers in the solution of complex design, forensic, and site clearance/demolition challenges on domestic and international projects. Loizeaux is also the president and co-owner of Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI), one of the leading international demolition firms, performing dismantling, conventional, and explosives demolition operations for a broad range of clients. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee and is a member of numerous professional societies and committees. His work has been cited in a number of national and international publications and has been recognized with several prestigious national awards.

Andrew E. N. Osborn (Fig. 5) is a principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE), and is based in the New York City office. Established in 1956, WJE is a national firm of structural engineers, architects, and materials scientists dedicated to providing practical, innovative, and technically sound solutions to problems in existing structures. Since joining WJE in 1978, Osborn has participated in more than 2,000 projects. He has conducted a wide range of investigations, repair designs, and load tests of buildings, bridges, water-retaining structures, parking garages, tunnels, stadiums, and a historic lighthouse. These structures have been made of reinforced and prestressed concrete, masonry, steel, aluminum, and wood. Osborn has special expertise in collapse investigations and long-term health monitoring of structures using instrumentation and nondestructive testing techniques. He holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Cornell University and an M.S. degree in structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a registered Professional Engineer in 13 states and a registered Structural Engineer in Illinois.

Other nominees for the Outstanding Paper Award were as follows:

Congratulations are extended to each of these authors. Nominations submitted by journal readers were appreciated.

This issue marks the end of the 21st year of publication of the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. The Journal owes much of its success to the many manuscript reviewers who have donated their time to provide constructive comments to authors. Indeed, the reviewers play a role that is equivalent to that of the authors in maintaining the quality of this publication. Our reviewers serve without compensation. They are, without exception, highly respected individuals who are very busy in practice and/or in academia. Yet, they find the time to contribute altruistically to the dissemination of useful information in this Journal.

At the end of each year’s final issue, we list those who have provided reviews during the year. I want to extend my personal appreciation for their efforts. If you recognize one of your colleagues in the list, please express your appreciation.

The time has come to select the winner of our Outstanding Paper Award for 2007. The Publications Committee is studying the papers published in our six 2007 issues and will soon make a recommendation to the TCFE Awards Committee. Readers are invited to submit nominations. If you wish to nominate a paper that you found especially useful or informative, please write to me, indicating your reasons for the nomination. I can be contacted as follows: by mail at Kenneth L. Carper, School of Architecture and Construction Management, College of Eng. and Architecture, P.O. Box 642220, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2220; by phone at (509) 335-1229; by fax at (509) 335-6132; or by e-mail at [email protected].