Editor’s Note

The 2008 national Forensic Engineering Award will be presented to Henry Petroski, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE (Fig. 1). Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. He has also taught at the University of Illinois and at the University of Texas at Austin. His undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering from Manhattan College (1963), and his graduate degrees are in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1964 and 1968).

In 1975 Dr. Petroski joined the staff of Argonne National Laboratory to start up and head a new group in fracture mechanics for the Reactor Analysis and Safety Division. Although the focus of his work at Argonne was on problems relating to the development of liquid-metal fast breeder reactors, while at the laboratory he developed a broad interest in failure analysis and began to write about issues in technology and society for such publications as MIT’s Technology Review and the New York Times. He moved to Duke University in 1980 to be able to devote more time to writing longer articles and books on engineering and design.

Dr. Petroski is now a well-known author of influential books on the nature of engineering, and in particular on why some engineering designs fail. To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design was published in 1985. The book was developed into a BBC television documentary, which Dr. Petroski wrote and presented, that was first broadcast in 1987. Petroski has continued to write and lecture on the topics of success and failure, drawing upon historic and contemporary case studies to illustrate his thesis about the central role of failure in the engineering design process. Contributions include:

Since 1991, Dr. Petroski has been writing the “Engineering” column in American Scientist, the magazine of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. Selections of these columns, which range across the spectrum from success to failure of designed objects and systems of all kinds, have been collected in the books Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering (1997) and Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering (2004). He also writes the “Refractions” column in ASEE Prism, the magazine of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Dr. Petroski is a professional engineer licensed in Texas and a chartered engineer registered in Ireland. He has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Humanities Center. He has appeared often on radio and television—including NPR, PBS, and commercial networks such as CBS, CNN, and CNBC—discussing matters of design, history, and engineering, including their relationship to current events. His opinion pieces have appeared on the op-ed pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers and magazines.

Petroski’s books have been translated into a dozen languages, and he has lectured around the world on the ideas about which he writes. His books, articles, and lectures have earned Petroski a broad range of recognition, including four honorary degrees. Among his other honors are the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers, the Ralph Coats Roe Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the History and Heritage Award from the ASCE.

Petroski is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Engineers of Ireland. He has been elected a Distinguished Member of the ASCE and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, and has been invited to present the Keynote Lecture at the Fifth Forensic Engineering Congress to be held in Washington, D.C., November 10–15, 2009.

Howard F. Greenspan, P.E., L.S., P.P., F.ASCE, (Fig. 2) is the recipient of the 2007 Forensic Engineering Award. Following his Navy experience in the Philippines and China during World War II, Greenspan studied at Yankton College and Columbia University, where he completed graduate work in surveying, soil mechanics, and foundation construction.

Greenspan’s Upper Montclair, New Jersey, based firm, Howard F. Greenspan Associates, was founded in 1966. The firm practices general engineering, surveying and planning. As Principal, Greenspan has directed the completion of varied engineering projects, including meadowland development, harbor and waterfront construction, manufacturing and industrial facilities, urban renewal projects, and historic structure restoration. The firm performs both design and investigative functions, including the forensic investigations of failed geotechnical projects, bridges, and buildings. Greenspan is frequently involved in negotiation, mediation and arbitration of construction-related disputes, where he brings over $40\text{years}$ of broad civil engineering experience to the dispute settlement arena.

Greenspan has taught courses at Manhattan College, The Cooper Union, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin-Extension. He is a Fellow and Life Member of ASCE, a Diplomat of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE), and Past President of the Monclair Society of Engineers. Greenspan is a past chairman of the ASCE Technical Council on Forensic Engineering and a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities.

The 2006 Forensic Engineering Award is presented posthumously to Lewis L. Zickel, P.E., L.S., M.ASCE (Fig. 3). He was a 1949 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Colonel Lewis Lowenstein Zickel, U.S. Army Ret., died on May 13, 2007, and was buried at the West Point cemetery with an Honor Guard, Rifle Salute, and Taps. He had celebrated his 80th birthday at the U.S. Military Academy just a month earlier.

As a Lieutenant, Zickel served in Korea and was decorated for valor under fire in combat. Later, he practiced general engineering in Atlanta and then forensic engineering in the New York metropolitan area. He was active in ASCE’s Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE) and the National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE), serving as chairman of TCFE and as president of NAFE. He was a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities.

Zickel was instrumental in creating the Jewish Chapel at West Point, and was in the process of completing a book about the Jewish experience at West Point at the time of his death.