Outstanding Reviewers: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

The continuing success of the ASCE Journals program is highly dependent on the altruistic and voluntary contributions of our peer reviewers. Each year, a few reviewers are recognized for extraordinary contributions. Five individuals have been selected this year to receive Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. These five reviewers have cheerfully accepted more than their fair share of review invitations, have completed the assignments promptly (without reminders), and have consistently provided thoughtful and constructive comments to the editors and our authors. The 2014 Outstanding Reviewer Award recipients are as follows: Paul J. Barr, Alemdar Bayraktar, Maria Victoria Biezma, Pierre Léger, and Christopher H. Raebel.

Paul J. Barr, Ph.D., M.ASCE (Fig. 1), is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Utah State University. He currently serves as director of the Utah Transportation Center and as interim department head. Dr. Barr’s research interests have focused on the behavior of bridges. He has been involved in bridge testing and long-term instrumentation of bridges throughout the United States. Recent projects include long-term bridge performance program, forensic testing of forty-year-old prestressed concrete bridge girders, and long-term structural health monitoring of integral abutment bridges. As director of the Utah Transportation Center, Dr. Barr has focused on quantifying long-term bridge behavior due to damage and/or deterioration. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and has supervised more than 30 graduate students. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute.

Alemdar Bayraktar, Ph.D. (Fig. 2), is professor of civil engineering at Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey. His research is on the analytical and experimental dynamic and seismic behavior of engineering structures. Dr. Bayraktar has published 125 international journal papers listed in the Science Citation Index, among more than 285 publications and national and international research and application projects. He is a reviewer for many professional publications and regularly serves on conference scientific committees. He was named by Elsevier as one of the most productive scientists at Karadeniz Technical University during the years 2007 to 2011, and received the 2012 Science Award from the Association of Dam Safety in Turkey. From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Bayraktar served as head of the Department of Civil Engineering, and later as dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 2007 to 2013.

Maria Victoria Biezma, Ph.D. (Fig. 3), is professor of materials science and engineering at University of Cantabria, Spain. She is head of the Research Group on Degradation and Corrosion of Materials in the Earth and Materials Science and Engineering Department. Dr. Biezma is a member of the Committee of Materials Spanish Society and several international associations. Her Ph.D. was received at Complutense University of Madrid, where in 1991 she was awarded the Premio Extraordinario doctorate. Dr. Biezma has published more than 40 journal papers relevant to her research interests.

Pierre Léger, Eng., Ph.D. (Fig. 4) is professor of structural engineering at École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada. After graduating with an M.S. degree, he worked as a structural engineer for a few years before completing his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Léger taught structural engineering for six years at McGill University before joining École Polytechnique de Montréal. His research is focused on numerical modeling and experimental study of the structural behavior of concrete hydraulic structures, as well as inelastic dynamic analysis and earthquake-resistant design of building structures. Dr. Léger has served as a consultant on several projects related to structural safety evaluation and rehabilitation of concrete dams, buildings, and Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) nuclear power plants. He is the author of more than 200 journal and conference papers.

Christopher H. Raebel, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., M.ASCE (Fig. 5), is associate professor and Architectural Engineering Program director at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned a B.S. degree from MSOE, an M.S. degree from Pennsylvania State University (both in architectural engineering), and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Marquette University. Dr. Raebel is licensed as a professional engineer in Wisconsin and six other states, and as a structural engineer in Illinois. He worked as a structural engineer in private practice from 1994 to 2006, designing industrial, retail, and multistory residential structures, then joined the faculty at MSOE. Dr. Raebel’s research interests include experimental assessment of existing floor systems for occupant-induced vibrations, quantifying robustness characteristics of steel-framed structures, and experimental testing of steel connections. He is a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Task Committees on Member Design and on Evaluation and Repair of Structures. Dr. Raebel served as Conference Chair for the 2015 ASCE Architectural Engineering Institute Professional Conference, held March 24–27, in Milwaukee.

As editor, it gives me great pleasure to see these individuals recognized with this award. Again, we certainly appreciate the continuing contributions of all our reviewers. This journal would not be possible apart from their efforts.