Outstanding Journal Paper Award for 2018

The ASCE Forensic Engineering Division (FED) traditionally selects a paper published in this journal during the previous calendar year for our Outstanding Paper Award. For 2018, the Publications Committee, the Awards Committee, and the FED Executive Committee selected the paper “Sudden Collapse of the 27-Story Space Building in Medellin, Colombia,” by Luis E. Yamin, Ph.D.; Juan F. Correal, Ph.D., M.ASCE; Juan C. Reyes, Ph.D., M.ASCE; and Fernando Ramirez, Ph.D., which was published in the June issue, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001148.

The paper describes the investigation into the collapse of the Space Building, a 27-story building in Medellin, Colombia. The investigation encompassed site investigations, field and laboratory tests, and structural analysis of different conditions. The main cause of collapse was underdesign of structural columns that did not meet the applicable Colombian building design codes.

Dr. Yamin is currently an associate professor and researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He obtained his undergraduate civil engineering and Master of Science degree from Universidad de los Andes, a Master of Science degree from Stanford University in 1985, and a Ph.D. degree from Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña—Spain in 2016. He is the director of the Research Center for Materials and Structures (CIMOC) at Universidad de los Andes. Dr. Yamin’s main areas of expertise are structural and earthquake engineering, dynamics of structures, natural hazards, infrastructure risk assessment, and specialized software development for earthquake engineering and risk assessment. He has published more than 20 indexed journal papers and participated in the publication of several books, design manuals and guidelines, code regulations, and national and local standards. He has been the technical director of more than 300 research and consulting projects at the national and international levels. Dr. Yamin’s work has received several recognitions by Colciencias, the Engineering Colombian Association, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the American Concrete Institute (ACI Design Award). Dr. Yamin is a highly recognized national and international consultant for private and public entities and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the IDB, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the United Nations [United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)]. He is member of the Colombian Earthquake Engineering Association (AIS) and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Dr. Correal is currently an associate professor and researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Universidad de Los Andes, and his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Correal was the director of the Integrated Civil Engineering and Environmental Laboratory from 2006 to 2013 and chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Universidad de Los Andes from 2013 to 2017. Through CIMOC at Universidad de Los Andes, he has been working as a director and principal investigator of different projects on issues related to the seismic design and performance of structures. He has advised more than 80 students in the structural and materials field and he has more than 140 publications on materials, design, and seismic behavior of structures. Dr. Correal is also a licensed civil engineer in the State of California. Dr. Correal is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and is a voting member of ACI Committee 374, and Sub Committees 318-D, 318-L, and 318-S. In 2018 he received the ACI Design Award. He is also a member of ASCE. Dr. Correal was the past president of AIS and he is currently president of the Colombian Association of Structural Engineers (ACIES), and is a member of the National Advisory Commission on the Colombian Building Code, the technical authority for seismic design of building in Colombia.

Dr. Reyes is currently an associate professor and laboratory director of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He obtained his civil engineering degree from Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in 1998 and his Master of Science degree in structural and earthquake engineering from Universidad de los Andes in 2002. In 2009, he completed his doctorate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He performed doctoral research with Professor Anil K. Chopra on estimating seismic demands for performance-based engineering of buildings. He has received many awards including a summa cum laude bachelor degree, an undergraduate laureate thesis, a master’s degree with honors, a Fulbright scholarship, and 2019 Teaching Distinction. In 2011, he was a scientist visitor at the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Reyes’s main areas of expertise are structural and earthquake engineering. He has published more than 115 research papers in technical journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters. He has delivered more than 60 keynotes on structural and earthquake engineering. He has participated in more than 60 research and consulting projects at the national and international levels. He is a member of various professional associations including AIS, ACIES, AISC, and the Colombian Institute of Steel Construction (ICCA). Currently, he is the director of the design loads subcommittee of AIS.

Dr. Ramirez is currently an associate professor and researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He obtained his bachelor degree in civil engineering in 1992 from Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia in Colombia. After completing his undergraduate studies, Dr. Ramirez worked for more than 8 years as both a structural design engineer and a project engineer in his own consulting company. Later, he earned his Master of Science degree in 2003 and his Ph.D. in 2006 in structural engineering and computational mechanics, both at Colorado State University. Dr. Ramirez is part of the following research centers: CIMOC, Computational Mechanics Group, and Biomedical Engineering Group (GIB). His main areas of expertise and research include theoretical and computational mechanics, structural mechanics, concrete behavior, composite and smart materials, nanomechanics and biomechanics, and development and behavior of new nonconventional natural and/or human-made materials, among others. Dr. Ramirez has more than 250 publications, including more than 25 highly cited peer-reviewed journal articles, more than 70 international conference articles, two books, several book chapters, and more than 50 undergraduate and graduate thesis developed under his supervision. Dr. Ramirez also has two international patents related to his biomechanics research, one a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) temperature and pressure sensor and the other an ocular surgery device for cataracts. He has also received different awards for his academic and research work such as the Chi Epsilon Gold Key Award as Outstanding Civil Engineering Professor at Colorado State University 2004, Outstanding Professor Recognition of the College of Engineering at Universidad de los Andes 2008, Best Paper Award at COMSOL Conference 2012, and Certificate of Appreciation for a paper that is among the top 10 most-cited papers ever published in the journal Composites Part B: Engineering in 2013.

Mr. Rincon is currently a full-time lecturer and researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2013 he received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and in 2015 he received his master’s degree in structural engineering from Universidad de los Andes. He was awarded the Mario Galan Gomez Scholarship for being the best student of the region in 2009, the Innovative Teaching Award from the College of Engineering in 2019, and the Fulbright-Colciencias Scholarship in the 2020 cohort. Since 2013 he has participated in several research projects as a member of CIMOC at Universidad de los Andes related to earthquake engineering and seismic risk mitigation. Mr. Rincon’s research interests focus on the probabilistic performance of structures subjected to extreme loads, earthquake engineering, reliability of structures and civil systems, and risk assessment and management. He has participated in the development of more than 25 published research papers in technical journals and conference proceedings. He is member of AIS.

Mr. Hurtado is currently an independent consultant for numerous private companies and participates as a research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He obtained his civil engineering degree (2012) and Master of Science degree in structures, materials, and seismic engineering (2014) from Universidad de los Andes. He was a teaching assistant for graduate-level courses during his master’s program. Mr. Hurtado’s main areas of expertise are structural and earthquake engineering, seismic and landslide vulnerability assessment for buildings, and specialized software development for vulnerability and risk assessment. Mr. Hurtado has 7 years of work experience at school and in research and industry. His jobs in the industry have been related to structural design, risk assessment for seismic and landslide hazards, seismic retrofitting of nonresidential buildings and unconventional structures, and vulnerability assessments. His research interest has been focused on seismic vulnerability assessment, using modeling and programming techniques to characterize nonlinear response behavior of archetype buildings. He has been involved with software development for vulnerability assessment for the CAPRA platform. He is member of ASCE.

Mr. Dorado is currently working as a project engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Mr. Dorado has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (2013) and a Master of Science degree in structures, materials, and seismic engineering (2016) from the Universidad de los Andes. He focused his master’s degree research in the development of a methodology for the evaluation of the structural vulnerability of common buildings during the risk assessment process. Mr. Dorado is a registered structural engineer and has completed more than 30 projects in Colombia. His areas of expertise include structural design, evaluation of structural vulnerability in common buildings and landmarks, rehabilitation and retrofit of structures, natural hazard assessment, and seismic engineering.

Other nominees for the 2018 Outstanding Journal Paper Award receiving votes from the editorial board were: