Special Collection on 60th Anniversary State-of-the-Art Papers

The special collection on 60th Anniversary State-of-the-Art Papers is available in the ASCE Library at http://ascelibrary.org/page/jsendh/60th_anniversary_state_of_art.

It is not a stretch to say that civil structures are the hallmark of civilization. Just flash a picture of the Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, or Burj Khalifa in front of anyone and ask them where those pictures were taken. You will not be disappointed with the answer! Indeed, structures are status symbols on a grand scale, and the race to build the longest bridge or tallest tower does not show any signs of slowing down. Entire countries and communities across the world spare no expense in their quest to build the most imaginative, spectacular, and iconic structures to symbolize and advertise their success.

To cater to the demand for new and innovative structures, the field of structural engineering is evolving rapidly before our very eyes. Advances in materials engineering, simulation techniques, manufacturing methods, and computational power and the introduction of a plethora of new technologies, including data mining, sensing, construction robots, autonomous drones, artificial intelligence, virtual and mixed reality visualization, and three-dimensional (3D) printing, all have or will soon have applications in structural engineering. These technologies, as applied to our field, have already impacted people across the globe and will continue to disrupt the industries associated with structural engineering at an increasing pace. In the longer term, the desire to construct structures beyond Earth will no doubt strain the capabilities of the structural engineering profession and spur unprecedented innovation in it.

Civil structures face many current challenges, including climate change, aging, natural and artificial hazards, and the growing mandate to implement sustainable practices. In response to this, structural systems are becoming smarter, but also more complex. That, along with their increasing interconnectedness with other systems of society and the environment, makes communities that rely on them more prone to disruption by extreme events. The quest to achieve resilient communities of the future will certainly encompass and rely upon advances in structural engineering.

The Journal of Structural Engineering is a place where many of the discoveries and advances made in the field of structural engineering first debuted and will continue to appear. The Journal celebrated its 60th anniversary under its current name in 2016. Formerly known as the Journal of the Structural Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Journal is actually approximately 150 years old and is one of the oldest journals in its field. To mark the 60th anniversary of the transition to its new name, the Journal has published a number of state-of-the-art papers written by top scholars in the discipline. These articles trace the history, project the future, and articulate research needs for classical and emerging areas in the field of structural engineering. I invite you to read these papers and hope you will find them enjoyable and instructive. Above all, I hope they will inspire you to reach for the future now.